The Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati located in the holy city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. The main deity Sundareswarar means the Beautiful Lord and His divine wife Meenakshi means One who rules the world through her eyesight and Koil means temple in Tamil. The temple forms the heart and lifeline for the 2500 year old city of Madurai that is believed to be the home for the classical language of Tamil. According to the Hindu legends, Lord Shiva with his divine group of followers appeared here in this city of Madurai, to marry the daughter of the Pandya ruler, Meenakshi, who is believed to be a form of Hindu godess Parvati. This temple is one of the most sacred abodes of Parvathi, others being Kamakshi of Kanchipuram, Akilandeswari of Thiruvanaikaval and Vishalakshi of Varanasi.

The temple has a stunning architecture and was a frontrunner in the election for the modern seven wonders of the world for its architectural importance. The complex houses 12 magnificient gopurams or towers that are elaborately scultptured and painted. The temple is a significant symbol for Tamil people, and has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, though the present structure is believed to have been built only in the early 17th century.
 

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History 

The history of the original structure is not properly known, while the Tamil literature speaks about temple for the last couple of millennia. Thirugnanasambandar, the famous Hindu saint of Shaiva philosophy has mentioned this temple as early as the seventh century and describes the Lord as Aalavai Iraivan. The temple was believed to have been sacked by the infamous Muslim invader Malik Kafur in the 1310 and all the ancient elements were destroyed. The initiative to rebuild the structure was taken by Arya Natha Mudaliyar , the Prime Minister of the first Nayak of Madurai (1559-1600 A.D.), the founder of 'Poligar System'. Then came the most valuable contributions of Thirumalai Nayak around the year 1623 to 1659. He took considerable interest in erecting the Vasantha Mandapa of the temple complex.
 

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Mythology

According to Hindu legend, the Lord Shiva came down to earth in the form of Sundareswarar to marry the goddess Meenakshi, who is a form of Parvati, Shiva's divine consort. Parvathi had earlier descended to earth in the form of a small kid in response to the great penance of Malayadwaja Pandya, the ruler of Madurai. After growing up she starts ruleing the city and the Lord appears on earth and proposes to marry her. According to Hindu mythology, the marriage was supposed to be the biggest event on earth, with the whole earth gathering near Madurai.
 

Lord Vishnu the divine brother of Meenakshi was traveling to preside over the marriage from his holy abode at Vaikuntam. Due to a divine play, He was tricked by god Indra and delayed on the way and the in the meanwhile marriage is presided over by a local god Koodal Azhaghar. This angers Lord Vishnu very much and he swears never to enter the city and settles in the outskirts at the beautiful hill of Alagar Koil. He was later convinced by other gods and he proceeded to bless the divine couple - Shiva and Parvati.Both the marriage and the Vishnu's passification are still celebrated as the biggest festival in Madurai, name Azhakar Thiruvizha (the festival for the beautiful lord). A detailed article on the divine marriage can be found here.

The divine couple are believed to have ruled the region for a long time and it is not clear what happened to the place after they left. Another legend says that the Shiva's deity in the form of Linga was discovered by the god of heaven, Indra who built the original temple. This tradition is still followed in the temple with the deity is accompanied by a model of Indra's vehicle, during festive processions.
 

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The Temple Architecture

The temple is a massive structure measuring 254 by 237 meters. The temple is surrounded by 12 towers the tallest of which, the famous Southern tower, rises to over 170 ft high .

Shrines

The Shiva shrine lies at the centre of the complex, suggesting that the ritual dominance of the goddess developed later. The Shiva shrine also consists of an unusual sculpture of the Hindu god Nataraja. This famous Hindu marquee and a dancing form of Shiva that normally has his left foot raised, has his right foot raised in this temple. According to the legend, this is on the request of the Rajasekara Pandya king who asked the Lord to change His position, as he felt that always keeping a single foot raised will pose enormous stress on that, based on his personal experiments in dancing. This massive Nataraja sculpture is enclosed in a huge silver altar and hence called Velli Ambalam (Silver abode). Outside the Shrine, lies huge scultptures carved of single stone and there is a shrine for a giant Ganesh temple, called the Mukuruny Vinayakar. This idol is believed to have been found during an excavation process to dig the temple lake. The Meenkashi shrine is on the left of the Shiva shrine and is of scultpturally less valuable than the Shiva shrine.

The lake Potramarai

Potramarai Kulam, the sacred pond measuring 165 ft * 120 ft , inside the temple is a very holy site for the devotees and people go around the lake before entering the main shrine. The etymology for the word means, the Pond with the Golden Lily and as the Lily that grows in it has a golden color. According to the legend, Lord Shiva promised to a stork that no fish or other marine life would grow here and thus no marine animals are found in the lake . In the Tamil legends, the lake is supposed to be a judge for judging a worth of a new literature. Thus, authors place their works here and the poorly written works are supposed to sunk and the scholastic ones are supposed to float.

Thousand Pillar Hall

The Aiyaram Kaal Mandapam or thousand pillar hall is of very high sculptural importance that contains 985 (instead of 1000) magnificiently carved pillars and maintained by the Archaelogical Survey of India. The thousand pillar hall is supposed to have been built by Arya Natha Mudaliyar , the Prime Minister of the first Nayaka of Madurai (1559-1600 A.D.), the founder of 'Poligar System'. An equestrian statue of the Mudaliyar flanks one side of the steps leading to the 'mandapam'. Each pillar is sculptured and is a monument of the Dravidan sculpture. There is a Temple Art Museum in this 1000 pillars hall where you can see icons, photographs, drawings, etc., exhibiting the 1200 years old history. Just outside this mandapam ,towards the west, are the Musical Pillars. Each pillar when stuck, produces a different musical note. The kalyana mandapa, to the south of the pillared hall, is where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati is celebrated every year during the Chitirai Festival in mid- April.
 

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 Festival

The most important festival associated with the temple is the Meenakshi Thirukalyanam (The divine marriage of Meenkashi) that is celebrated in April every year. During that one month period, in which most Tamilnadu temples celebrate their annual festivals, there are a number of events including the Ther Thiruvizhah(Chariot festival) and Theppa Thiruvizhah (Float festival) are celebrated. Apart from this, major Hindu festivals like Navrathri, Shivrathri are celebrated in a grand manner. Like most Shakti temples in Tamilnadu, the fridays during the Tamil months of Aadi (July 15 - Aug 17) and Thai (Jan 15 to Feb 15) are popularly celebrated with thousands of devotees thronging to the temple. A detailed description of the festivals at this temple can be found here.
 

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