Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai – Things to know before you go

The Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai is one of the most revered temples of South India. And also one of the most famous ancient temples in India. A trip to Madurai is incomplete without a visit to this temple. In fact, many devotees plan a trip to Madurai for a mere visit to the Meenakshi Amman Temple. On our own 5 days road trip across Tamil Nadu covering Madurai, Rameshwaram, Chettinad and Thanjavur, it was one of the first few places we visited. So, in this post, I will take you through this grand temple in Madurai. And also tell you things about visiting this temple which you might not find elsewhere.

History of Meenakshi Amman Temple

“Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple” or “Meenakshi Amman Temple” is also fondly called the Meenakshi Temple. It is one of the most famous historic temple that is located on the banks of the Vaigai river. This river passes through the centre of the temple town of Madurai. This temple is described in historical writings that date back as far as the 6th century CE !! And it is dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort, Sundareshwar, a form of Shiva. In fact, this temple is one of the 275 Padal Petra Sthalam. These are a group of the greatest Hindu Shiva temples of the continent. Which were built around 6th – 9th centuries CE.

 

Did you know this interesting fact about the Meenakshi Amman Temple?

The state emblem of Tamil Nadu is based on the west tower (gopuram) of Meenakshi Temple?

 

The central shrine of the temple and the areas around it, including the major gopuras were built by King Kulasekara Pandya. And it was expanded by various kings. Later, it was plundered by the Mughal Empire. Along with several other temples of South India. But afterwards, many portions of the temple were restored. As a result of the efforts of Vijayanagara Empire. And subsequent Nayak Dynasty in Madurai.

Architecture of the Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

The Meenakshi Amman Temple consists of a central large 3-storeyed Gopura (Tower). Then there are several shrines inside the temple of Hindu Gods and Goddess. These include Natarajar and Surya near the main temple, Ayyanar in the east, Vinayagar in the south, Kariamalperumal in the west and Kali in the north. Apart from these, the temple also has a mahamandapa called Sundara Pandya Thirukkopuram. While these consist of the major parts of the temple.  Dynasties added other parts later over the years.

For instance, the Chitra gopuram, also known as Muttalakkum Vayil, was built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan II. He also built a pillared corridor to the Sundareswara shrine.  Later, Thirumala Nayak, the king who also built the Thirumalai Nayakar Palace (Madurai Palace), expanded the temple further adding to it’s grandure. While rebuilding the temple, the rulers of Nayaka dynasty followed the architectural style of ‘Silpa Shastras’.

Although it is a temple of Shavism. But, it does include Vishnu in many of it’s depictions and narratives. It also houses other Hindu dieties like Lakshmi, Krishna, Brahma, Saraswati, Vedic dieties to name a few. And it also has depictions on it’s walls and paintings on it’s ceilings from the puranas and important holy texts of the Hindus. However, what really captures your eyes is a pond in the centre of the temple – ‘Porthamarai Kulam.’ Meaning “pond with a golden lotus“. Actually, there is a golden lotus placed at the centre of the pond. And it is believed that Lord Shiva blessed this pond stating no marine life would ever grow in it or pollute it.

 

Major Gopurams of the Meenakshi Temple Madurai

There are 14 major gopurams or towers in the Meenakshi Amman Temple of Madurai. All of these are identical tall towers. And they have numerous sculptures and carvings on them. Basically, depicting the mythological stories and scenes from the Hindu Holy texts. Some of the major Gopurams include :

• Kadaka Gopuram – This 5 storied gateway leads to the main shrine that houses Goddess Meenakshi. The gateway was rebuilt by Tumpichi Nayakkar during the mid-16th century.
• Sundareswarar Shrine Gopuram – The oldest ‘gopuram’ of the temple, gateway to the Shiva Shrine. Which was built by Kulasekara Pandya.
• Mottai Gopuram – The only gopuram which had no roof for nearly three centuries.
• Nayaka Gopuram – Built by Visvappa Nayakkar . Very similar to  ‘Palahai Gopuram.’
• Chitra Gopuram – Built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan II, the gopuram depicts the religious and secular essence of Hinduism.
• Nadukkattu Gopuram – Also called as the ‘Idaikattu Gopuram,’ this gateway leads to the Ganesha shrine.

 

Some of the carvings on the Gopurams of Meenakshi Amman Temple:

 

 

Major Mandapams of Meenakshi Temple Madurai

Apart from the gopurams, the temple has several Mandapas – pillared halls with hundreds of pillars. Actually these were built to enable the visitors to rest here. The major mandapas include:

• Ayirakkal Mandapam – Meaning ‘hall with thousand pillars.’ As it is supported by 985 pillars. Each and every pillar has images of Yali, a mythological creature apart from other scultpures.
• Kilikoondu Mandapam – Originally built to house parrots which were trained to say ‘Meenakshi’. It stands adjacent to the Meenakshi shrine. And has sculptures of characters from important Hindu holy book Mahabharata.
• Ashta Shakthi Mandapam – This hall houses the sculptures of eight goddesses. It lies between the main ‘gopuram’ and the gateway that leads to the Meenakshi shrine.
• Nayaka Mandapam – Built by Chinnappa Nayakkar. This hall has 100 pillars and houses a Nataraja statue.

Interesting legend associated with Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

There is a very interesting legend associated with Meenakshi Amman Temple. As per the legend, the king named Malayadwaja Pandya along with his wife Kanchanamalai performed a “yagya” to get blessed with a son. However, out of the fire of the yagya emerged a 3 year old girl – Meenakshi. While they were concerned upon not getting a “son” as their hire, a divine voice guided them to raise the girl as their son. And assured them that future would be great this way. Meenakshi ruled the ancient city of Madurai . And she also captured several of the neighbouring kingdoms. The legend further states that she eventually captured Indralok, the abode of Lord Indra. And was on her way to capture Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, as well.

