Meenakshi Amman Temple (also called: Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Tiru-aalavaai[1][2] and Meenakshi Amman Kovil) is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River[3] in the temple city[4] of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Parvati, known as Meenakshi, and her consort, Shiva, here named Sundareswarar. The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2,500 year old city[5] of Madurai and is a significant symbol for the Tamil people, mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature though the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655 CE.[6][7][8] It houses 14 gopurams (gateway towers), ranging from 45–50m in height. The tallest is the southern tower, 51.9 metres (170 ft) high,[6] and two golden sculptured vimanas, the shrines over the garbhagrihas (sanctums) of the main deities. The temple attracts 15,000 visitors a day, around 25,000 on Fridays,[9] and receives an annual revenue of sixty millionINR. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple.[9] It was on the list of top 30 nominees for the New Seven Wonders of the World. The annual 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, celebrated during April and May, attracts 1 million visitors. Temple wall painting depicting its founding legend The Meenatchi temple is believed to have been founded by Indra (king of Deva celestial deities) while he was on a pilgrimage to atone for his misdeeds. He felt his burden lifting as he neared the swayambu lingam (self formed lingam, a representation of Shiva used for worship in temples)[14] of Madurai. He ascribed this miracle to the lingam and constructed the temple to enshrine it. Indra worshipped Shiva, who caused golden lotuses to appear in the nearby pool.[15] Tamil literature speaks of the temple over the last two millennia. Thirugnanasambandar, the famous Hindu saint of Saiva philosophy, mentioned this temple as early as the 7th century, and described the deity as Aalavai Iraivan. The temple is believed to have been sacked by the infamous Muslim invader Malik Kafur in 1310 and all the ancient elements were destroyed.[16] The initiative to rebuild the structure was taken by first Nayak king of Madurai, Viswanatha Nayak (1559–1600) under the supervision of Ariyanatha Mudaliar, the prime minister of the Nayak Dynasty and the founder of the Poligar System.[17] The original design by Vishwanatha Nayak in 1560 was substantially expanded to the current structure during the reign of Thirumalai Nayak (1623–55).[6] He took considerable interest in erecting many complexes inside the temple. His major contributions are the Vasantha Mandapam for celebrating vasanthorsavam (spring festival) and Kilikoondu Mandapam (corridor of parrots). The corridors of the temple tank and Meenatchi Nayakar Mandapam were built by Rani Mangammal. Rous Peter (1786–1828), the Collector of Madurai in 1812, got nickname Peter Pandian’ as he respected and treated people of all faiths equally. He donated a set of golden stirrups studded with diamonds and red stones to the temple.Goddess Meenatchi is believed to have saved Rous Peter from a fatal incident. He also wished that after his death, his body be buried in a position that would enable his eyes to face the temple.[18] Religious significance of the temple. Sculpture of Nataraja Depiction of the god Shiva as the cosmic dancer Nataraja A distinct feature of Meenakshi in terms of iconography is the presence of parrot in her right hand. The parrot is generally associated with the Vaishnava azhwar saint Andal.[33] Pancha Sabhai refers to the five royal courts of Nataraja (dancing form of Shiva)[34] where he performed cosmic dance.[35] The Tamil word velli means silver and ambalam means stage or altar.[2] This massive Nataraja sculpture is enclosed in a huge silver altar and hence called Velli Ambalam (silver abode). This is a special figure of Natarja which usually differs from Chola bronzes; in the Chola images, Nataraja is shown dancing with his left leg raised, but this sculpture has the right leg raised.[20]According to the Tiruvilayaadal Puranam (Shivas sacred games), this is on the request of Rajasekara Pandya, who was a sincere devotee of Shiva. He requested the deity to change his position, as he felt that keeping the same foot raised would put enormous strain and got a graceful acquiescence from the divine master.[20]
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 03:46:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015