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History & Culture
Pradeep Kumar

31/03/21 10:00 AM IST

Stories of Madurai

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The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna DeshWebinar series held its 82nd webinar titled “Stories of Madurai” on 30th March 2021.

About Madurai
  • Madurai, one of the oldest living cities, holds the soul of Tamil Nadu in its magnificent and grand temples that are among the finest and most awe-inspiring specimens of architecture in the country.
  • The most spectacular of these is the Meenakshi-Sundareswarar Temple, which is the heartbeat of the city and is visited by thousands of devotees.
  • Madurai once traded with ancient Rome and it preserves its distinct character in various arts and textiles that have been bestowed by the Pandian kings (4th century-16th century).
  • Madurai grew around the Meenakshi Amman Temple, which was constructed 2,500 years ago by Pandian king, Kulasekhara.
  • Popularly called the Athens of the East, it was visited by Greek explorer, Megasthenes in 3rd century BC.
  • Other famous travellers who visited this ancient south Indian city included Pliny in 77 AD, Ptolemy in 140 AD, Marco Polo in 1203 AD and Ibn Batuta(1333 AD).
Meenakshi temple
  • An excellent example of Dravidian architecture, the temple is sprawled over a huge area, bordered by well-laid gardens and pristine fountains.
  • One of the halls of the temple is famous as the "Hall of a 1,000 pillars" though only 985 of them exist today. It is said that whichever direction you view these pillars from, they always seem to be in a straight line.
  • The highlight of the temple is the outermost corridor that comprises musical pillars.
  • These produce different musical notes when tapped. While one of the sanctorum, Sundareswarar, is dedicated to Lord Shiva, the other is devoted to Goddess Meenakshi.
Source: PIB

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