The Madurai Meenakshi temple. Review on Madurai

Tamil Nadu is the temple state of India. It is home to a large number of temples. One of the most famous temples of Tamil Nadu is at >Madurai. This review is about the world famous Meenakshi Temple at Madurai.

Madurai is around 430 kms from Bangalore on the National Highway 7. The best place to visit here would be in the winter. Because summer in Tamil Nadu can be very cruel. Particularly the stretch from Salem-Karur to Madurai is hell! Since we had visited Kodai, we decided to also go to Madurai to get a darshan of the Goddess. It being the middle of summer, the heat was terrible. The Karur-Dindigul stretch is especially bad as there are virtually no trees on the way. There is also ABSOLUTELY no place to stop for food or a break. No restaurants, nothing at all - this is a concern if you are travelling with a family. You need to go to Anand Bhavan in Karur town - after this there is nothing for nearly 200kms, till Dindigul.

The Meenakshi temple at Madurai is a temple dedicated to the Goddess Parvati. According to legend, Parvati was cursed by Lord Shiva and was born on earth as the Princess Meenakshi (one whose eyes are like that of a fish). The beautiful Meenakshi's heart could be won only by Lord Shiva who came to earth as Sundareshwaran (the handsome lord). The wedding of Meenakshi and Sundara is part of folklore.

The Meenakshi temple is one of the biggest Hindu temples. It is a huge temple complex and has four entries (North, South, East and West towers). There are shopkeepers who advise you to leave your footwear in the shop - we made the mistake and had to walk barefoot in the blistering heat. So be careful where you leave your footwear! Also be careful of which entrance you enter the temple so that you come out of the same place, otherwise you will have a tough time searching for your footwear.

The temple is really beautiful and its gopuram is famous. The artwork on the gopuram and the carvings are intricate and depict events from Hindu mythology. If you visit in the evenings, you can spend time appreciating the gopura. The temple is famous for its long corridors. The corridors are really long and have small temples of dieties throughout. It is really possible to get lost in this temple.

As you enter the temple complex, you can first take the blessings of Lord Ganesha (Vinayaka). After this you need to join a queue to enter the temple of Meenakshi Amma. If you buy a Rs.15/- ticket, you can join a special darshan queue, which takes relatively less time compared to the free darshan. Also make sure you buy a ticket for your camera (Rs.50/-). If you are caught by the police taking snaps without a ticket, you will be fined Rs.500/-. Photographs are allowed everywhere, except in the temple of the two main dieties Meenakshi amma and Sundareshwaran.

The sanctum sanctorum of the Goddess does not have electric lighting and only lamps are lit. The heavy rush ensures that you dont get much time to stand before the Goddess and pray. But the fleeting darshan is good enough to make you feel contented. There are special poojas (Rs.100/) where if you have time you can go closer and spend more time.

After the devis darshan you can next get the darshan of Lord Shiva. The rush here is not that much, but the temple is so built that getting a clear darshan of the Lord is not so easy. And the police dont allow you to stand for much time before the Lord.

There are many small temples within the complex dedicated to Ganesha, Kamakshi devi, Vishalakshi, Bhairava, Mahalakshmi, etc. There is also a temple pond surrounded by corridors with pillars.

You can buy the prasad at a counter outside the shrine. Puliogare (a rice dish which is the specialty of Tamil Nadu), Sweet pongal, Vada and Ladoo is offered as prasadam (Rs.7/- each). The prasadam tastes delicious. The heat and the queues and the walk through the huge temple complex would have made you exhausted. So you can get refreshed having the delicious prasad.

There are many other places to see in Madurai, but due to time constraints, we could only visit the temple. If you have time, you can easily spend 2-3 hours in the temple, visiting all the shrines, admiring the architecture and artwork and taking photos. But try to go at evening, because the morning heat would be very very exhausting.

There is no doubt that the Madurai temple is one of the great temples of India and along with places like Kashi, Tirupathi, Vaishnodevi and Rameshwaram, is one of the places that are must visited for a pilgrimage.

Photos of the temple posted here - https://mouthshut.com/gallery/myphoto.php?user=deepak27&catname=Madurai