City of Temples. Review on Madurai

Let me take you through my memory lane to school days. I remember my teacher who had the opportunity to visit the place and I used to get into the stories and the photographs as if I had seen the places. Always I longed to see the place – City of Temples, Madurai.

Another reason was the Meenakshi Temple, one of India’s most famous temples in southern part. The shrine is superb example of sculpture and magnificent architecture with a central water tank surrounded by long corridors & pillars. The entire complex is surrounded by elevated walls with giant gateways called gopurams in the middle on each side. Various mythologies are sculpted on the gopurams. Small shops are there at each entrance selling basic ingredients for puja like garland, agabathis, coconut etc. They also provide the facility to keep your chappals & the places are safe [I was skeptical while leaving my sneaker but got it back intact]. Paying them is optional, but of-course who won’t pay getting chappal / shoes back intact:)

Golden lotus tank at the centre of the temple issurrounded by row of pillars. The tank has steps to help visitor to move towards water edge. There are stories to signify the golden lotus in the tank. The administration has done arrangements to keep the water clean, but with so many bhaktjanos taking holy bath – hygiene is certainly a concern. Having a glimpse of the well lighted towers during evening time is really amazing.

The template is dedicated to It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati, in the form of Meenakshi. The temple is usually open between morning 5 till 12:30 in the afternoon & reopens between 1600 hrs and 21.30 hrs. During the closure time one can’t have a darshan of the deity. There will always be long queue for the darshan. There are two queues [like any other famous temple in this part of India]. Free line will make one to wait for long and also to handle the thrust while standing. The special line will charge 50INR, but peaceful until some pandit is looking for higher amount.

The other places around are:

Thirumalai Nayak Mahal is a glorious palace. There is a huge Hall inside the palace [where the song ‘Tere bina’ in Guru was shot] opens into a huge courtyard with elaborately decorated arches. I must mention about gigantic pillars inside [watch out the song next time]. When I visited the daily sound and light show was under renovation, but seemed to be a good attraction. They have a small museum displaying ancient utensils & various statuses. There are some nominal entrance charges for this palace.

Mariamman Tank is another attraction of this place. But it is empty most of the time in a year and seems rather to be a football/cricket ground, as get to see local Dravid/Ronaldos busy playing on the ground. During festival period in January [Makara Sankranti https://mouthshut.com/diary/readpost.php?postid=68 ] the tank gets filled with water & Meenakshi idol is taken around the tank [courtesy – guide sahib].

Little far [about an hour by bus] situated the Alagar Temple. The temple is situated on a hill amidst panoramic surroundings. The temple also contain some beautiful carvings and makes the visit rewarding.

Gandhi Museum, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi – as the name indicates. Personal belongings of Gandhiji are on display here along with a picture gallery. I got to see even a blood stained khadi, claiming this is the dhoti Bapu was wearing when he was shot. An exhibition of handicrafts and village industries is also attached with, bit costly though.

Another laurel on ‘Athens of East’ is Kamaraj University.

Madurai is reachable by road as well as by rail. Both the main bus station & railway station are nearby to each other. Accommodation wise options are plenty. But rain makes the place really dirty. One really needs to push water on roads. Did I say water? But I meant dirt.

Foremost thing to be careful about the place is the autowalas. You won’t find any meter in auto & need to pay whatever they ask. Language could be another barrier if the driver turns to be non-Hindi knowing. Walking down to Meenakshi Temple is always a better option, irrespective of whichever hotel you are in.

Food wise, Madurai is very good. One must try is motte dose [egg dosa] with 2-3 type chatnis. Otherwise roti, daal, fried rice, noodles are also available at the restaurants associated with the hotels.

Shall share my Rameshwaram experience sometime later… Have a look at the Madurai photographs https://mouthshut.com/Gallery/myphoto.php?user=Kweldebs