Madurai

Madurai Temple

madurai — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:15:04 +0000

Among several other Madurai temples, Meenakshi Amman temple also known as Madurai Meenaskhi temple has gained special recognition.
Meenakshi Madurai temple has gained prominence for the 12 impressive gopuarams which are situated in the high walled enclosure of the temple. Meenakshi Madurai temple has the core with two sanctums for Lord shiva (Sundareshwara) and Goddess Parvati (meenakshi) which are surrounded by several shrines of other deities. This temple is also famous for the thousand pillar hall which in reality only has 985 pillars, all the towers are this Madurai temple are erected on solid granite bases, the towers are covered with mythological animals, deities and monsters works.
The thousand pillar of Madurai temple is considered to the wonder of the palace and each pillar has a sculpture inscribed from Dravidian culture. Outside this thousand pillar mandapam there is another one called musical pillars, each of which when struck produces different musical sounds, to the south of this thousand pillar mandapam of Madurai temple there is a kalyana mandapam where the marriage of shiva and parvati is celebrated every year.
This Madurai temple is said to the only temple in Tamil Nadu which celebrates festivals almost through the entire year. Some of the pillars in thousand pillar mandapam have glimpses of the sculptures which represent the original story for this temple to come into existence. The second Pandyan king performed a holy puja in order to become father of a child, impressed with this puja Goddess parvati herself emerged from the holy fire. The king was shocked to see her having three breasts, according to the divine instructions it was said that once she encounters her prospective bride she would become normal. After succeeding her throne, the princess started invading other worlds and after conquering all the worlds she came face to face with Lord Shiva with whom she instantly fell in love with and later on all the marriage rituals was performed.

Madurai Meenakshi Temple

madurai — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:13:27 +0000

Madurai Meenakshi temple till date stands to be of greatest architectural landmark that is also considered one among several Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu.
The original name of Madurai Meenakshi temple is Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple which was built by a Pandya King Kulasekara has gained prominence as one of the greatest Tamil Nadu’s Shiva temples. Madurai Meenakshi temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva referred to as Sundareswarar meaning Beautiful Lord and his companion Goddess Parvati called as Meenakshi. This Madurai Meenakshi temple is one of the reasons for the city to gain so much popularity; it also has 14 gopurams apart from 2 Golden gopurams to depict the main deities of the temple.
There are several legends to support the existence of Madurai Meenakshi temple and the reason for deities to take place as Meenakshi Sundareswarar here in Madurai. According to the one of the legends, Goddess Parvati appeared as an answer to the prayers of Second Pandya King who along with his wife was performing a holy puja to be blessed with a child.
Though Madurai Meenakshi temple is famous for Meenakshi and Lord Shiva, this temple also serves as abode to several other gods and goddesses. Lord Shiva’s shrine is at the centre of the temple which indicates the dominance of lord over the entire temple and also shows that all other deities are later on additions to the temple. There is also a shrine for Lord Ganesha that was carved out of single stone and was discovered when excavation programs were done around the temple lake.
Madurai meenakshi temple is also famous for the thousand pillar hall which was built in 1569 by the then Prime Minister and General of Viswanatha Nayak, the first Nayak for Madurai. There is also a Kalyana Mandapam in Madurai Meenakshi temple to the south of this pillared hall where marriage of Shiva and Parvati is celebrated every year.

Madurai Hotels

madurai — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:11:02 +0000

Madurai hotels can range from budget hotels to five star hotels, there are also various resorts in this city.
People who plan to visit Madurai can search for various Madurai hotels and also the services they offer along with the location and prices they charge over the internet where there are number of websites which provide these information. Along with all the information, some of the websites also provide the official websites of each and every hotel which will also show some images of Madurai hotels even before deciding to choose it.
Some of the famous Madurai hotels are Hotel Star Residency, Royal Court, The Metropole, Hotel Germanus and several others each of which charge nearly 2000 to 2500 which may change depending on the services these Madurai hotels are providing to their customers. There are some websites which also give email address for these Madurai hotels in case the traveler has any queries that are to be cleared.
Some of the facilities in these Madurai hotels include direct dialing telephones, LCD TV, internet connectivity, King size beds, Laundry, Health club, Round the clock room service, car rentals, car parking and several other facilities. There are some of Madurai hotels which also give additional features like having conference halls, bar and restaurants. General search done in the famous search engines like Google for Madurai hotels gives a large list of hotels along with the review given by people who have had some experience with the services from these hotels.
Even after searching for Madurai hotels over the internet, it will also be good if you have personal interaction with people who have already been their prior to you and consider taking their advise since they might have done their part of research before visiting the place taking their guidance will be of lot help.