At this point lord Shiva appeared in front of her. And this forced her to change in her original form – that of goddess Parvati. They were married at the sacred place where the Meenakshi Amman Temple exists as of today. It is notable that most of the saivism temples have Shiva as their main diety. But Meenakshi Amman Temple is one exception. Which celebrates the power of women in the form of “Meenakshi” or “Parvati”. As a. result of this legend, tradition established in South India, particularly this region to consider women as the major power holders in family and society. They were always consulted in important matters. And their positions upheld.

Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai Timings

Usual visiting hours for darshan:

9:00am to 12:00pm and 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Although, at around 7:00pm, the curtains to the main diety are drawn. While the priests get the Goddess ready for evening Puja and offer “bhog”. This piece of information I didn’t find explicitly mentioned anywhere. So, while we reached for darshan around 7:00pm in the evening, we had to wait standing in the queue for some half an hour. And the actual darshan started from 7:30 pm.

How to reach the Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

The Meenakshi Temple lies in the centre of the town of Madurai. This temple town of Tamil Nadu is well connected with most of the other towns of South India via road and rail. It is almost 450km from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu and at almost equal distance from Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka. We visited here on a road trip from Bangalore to Madurai. However, once in the city, we checked-in, parked our vehicle and then took an auto rickshaw to the temple. Since, there is a lot of rush to the temple, the streets are narrow and there is no dedicated parking. So, better to take a local mode of transport to reach the temple.

In fact, you can combine a trip to the Meenakshi Amman Temple along with a visit to the Thirumalai Nayakar Palace which is nearby. And then you can go on a temple trail in Madurai. As a part of which you get to visit many other important temples of Madurai.

Is there a dress code to visit the Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai ?

Officially, there is no dress code applied in the Meenakshi Amman Temple. But, to respect the traditions, one is encouraged to wear traditional Indian dresses. As a result, it is preferred that women wear saree or salwar-kurti-dupatta and men wear a kurta or shirt with dhoti or pyjamas. In short, no shorts, lungis, jeans or western dresses. Actually a few years ago, the Tamil Nadu government placed a rule defining dress code to enter the temples, particularly the major ones. While at some places they have been strictly implemented, at others they are relaxed still. So, why to take a chance. In my opinion, respect the traditions and go visit the temple in traditional attires.

Other rules while visiting the Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

There are a few other rules while visiting the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai. While information on some of these is available on the internet, it might be limited or unavailable on the others. So, let me summarise here for you based on what I recall best :

1. There is a dedicated place to deposit your phone in locker before you enter the main temple. It has a charge of INR 5 per phone for depositing. The person there will deposit your phone in a locker and give you a slip. Some prefer to leave their phones at their hotel room while visiting the temple.

2. The same place which has locker for phones also has place to deposit your shoes. Again at a minimal fee of INR 5 per pair of shoes. However it was super crowded here with a big queue of people waiting to deposit their shoes and slippers. So, we took another strategy. From one of the shops on the opposite side, we bought some prasad and flowers. And then deposited our shoes with them only. This way, we avoided the crowd and rush at the designated shoe counter. Although, I saw many leaving their shoes on the street also while they entered the temple.

3. There is a security frisking before you enter the temple.

4. You can carry your purse, wallet and other essentials like hand sanitiser etc with you inside the temple.

5. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the temple. So you can’t carry a camera either, neither your phone.

Darshan at Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

Once you enter the temple, you can take a queue for the general Darshan. The darshan to the main temple is free. But for other shrines it’s charged at INR 50 per head. The queues here are really long. Once you have the tickets, you can proceed further in the queue till you reach in front when you get a few moments for the darshan. And then there are “special darshan” tickets and “special puja” tickets just like many other big temples of South India. The charges vary depending on whether you just want a special darshan. In that case you need not stand in the queue but can have immediate darshan. Or, in case you want to do special puja. Then depending on what kind of puja you want to offer, the charges again vary.

To be honest, I never prefer taking the special darshan tickets. Because I believe that everyone has equal rights to offering prayers and seeing the idol in the temple. And one shouldn’t be given preference over others just because they can spend more money. However, given it is covid time and the temple was really crowded. So, we decided to pay an agent this one time. After discussing the cost (INR 500 per head, not sure if it is fixed or varies) , we went with him to the front of the queue. Where a priest helped us to the front. And we got the darshan as soon as the curtains to the idol raised.

Darshan Tickets and Entry fee at Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

Ticket charges in Meenakshi Temple Madurai :

Main temple : free for Hindus, INR 50 per head for foreigners

Other temples within the campus : INR 50 per temple per head

Special Darshan : varies between INR 200-500 per head depending on the agent you deal with.

When to visit the Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

The temple town of Madurai has a hot and humid climate all through the year. But it gets really hot in the summer months. Winter months of October – March will be more comfortable for visiting here. However, the temple attracts over a million pilgrims and visitors during the annual 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival. This is basically the wedding of Parvati and Shiva in association with the legend of the temple. Which is celebrated every year.  And which also sees a ratha (chariot) procession. This festival is celebrated during the Tamil month of Chittirai. Which is equivalent to the English months of April – May. So, if you really want to witness this festivity then plan accordingly. Even in general days, it will easily take more than an hour to visit the Meenakshi Amman Temple.

 

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