India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (189 page)

5 Madurai

498km (309 miles) SW of Chennai; 100km (62 miles) S of Trichy

The holy temple town Madurai—apparently named for the nectar that flowed from Shiva’s hair as a blessing for the new city (
madhuram
is the Tamil word for sweetness)—was built by the Pandyan king Kulasekara. The oldest living city in the Indian peninsula, it was the capital of a kingdom that ruled much of South India during the 4th century
B.C
., and conducted trade as far afield as Greece, Rome and China—one of the earliest written records of its splendors, written by the Greek ambassador Megasthenes, dates from 302
B.C
. Along with great wealth, Madurai generated great festivals of poetry and writing—the
Tamil Sangams
—the first of which are said to have been held 2 millennia ago. Throughout its history, various dynasties battled to control the city. The Pandyas made it their capital for 1,000 years, only relinquishing control during the 10th century to the Chola king Parantaka. During the 13th century, after enjoying a brief spell as an independent Sultanate, it joined the Hindu Vijayanagar empire, who ruled from Hampi, leaving the administration to the Nayaks. The Vijayanagars built much of the temple during their reign, which lasted until the 16th century, when the Nayaks wrest control from the Vijayanagar. The Nayaks invested heavily in their city, building it on the pattern of a lotus, until the arrival of the British in 1736.

Today Madurai, Tamil Nadu’s second-largest city, is a hodge-podge of chaotic streets and rutted lanes leading into industrial sectors plagued by pollution and traffic jams and other ills characteristic of unchecked development. The heart of it is—the streets a series of concentric squares surrounding the Meenakshi temple, forming a mandala that is believed to be activated by the myriad devotees’ clockwise perambulations of the temple—unchanged for almost two thousand years, and atmospherically charged (similar in some ways to Varanasi, India’s ancient city in the north). It is a fascinating city, a place of pilgrimage and joy, and in many ways the embodiment of Tamil Nadu’s temple culture. Certainly the labyrinthine
Meenakshi Temple
—celebrating the love of the Meenakshi goddess and her groom, Sundareswarar (the “Handsome God”), an avatar of Lord Shiva—is easily our first choice among Tamil Nadu’s temple destinations.

ESSENTIALS

GETTING THERE & AWAY
There are flights connecting
Madurai to Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Bangalore, and Mumbai. The
airport
is 12km (7 1⁄2 miles) south of the city center.
Jet Airways,
Air Deccan,
and
Kingfisher
offer flights; check
www.yutra.com
for best deals. Taxis charge around Rs 300. Trains from all over southern India pull in at
Madurai Junction Railway Station
(W. Veli St.;
0452/274-3131
), which has a good Tourism Department information center that is open daily. The train journey from Chennai is 8 hours (via Trichy); from Bangalore, 11 hours. From Pondicherry you’ll need to catch a cab to Villipuram (30-min. drive) then travel for 6 hours by train. There are two bus stands: The Central Bus Stand (7km/4 1⁄3 miles from center) is the arrival point from Chennai and other north, south, and eastern districts. If you are arriving from the west, including Kerala, you will disembark at Arapalayam Bus Stand (2km/1 1⁄4 miles from railway station). If you’re traveling by car, a 10-hour direct journey from Chennai, it’s best to overnight along the way, preferably in the Chettinad area. The drive between Madurai and Kochi in Kerala takes 8 hours; best to overnight in Munnar or the Periyar area, or you could head over the Ghats via Elephant Hills in the Kodaikanal area (see box).

VISITOR INFORMATION
Staff at the
Government of Tamil Nadu Tourist Office
(W. Veli St., next to the Tamil Nadu Hotel;
0452/233-4757;
Mon–Fri 10am–5:45pm; Sat 10am–1pm) provides maps, advice on government-sponsored hotels and shops, and recommendations on guides. As elsewhere, beware of fake “official guides” you meet on the streets.

GETTING AROUND
Auto-rickshaw drivers tend to have a field day with foreign visitors; establish a flat rate before heading off.

