Location: Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Built In: 14th to 17th Century( The temple was destroyed many times and got rebuilt. The one we see today, is mainly a reconstruction done during Vijayanagara Dynasty and Nayak rulers. More at wiki)

Madurai Meenakshi Temple had been there in my temple-travel list since such a long time. And everything appeared to be perfect, not only because it was Diwali( which also meant holiday in India ), but also I had my very old friend from college days in town, Sukdeb, who was willing to host me for couple of days at his home during my trip. So, I got a local guide who knows the city and it’s outskirts. I made Madurai my base and planned my travel also to Trichi, Thanjavur and Rameswaram. I can not wait to share all those experience in my upcoming blogs.

But, this was Diwali and my first day in Madurai. Lets take a look around the Meenakshi Amman Temple:

I reached early in the morning by 7 am and spent the entire day and evening near this monumental, yet beautiful architecture. There are 14 Gopurams(Towers). Four huge Gopurams placed in East, West, North and South direction of the Temples. These structures are build significantly huge, to direct the pilgrims towards the temple. The other smaller Gopurams are placed to guide pilgrims to various shrines inside the temples.

The golden Vimana at the center of the image, has the main deity: the Goddess Meenakshi inside. The pushkarani(lake) with the Golden Lotus is iconic:

As this is Diwali, I was lucky enough to see the special decoration done inside the temple with lamps:

 

3 Things you should NOT miss:

• The Temple Museum
• The market surrounding the temple
• Jigarthanda( This is a cold beverage which will definitely soothe your Jigar/heart ):

Then the next day I started for Trichi for Sri Ranganathaswami temple…