Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple was built 1300 years ago
The East Tower was built 700 years ago
The north tower was built 400 years ago
The southern temple was built 1300 years ago
The temple has been built over centuries clearing the forest
That is how it became such a big temple
The total number of entrances is 5
Four Major Towers
People think there are only 4 entrances, but we have 5
At that time, they did not have any maps
The temple is designed based on the human body
The western tower is the human head
The southern tower is the right hand
Northern tower is the left hand
The pond (Potramarai Kulam) is the abdomen area
Meenakshi is one eye and sundarar is the other eye
The central area of the temple is the chest
The eastern tower is your legs
5 entrances denote your 5 senses
Inside the temple you have 9 smaller entrances denoting 9 orifices of the human body
So totally we have 14 entrances
Totally we have 15 towers
64 generations of kings. Built on 16 acres of land
Built for 800 years
This is the meditation area
Devendran (Indra) came here to worship because
he did a misdeed and had to redeem himself
You have many incriptions and sculptures of Indra
To redeem himself, he wanted to offer 1000 flowers
He plucked 999 flowers out of the pond and had no more
He prayed god for one more flower and a golden flower appeared from the pond
That is why the pond is called Pond of Golden flower (Potramarai Kulam)
A saint helped Indra to worship and gave him a Mahameru Chakra to redeem his misdeeds
Indra was able to finish his Pooja (ritual worship) and go back to heaven
This temple is the place where Mahameru Chakra was used
Meenakshi Amman gives blessing through her eyes
In all other temples, Gods bless through their hands
Her eyes are like fish.
That is why Madurai is called "The city that never sleeps" (Thoonga nagaram)
In other temples, the Gods are considered to sleep at night
There are festivals for each Tamil month
Each Tamil month is ornated with a festival
The most famous festival is on the month of Chithirai (Chithirai Thiruvizha)
In this festival, the wedding ceremony of Meenakshi-Sundareswarar is performed
hundreds of thousands of people come to this wedding cermony
There is a big Chariot parade (Therottam)
There is palanquin ceremony (Poopallaaku)
That is why Madurai is called "The city that never sleeps" (Thoongaa Nagaram)
The temple has been built entirely of rocks
Festival of Chithirai Month (Chithirai Thiruvizha) is the biggest festival here
Both Meenakshi and Sundareswarar were born, brought up, married and lived in Madurai
That is why this Madurai is thought of as a blessed city
That is the specialty of this Temple
All the decendant kings of Meenakshi - Sundareswarar are also here, like one huge family
In other temples you don't see many generations in Temples
The temple was built clearing the Kadambavanam forest.
It is said that Lord Shiva was born in this forest
The forest is said to be owned by Lord Shiva himself
Within the last hour, atleast a 1000 people would have visited this temple
It does n't seem like it because of they come in via different entrances
You only see the crowd in the main area
16 Acres of land