FESTIVALS
Try to time your visit to coincide with the
Chittrai Festival,
held at the end of April/early May, when Shree Meenakshi’s marriage to Lord Sundareswara is celebrated by dragging the divine couple from temple to temple on magnificent chariots, accompanied by elephants and drummers, with revelers reaching fever-pitch radiance. The couple is again heralded during the
Teppam Festival
(aka “Float” Festival), held sometime in January and February (traditionally then the most auspicious time of the year to get married in Madurai), when they are set afloat on a beautifully adorned raft in the tank near the Thirupparankundram Temple. It’s supposed to be a romantic interlude for the couple, who consummate their passion later that night in the temple. Another good time is during the
Avanimoola Festival,
held in late August through early September, when temple cars are heaved through the streets by hundreds of devotees.

WHAT TO SEE & DO

The principal reason to visit Madurai—for you as well as for tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims—is to experience the ecstatic spiritual life of
Meenakshi Temple;
though the numbers of international tourists traipsing about (and the introduction of an entrance fee for foreigners) has unfortunately made the experience a little more commercial, it is still a magnificent temple, particularly at 8:30pm when the evening
“aarti”
takes place (see below).

Legend recalls that Meenakshi began life as a glorious princess, born of fire with three breasts and eyes like a fish. As she grew older, she overpowered all the gods with her impossible beauty until she encountered Shiva, upon which her third breast disappeared, as was foretold, and she immediately proposed to him. Madurai is where the divine couple was married, and where their celestial union is celebrated daily, making Madurai one of the holiest cities in India

While sitting inside the temple itself can provide hours of entertainment and a palpable sense of Tamil Nadu’s deep spirituality (as well as a sense of its religious commerce), the streets immediately near the great temple are full of character, and are best experienced by just wandering around. Head down Nethaji Road (exit from the West Gate) and keep your camera handy for the great view back down the narrow stall-lined road, over which the magnificent
goparum
towers.

Not far from the temple,
Tirumalai Nayak Mahal
(Palace Rd.; 1.6km/1 mile north of temple,
0452/233-2945;
admission Rs 50; daily 9am–1pm and 2–5pm) is a 17th-century Indo-Saracenic palace built by Tirumalai Nayak, much of it dismantled by his grandson, who rebuilt his palace in Tiruchirapalli; the remaining parts were later restored by Madras governor Lord Napier in 1858. Aside from the “Heavenly Pavillion”—a rectangular courtyard with 18m-high (59 ft.) colonnades—not much of the original atmosphere survives, and it’s a bit of a letdown after the vibrancy of the temple.

Fans of the Mahatma may be interested to know that it was in Madurai in 1921 that Gandhi historically exchanged his
kurta
and
dhoti
wardrobe for the loincloth, typically worn by the poor. Today the bloodstained
khadi
loincloth
he wore when he was assassinated is encased in a glass shrine at
Gandhi Memorial Museum,
which chronicles India’s history leading up to independence (Tamukkam, 5km/3 miles east of the city center;
0452/253-1060;
www.madurai.com/gandhi.htm
; free admission; daily 10am–1pm and 2–5:45pm). Avoid the adjacent
Government Museum,
where visitors experience 2 million years of history in 30 seconds as they whiz past a 9th-century Vishnu statue, 12th-century Pandyan works, undated Chola statues, and a stuffed polar bear.

If the Meenakshi Temple doesn’t blow you away, and you’d like to experience a truly authentic temple experience as yet untainted by any form of tourism, take a rickshaw to
Thirupparankundram Temple
, 8km (5 miles) from Madurai center, but very much part of the continuous sprawl of the temple town. While it’s by no means as decorative as the Meenakshi Temple, this evocative cave temple is older and has a very sacred atmosphere, particularly on Friday, when women with marriage or family troubles place candles or sit on the temple floor and create
rangoli
patterns on the ground, using colored powders, ash, and flowers as offerings to Durga. Take a few rupees along to offer to the resident temple elephant,
Owayat,
who shuffles and waits to bestow blessings after gracefully accepting your offering in his cupped trunk. If you make it into the inner sanctum (strictly speaking not allowed, but the friendly priests may turn a blind eye) you will see the ghee-blackened carvings of the gods, carved into the holy mountainside on which the temple has been built.