Hotel Sangam Madurai
Well after another interesting day we arrived at our hotel in Hotel Sangam Madurai . The Sangam Hotel in Madurai is located just 4 kms from the Meenakshi Amman temple. With 50 rooms the Madurai. Sangam Hotel is a favorite amongst tourists visiting the temples and cultural institutions in Madurai.
After an hour to catch our breath Sudhakar lead us to the Thirumal Naick Palace (Night) for a light show at the palace and a view of Madurai at Night . Each village in India is actually two villages. A daytime and a nighttime village. I love New York City. But when someone says “the city that never sleeps” they obviously have not been to India. If you have not seen Madurai at night you truly cannot know what it means “city that never sleeps.”
Day 9 OCTOBER 01 Sri Meenakshi Temple •
This morning we set out on a tour of Madurai 1, the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu. An important Hindu pilgrimage site, Madurai draws large numbers of worshippers making puja (prayer ceremonies.) The city dates back more than 2,500 years, making it one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the entire subcontinent—and also one of the most culturally diverse. The bustling marketplaces and streets merge concentrically like lotus petals around Sundareswarar Meenakshi, the fortress-like temple in the center of the city. Meenakshi’s labyrinthine grounds are dedicated to the Hindu Lord Shiva who, as legend has it, descended on Madurai to bless the city during its first days, and showered divine nectar down from his locks, giving Madurai its original name, Madhurapuri, the “City of Divine Nectar.”
Meenakshi Amman Temple
At the Sri Meenakshi Temple (A) they do not allow photographic cameras. But they allow use of a cell phone camera – Go Figure. It is one of the few temples in Tamil Nadu to have four entrances each facing the four directions. We enter through the North Gopurams, the pyramid-shaped, highly colored tiers of sculptures, gateway entrances to the temple complex. Meenakshi Amman Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Parvati (known as Meenakshi,) and her consort, Shiva (Sundareswarar.) The temple is the heart of Madurai, mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature though the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655 CE. It is one of the largest temple complexes in Tamil Nadu.. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple. The temple complex covers about 45 acres. The temple was on the list of top 30 nominees for the "New Seven Wonders of the World". >Sri Meenakshi Temple (B) >Sri Meenakshi Temple (C)
Now that our souls have been cleansed it is time for some wallet cleaning as we visit a rug and art shop Rug Art Shop. I discovered a stairway to the roof. On the roof I had views of one of the temple’s beautiful gopurams. By careful position I took a photo of a statue of Parvati on the roof with the gopuram in the background. I must have taken 30 photos of the statue and gopuram. I selected two that I hope you will like. It was then to Madurai Central Market with vendors selling anything and everything from tailors, cloth fabrics, spices, foods, to kitchen pots and pans. We picked out some material and had some pants and shirts made. They were delivered to the hotel later in the afternoon. On the return to the hotel we were treated to more scenes of Madurai 2. Gail and I decided to take a quick visit to Mahatma Gandhi Museum
When we arrived back to the Hotel Sangam Madurai a priest was performing puja for the evening festival of Kolu, during the festival of Navratri. The festival is known as Kolu (Festival of Dolls.) The festival is an exhibition of dolls and figurines displayed in odd numbered steps (usually 7, 9, or 11). Kolu in Tamil means Divine Presence. Kolu represents the divine presence of the Hindu Goddesses Saraswati, Parvati and Laxmi in their houses during Navaratri (Nine nights.) When people come to a house to see the Kolu girls and married women are given small gifts. In the evenings, a Kuthuvilakku (brass lamp) is lit in the middle of a decorated Kolam, before the Kolu and devotional hymns and Shlokas are chanted. After performing the Puja, the food items that have been prepared are offered to the goddesses and guests.
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