India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (190 page)

Last, if you’re up for one more temple experience, set aside a day (or preferably two, given the long drive) to visit
Rameshwaram.
An island off the southern tip of India, Rameshwaram has a legendary role in the epic of Lord Rama and is today considered by many to be the second holiest place in India for Hindus (after Varanasi). It’s not en route to any other sites, so you will have to return the way you came; it’s also a little far for a day trip (350km/217 miles round-trip), though many foreign visitors tend to opt for this, given the lack of pleasant accommodation options on the sacred island. (if you do decide to stay, we recommend the
Hotel Royal Park,
just 2km (1 1⁄4 miles) from the temple, with has standard amenities and room facilities;
04573/221-680;
www.hotelroyalpark.in
).

It’s also worth being warned that the smell from the nearby waters is, on certain days, appalling. Aside from the temple’s incredible pillared courtyard, the key attraction and worth seeing, it is not architecturally on a par with the Meenakshi Temple, but the carnival-like atmosphere—created by domestic pilgrims for whom a visit here is the fulfillment of a spiritual quest to visit the seven holy sites of Varanasi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Pushkar, Kanchipuram, Madurai, and Rameshwaram—is what a trip to the temple destinations of India is all about.

Perfume City

While walking through the temple you will come across women selling garlands of jasmine flowers—purchase one for a small donation (Rs 10/Rs 20) and ask the seller to tie the garland in your or your female companion’s hair, or simply hang it around your neck and breathe in the sublime perfume of the Madurai jasmine flowers, said to give off a unique fragrance, for which tons are exported all over the world. If you’re here for a few days make time to visit the city’s bustling 24-hour flower market, located behind the equally compelling fruit and vegetable market (between North Chitrai and North Avani Moola sts.) where vendors deal in masses of the most gorgeous blooms, many of them destined to become temple or wedding garlands.

Pulling Out Sin

You may notice devotees, particularly of Ganesh, standing before their god and tugging their ears—this action is symbolic of pulling out sin!

Shri Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar Temple
One of South India’s biggest, busiest pilgrimage sites, attracting up to 15,000 devotees a day, this sprawling temple, always undergoing renovation and repairs, is a place of intense spiritual activity. A 6m-high (20-ft.) wall surrounds the complex, and 12 looming
goparums
(pyramidal gateways)—the most impressive in south India, with the four highest reaching 46m (151 ft.)—mark the various entrances. Garish stucco gods, demons, beasts, and heroes smother these towers in a writhing, fascinating mass of symbolism, vividly painted in a riot of bright Disneyesque colors—these are repainted every 12 years and currently (painted in 2008) looking absolutely gorgeous. Traditionally, entrance to the complex is through the eastern
Ashta Shakti Mandapa,
a hall of pillars graced by sculptural representations of the goddess Shakti in her many aspects, and devotees then perambulate in a clockwise direction but you are welcome to enter through any gate (the northern gate is quieter, and you can see the houses of the priests, some 50 of whom are in the temple’s employ, and live communally in the humble lane leading up to the gate), and then wander at will. Adjacent to the mandapa is
Meenakshi Nayaka Mandapa,
where pilgrims purchase all manner of devotional paraphernalia and holy souvenirs. Near the inner gate, a temple elephant earns her keep by accepting a few rupees’ donation in exchange for the usual blessing—bestowed with a light tap of her dexterous trunk (note that if you wish to photograph her you would do well to donate a few rupees rather than just take a photograph and irritate her mahout). From here you can wander in any direction, finding your way at some stage to the impressive 16th-century Hall of a Thousand Pillars. This hall (or museum, as it is also called) has 985 elegantly sculpted columns, including a set of “musical pillars” that produce the seven Carnatic musical notes when tapped (a ticket officer will gladly demonstrate in exchange for a tip).

All around the complex of shrines and effigies, various
pujas
(prayers) and rituals are conducted as spontaneous expressions of personal, elated devotion, or under the guiding hand of the bare-chested Brahmin priest (also identified by their shaved foreheads, long hair tied in a knot, three horizontal stripes of ash on their forehead, signifying that they are Shaivite and brass trays with camphor and ash offerings). Layer upon layer of ghee and oil have turned surfaces of many of the statues smooth and black, with daubs of turmeric and vermilion powder sprinkled on by believers seeking blessings and hope.

At the heart of the complex are the
sanctums
of the goddess Meenakshi (Parvati)
and
of Sundareshvara (Shiva).
What often eludes visitors to the heaving temple at Madurai is the city’s deeply imbedded cult of fertility; behind the reverence and severity of worship, the Meenakshi Temple is a celebration of the divine union of the eternal lovers, represented symbolically at around 8:30pm (could be earlier or later; ask on the day) when they are ceremoniously carried (a ritual you can observe until they enter the inner sanctum, which is off-limits to non-Hindus) before Shiva is deposited in the Meenakshi’s chamber (whose nose ring is even removed so as not to get in the way), retired for an evening of celestial fornication. This is the time to head

for the stairs around the great tank, where devotees gather to chat and relax at the end of the day. Many of the groups of people you see sitting around are in fact arranging their own unions; the temple is a place where men and women of marriageable age are presented to families.

Temple Tips:

• Dress sensibly: Visitors, both male and female, must be discreetly dressed to gain access—no exposed shoulders or bare midriffs or legs.

• Get a guide: For your first visit it is highly recommended that you do so accompanied by a good guide. We recommend you contact and book a visit with the knowledgeable, eloquent
Rishi
before even leaving (mobile
9843065687
or [email protected]).

• Temple times: After visiting with a guide, go back just to wander around and enjoy the atmospheric scenes; serious photographers will also get very different photographs at various times of the day. A visit at the end of the day (around 8:30 or 9pm) when the divine couple is put to bed is recommended.

• Photographers take note: The taking of photographs must be discreet. People are here to worship and any form of intrusion by Westerners taking photographs is rude.