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All India Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

Meenakshi Amman Temple

This ancient Hindu temple is covered in thousands of colorful statues and has a long mythological history.

Madurai, India

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Lew Blank
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Man and a cow   cotaro70s / Some Rights Reserved
Colorful temple with thousands of figures   Ashok Prabhakaran / Some Rights Reserved
Multiple Hindu gods   cotaro70s / Some Rights Reserved
Variety of painted colors   Some Rights Reserved
High up on the tower   cotaro70s / Some Rights Reserved
Close up of temple detail   strudelt / Some Rights Reserved
Close up of the figurines   NeilsPhotography / Some Rights Reserved
Meenakshi Sundareshwar Temple   John Hoey / Some Rights Reserved
Some of Madurai’s 14 towers   Jorge Royan / CC BY-SA 3.0
Panorama of the temple and thousands of worshipers   எஸ்ஸார் / CC BY 3.0
Chithirai Festival   Military karthick / CC BY 3.0
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  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
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The Meenakshi Amman Temple is the heart of the ancient city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. A religious and mythological symbol dating back 2,500 years, the temple's 14 towers are each covered in thousands of colorful stone figures depicting animals, gods and demons. 

This sacred site draws in upwards of one million visitors each year for the 10-day Chithirai Festival to celebrate the marriage of Meenakshi (the Hindu Goddess Parvati) to Sundareswara (the Hindu God Shiva) — a divine marriage believed by Hindus to be the "biggest event on Earth." 

According to ancient Tamil literature, the Meenakshi Amman Temple was originally built 2,500 years ago by survivors of the lost continent Kumari Kandam, a mythological triangle-shaped continent that was said to span the Indian Ocean, touching Australia, Madagascar and India. Although this continent's existence is currently disproven, members of the Tamil Renaissance Movement once believed it to be the hearth of Tamil culture.

But that's all mythology. In fact, the temple was built by Tamil Hindus native to southeastern India, and it first appeared in recorded history in the 600s AD. In the 1300s, the sacred structure was ransacked and destroyed by the Muslim general Malik Kafur in a successful attempt to spread Islam to Madurai. It wasn't until nearly 250 years later, in 1559, that the structure was rebuilt by the first Nayak king of Madurai.

The Meenakshi Amman Temple remains standing today, the tallest tower reaching 170 feet high. The historic temple was even nominated for the New Seven Wonders of the World. 

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lewblank

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rahulanr, Collector of Experiences, Lee Scott

  • rahulanr
  • Collector of Experiences
  • Lee Scott

Published

June 2, 2016

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Amman_Temple
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madurai_Sultanate
  • http://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2014/10/first-muslim-invasion-to-tamil-nadu.html
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyan_dynasty
  • https://books.google.com/books?id=6L6avTlqJNYC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=sundara+asked+kafur+to+come+to+madurai&source=bl&ots=BqM8eK7goC&sig=WoMEjIKlUF3pFo6pBgqxIn4HnEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm9qjXvv3MAhUGE1IKHbICBzIQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=sundara%20asked%20kafur%20to%20come%20to%20madurai&f=false
Meenakshi Amman Temple
Madurai, 625001
India
9.9195, 78.1193

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