Courtyard in front of the grand throne chamber
Massive columns surround the courtyard.
25-meter-high dome of the grand throne chamber
Natakasala (Dance Hall) detail
Shops spill out onto the sidewalk in Madurai.
17 January Madurai
I arrived in this busy city around mid-day and had
lunch at a restaurant near the train station. My Airbnb lay well to the
northeast of the center, and I tried the Ola Cab app to book a ride there, which
worked well. My host at the Airbnb ‘A Spacious Home in Madurai’ showed me to a
simple upstairs room with private bath, where I rested and worked on the journal
the rest of the day. I also met the host’s two sons and got an invitation to
join in for dinner. Cost for the two nights was $36.61, and the residential
neighborhood far more peaceful than central Madurai!
18 January Madurai
Another Ola Cab brought me back to the center of town,
where I headed into the Dravidian-Islamic style Tirumalai Nayak Palace, a
suitably grand complex said to have once been four times the size. Massive
columns surround a courtyard overseen by the throne chamber. Nearby I entered
the Natakasala (Dance Hall), also well embellished with ornate stucco work.
Courtyard in front of the grand throne chamber
Massive columns surround the courtyard.
25-meter-high dome of the grand throne chamber
Natakasala (Dance Hall) detail
Shops spill out onto the sidewalk in Madurai.
Meenakshi Amman Temple, the massive complex and spiritual heart of Madurai, doesn’t reopen until late afternoon, so I explored the Pudhu Mandapa, a 16th-century pillared hall across the street to the east. It’s an odd building with fine stone carved columns and deities, yet is filled with shops of everyday commerce.
Gleaming brassware
Tailors at work
A powerful god hangs out in a corner.
The closed-off central hall of Pudu Mandapa
Meenakshi Amman Temple, probably the finest of South India, spreads over six hectares overseen by 12 soaring gopurams, towers decorated with all sorts of humans, sadhus, gods, and goddesses. I enjoyed strolling the temple buildings and tank within the walls and visiting the Temple Art Museum in the Thousand Pillared Hall (Actually 985, it’s said) with many fine sculptures of Hindu gods and devotees. I then entered the stone halls of the main temple and peered in many of the shrines. A procession with loud music of drums and nadaswaram (long loud oboe-like instruments) carried a deity through the hallways. Meenakshi, a form of Shiva’s wife Parvati, inhabits the main shrine, though only Hindus can enter. Unfortunately photography is strictly prohibited in the temple. The interior photos here come from my 2006 bicycle trip, One Year in Asia 2005-07, www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/asiaoneyear.
Towers of
Meenakshi Amman Temple
This 55-meter South Tower
is the highest and is claimed
to have 1,511 figures of gods, goddesses, heros,
and demons!
I couldn’t fit all 1,124 statues on the west tower, so I snapped this detail.
High society in
the Thousand Pillared Hall
Painted story,
“Shiva Served as Cooly,” in the Thousand Pillared Hall
A nighttime view from an eastern entrance.
This might be
Hamsavāhini, a form of Saraswati—the Hindu goddess
of knowledge, music, art,
wisdom, and learning—who rides a swan.
Back to Beginning of South India Backpacking Dec. 2018-Jan. 2019