Mandirs in Maduraiਮਦੁਰੈ ਦੇ ਮੰਦਰ

Madurai, on the Vaigai river in Tamil Nadu, is one of India's great temple cities, and its mandirs show three different faces of Tamil devotion: a goddess who rules the city, a Vishnu temple where the god appears in three postures at once, and a rock-cut hill temple where Murugan was married. This guide covers the three shrines at the heart of a pilgrim's Madurai: the Meenakshi Temple, Koodal Azhagar Temple and Thiruparankundram. Jugti's full entry for the first is linked below; the other two are introduced here and will receive their own full entries in time.

Meenakshi Temple: the goddess who rules Madurai

On the southern bank of the Vaigai stands the Meenakshi Temple, dedicated to Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort Sundareswarar, Shiva. Unusually, the goddess leads here: devotees visit her shrine first, and tradition in Madurai treats her as the city's ruler, born in Madurai itself, while Shiva came as a bridegroom from elsewhere. The complex covers about 14 acres inside concentric walled enclosures, with four great gopurams on the outer walls and ten smaller ones; the tallest, the southern tower, rises to about 170 feet. Inside are the twin shrines, the golden lotus pond, and the thousand-pillared hall. The temple's present form grew in layers: early Pandya building in the 12th and 13th centuries, destruction in the 14th century, Vijayanagara rebuilding, and extensive expansion under the Madurai Nayaks in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its greatest festival is Meenakshi Tirukalyanam, the divine wedding, and the west gopuram of this temple is the model for the state emblem of Tamil Nadu.

Koodal Azhagar: Vishnu in three postures

A short walk from the Meenakshi Temple stands Koodal Azhagar Temple, Madurai's great Vishnu shrine and one of the 108 Divya Desams, where Vishnu is worshipped as Viyooga Sundarrajan with Lakshmi as Mathuravalli. Koodal is an old name for Madurai itself. The temple is sung in Sangam literature and in the Alvar hymns of the 6th to 9th centuries; it was built first by the Pandyas and enlarged by Vijayanagara and the Madurai Nayaks in the 16th century. Its rarity is the sanctum: over about 2 acres enclosed by granite walls, beneath an eight-part Ashtanga Vimana whose shadow, devotees say, never falls on the ground, Vishnu appears in three forms on three levels: seated as Koodal Azhagar, reclining, and standing. The gateway tower is a five-tiered rajagopuram about 125 feet high. Vaishnava tradition ties the temple to Periyalvar, whose Tirupallandu, the opening hymn of Vishnu worship to this day, is linked by Ramanuja's tradition to Madurai. The temple's great festival is the fourteen-day Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi, May to June, and, unusually for a Vishnu temple, it has a Navagraha shrine.

Thiruparankundram: the first abode of Murugan

Eight kilometres south-west of the city, a granite hill rises about 1,050 feet, and cut into its base is the Subramaniya Swamy Temple of Thiruparankundram, counted the first of the six abodes of Murugan, the Arupadai Veedu. Tamil tradition tells that Murugan, after defeating the asura Surapadman at Tiruchendur, married Deivanai, daughter of Indra, here, and worshipped his father Shiva on this hill as Parangirinathar. The rock-cut temple is credited to the Pandyas of the 6th century, with life-sized sculpture added under the Nayaks in the 16th century; a seven-tiered rajagopuram about 150 feet high stands at the entrance. Inside the rock-cut sanctum, Murugan is carved from a single stone, and Shiva and Vishnu face each other, a rare arrangement. The hill itself is layered history: Tamil-Brahmi inscribed Jain cave beds of around the 1st century BCE near the top, and the Kasi Viswanathar shrine at the summit. Kanda Sashti, in the Tamil month of Aipasi, when Murugan's victory is enacted, is the temple's most prominent festival.

How do the three temples fit together on a visit?

The Meenakshi Temple and Koodal Azhagar stand minutes apart in the old city, goddess and Vishnu side by side, and most pilgrims do both in one morning; Thiruparankundram makes the half-day trip out to the hill. Together the three show Madurai whole: Shakta, Vaishnava and Murugan devotion in one city, all of it classic Dravida temple architecture. This guide is part of Jugti's mandirs in India collection.

All Mandirs in Madurai

• Meenakshi Temple : the great goddess temple on the Vaigai, 14 acres of gopurams, the golden lotus pond and the thousand-pillared hall
• Koodal Azhagar Temple: Madurai's Divya Desam of Vishnu, where the god appears seated, reclining and standing under one Ashtanga Vimana (full entry coming)
• Thiruparankundram Subramaniya Swamy Temple: the rock-cut first abode of Murugan, 8 km from the city, where tradition places his marriage to Deivanai (full entry coming)