History of Meenakshi Temple Madurai
Mudara Meenakshi Temple is also known as Meenakshi Amman or Minakshi-Sundareshwara Temple. It is a famous historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River, in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Meenakshi temple is dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort, Sundareswar, a form of Shiva.
The temple is a major pilgrimage within the Shaivism tradition, which dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi Devi and Lord Shiva. The temple also includes Vishnu in many narratives, sculptures and rituals as he is considered to be Meenakshi’s brother. This has made this temple and Madurai as the “southern Mathura”, which included in Vaishnava texts.
The Madurai Meenakshi temple also includes Lakshmi, flute playing Krishna, Rukmini, Brahma, Saraswati, other Vedic and Puranic deities, as well as artwork showing narratives from major Hindu texts.
It is believed that Lord Shiva assumed the form of Sundareswarar- the handsome one and married to Parvati – Meenakshi at the place where the temple is currently located. Due to its astonishing architecture, Meenakshi Temple was nominated as one of the wonders of the world, but couldn’t make it into the list of ‘Seven Wonders of the World’.
The Madurai Meenakshi temple is definitely one of the ‘Wonders of India’. It is also one of the main attractions of South India with thousands of devotees visiting it every day. The ‘Tirukalyanam Festival,’ is the main festival, which takes place over a period of 10 days, the temple attracts more than a million devotees. The temple is well-maintained and was named the ‘Best Swachh Iconic Place’ – cleanest iconic place in India.