The Pandyan King Malayadhwaja and Queen Kanchanmala performed a yagya for a son. Instead a girl appeared from the yagya fire. The princess was considered to be an incarnation of the Goddess Parvati. The Gods advised the royal couple to bring up their daughter as the heir to the throne. She was named Meenakshi as her eyes were beautiful Meenakshi means 'fish-eyed' in Sanskrit.
When her father died, Meenakshi became the queen and began an expedition of conquests and after conquering many kingdoms, when she reached Swarga in the Himalayas she came into conflict with the Gods. Gods started losing the battle and Gods requested Lord Shiva to save them and when Lord Shiva appeared on the battlefield Meenakshi’s she knew she had finally found her husband. Meenakshi requested Lord Shiva to marry her and he benignly consented.
Lord Shiva told her to return and wait for him at Madurai. He arrived 8 days later in the resplendent form of Sundareshwara, the handsome Lord married the beautiful Meenakshi in a magnificent ceremony called Thirukalyanam. This is the reason that Lord Shiva is known as Sundareshwara in Madurai.
Lord Vishnu attended the wedding and appeared riding on a golden horse to give the bride away. Later the divine couple had a handsome son called Subramanya also called Kartikeya. Later Subramanya also celebrated his own marriage at Madurai.
In Madurai, the worship of the Meenakshi is intimately intertwined with the worship of Lord Shiva as they are at the heart of the universe as Purusha and Prakriti – spirit and nature. The temple is a major pilgrimage destination for the Shaivism tradition , dedicated to Meenakshi Devi and Lord Shiva as Sundareshwara.