Get to know about Meenakshi Amman temple

Meenakshi Amman Temple is one of the most famous temples in India. It is located in Tamil Nadu, India. It is a historic holy place for Hindus which is situated on the bank of Vaigai River. This temple is totally dedicated to Hindu goddess Parvati, also known by name Meenakshi and lord Shiva. It is a holy temple for Tamil people.

History

Meenakshi Amman Temple was built by the survivors of Kumari Kandam in 6th century BC. But during 14th century, Mughal commander named Malik Kafur, looted and plundered this temple and took away all the valuables that were kept in the temple. Later on in 16th century, Nayak ruler named Vishwanatha Nayakar rebuilt the temple. It was believed by the Tamil people that this temple was actually founded by Indra Dev (king of celestial deities).

Architecture

Meenakshi Amman Temple is one of the most famous and largest temples in Tamil Nadu. It is the ritual and geographic center of ancient Madurai city. This temple is having four entrances that face in four different directions. The temple is all over surrounded by gateway towers called Gopurams. There are total 14 gopurams among which the southern tower or gopuram is the tallest one. It has height of 172ft. It was constructed in the year 1559. Each and every gopuram is multi storeyed and is designed or decorated with stone figures and statues of gods, demons and animals. There is also one temple tank in the temple which is known as Porthamarai Kulam. It means pond with golden lotus. It has dimension of 165ft by 120 ft.

The Meenakshi Amman Temple has huge halls inside it from which the thousand pillar hall is the biggest one. Thousand pillar Hall consists of 985 carved pillars. It was constructed in the year 1569 by Ariyanatha Mudaliar, who was the general and prime minister of Viswanatha Nayak. At the hall entrance you can find the sculpture of Ariyanatha Mudaliar sitting on horseback and flanking on one side of temple entrance. The worshippers regularly garland this statue. Each pillar inside the hall is carved with Dravidian sculpture.

Rituals and festivals

Near around 50 priests perform puja or you can say rituals inside the temple during the festivals and also on regular basis. On a single day, the puja is need to be conducted six times and it comprises of four rituals called abhisheka, (which means sacred bath), alangaram( means decoration), neivethanam (means food offering) and the last one is deepa aradanai (which means waving of lamps). The main festival that is associated with this temple is "Meenakshi Thirukalyanam" (means the marriage of goddess Meenakshi). This festival is celebrated every year in the month of April. More than a m