What is the specialty of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple?

 Located on the South Bank of ‘River Vaigai', Meenakshi Temple is dedicated to 'Meenakshi’ (Eswari) and ‘Sundareswarar’ (Siva). The temple complex is of 14 Acres.

The temple is one of the major temples for Sivaism. Unlike many Sivaite temples, in Madurai Meenakshi is the ‘main deity' as it is believed in some Southern parts 'penultimate (spiritual) powers rest with the women'. Vaishnavites also come in large numbers as it has many narratives of 'Vishnu'. According to them it is called ‘Southern Mathura'. It is Vishnu giving away his sister bride Meenakshi to bridegroom Shiva in Madurai.

This temple is mentioned in 6 Century CE Texts. It is also mentioned in ‘Saiva Hymns' (Padaal Petra stalam) of ‘Nayanars’ (hounds of Siva) of 6–9th Century CE Texts.

The temple has 14 ‘gateway towers' and the tallest one is of 170 feet height. The towers of Sanctums of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar are ‘gold gilded' ones.

The streets radiating from temple bear the names of Tamil months — Chitrak (1st month of Tamil year), Aadi (4th month), Aavani (5th month) and Masi (11th month). In each of these months the procession of dieties (bronze forms) happens through these streets.

Major portions of the today's temple was built by Pandya King ‘Sadayavarman Kulasekara Pandyan'. After him, many Pandya Kings undertook additional constructions, alterations and renovations in the temple. King Tirumala Nayaka also undertook restoration work in 17th Century CE.

The ‘golden lotus tank' inside the temple opposite to main deity's entrance has many significant relevance. The Rishis (Saints) used to take holy dip in the tank and pray the God by reciting hymns.

Normally a Siva Temple in Tamilnadu has many dieties, some temples have more than 100 deities. You can see deities of ‘Ganesha, various forms of Siva, Eswari, Shanmugha, Durga, Brahma, Saraswati, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Dakshinamoorthy, Bhairav, etc'.

‘Kadamba’ in Tamil (Bur-flower tree) is the tree of the temple.

The temple is considered for ‘Planet Mercury'. Those who have influence or dissuaded by Mercury offer prayers here. It is advisable to those who born in Gemini and Virgo to offer prayers here. The temple is considered one of the holy places for marriages. Dakshinamoorthy in this temple is the deity for Birthstar 'Moola’ (19th Star in order).

Madurai is one of the ‘5 dancing sabhas' of Shiva. This sabha is called 'Silver Sabha’. The dancing form of Shiva is called ‘Sandhya Dandavam'.

The temple houses a ‘1000 pillared hall'. (A very few temples in Tamilnadu has).

The statues of 63 Nayanars who recited 'Saiva Hymns’ are located at South corridor of the temple. The Nayanars who wrote hymns on this temple are:

🕉️ Manikka Vasagar

🕉️ Thirugnana Sambandhar

🕉️ Thirunavukkarasar

Their hymns narrate the holiness of the Deities, Holy Water and this Holy Place.

The temple is one of the treasures of sculptures. Numerous sculpted pillars can be seen.

A ‘10 day festival' of ‘Meenakshi Marriage' with Sundareswarar takes place during April — May every year.

During that time ‘Chariot Procession' takes place around the temple. The

Why was Lord Shiva called as Sundareshwara in Madurai?

 In Madurai there is a famous temple called Meenakshi Amman Temple. It is dedicated to the Goddess Meenakshi , a form of Shakti, and her consort, Sundareshwara, a form of Shiva. Goddess Meenakshi is an aspect of Goddess Parvati. Sundareswara is the handsome Lord, who is an aspect of the great God Shiva.

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.