Feature by Vanitha Ananthan
Meenakshi Amman temple is one of the most ancient and historically significant Hindu temples located in the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It is built in the Dravidian architectural style with covered porches, tall gopurams, and pillared halls.
The temple is devoted to Goddess Meenakshi (considered as an appearance of Parvati) and her spouse, Sundareswar (a form of Shiva). The temple occupies a huge area of about 14 acres. It is enclosed with huge walls and has four gopurams (gateways) in each direction.
The southern gopuram is the tallest one of the four gopurams – 52 meters. Each one of them is a multi-storey structure with thousands of sculptures displaying mythological stories. There are also small gopurams above each shrine. There is a large tank inside the temple known as Potramarai kulam which means a pond with a golden lotus. The two major shrines are for Goddess Meenakshi and Lord Sundareswar. The temple has numerous pillared halls called mandapams. They were built by various rulers of the city which served as resting place for pilgrims and devotees. One of the significant ones is the Aiyarangal mandapam literally meaning hall with thousand pillars. The temple is famous for this thousand pillared hall.
The pillars are carved with unique sculptures like Yali (a mythical creature with lion and bird-like feature) and various gods.
The main festival of the temple is Meenakshi Thirukalyanam (means divine marriage) conducted between the goddess and god. The other important festivals are Ther Thiruvizha (chariot festival) and Theppa Thiruvizha (float festival) where the idols of the divine beings are kept afloat in the waters and taken as a procession.
Do you have pictures of this temple? Do share!
Image Credits: Wikipedia, MaduraiMeenakshiTemple.com, and CC0 Image sources
