Temple of the fish-eyed goddess

photo courtesy Delphinidaesy

Every day thousands of piligrims from all over India flock to Madurai, the third largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. They want to see the famous Meenakshi-Sundareshwara temple, one of the most beautiful temples in India and one of the most sacred places.
Meenakshi means the fish-eyed goddess, she was a Pandyan princess born out of the fire with three breasts. The astrologers predicted that the third breast would disappear when the princess would meet her husband. And it happened so when Meenakshi met Shiva who married her as Sundareshwara. The two ruled Madurai as king and queen. The temple is dedicated to both of them and though Sundareshwara has a larger shrine, Meenakshi is always worshiped first.

photo courtesy Siddharth Hegde

photo courtesy Hector Garcia

The two temples stand within the innermost of four enclosures. The enclosures have twelve gopurams and the four tallest ones dominate the skyline of the city. These gopurams are decorated with plaster figures of animals, gods and demons painted in bright colours. The tallest gopuram is 9 stores high and has over 1500 figures.

photo courtesy cotaro70s

photo courtesy cotaro70s

photo courtesy Fabian Heusser

The corridors leading into the shrines and the many halls have some fine examples of the sculpture of the Vijayanagar and Nayaka periods. One of the halls has ceiling painted with the story of the marriage of Meenakshi. There is also a thousand-pillars hall where carved from a single block of granite numerous pillars depict horses, lion-like beasts, deities, apsaras, dancers and musicians.

photo courtesy Emmanuel Dyan

photo courtesy Emmanuel Dyan

The Golden Lotus tank within the temple is said to mark the spot where Indra worshipped Shiva and picked golden lotuses for the puja.

photo courtesy Prateek Garg

The temple is a city within a city with many halls, shrines to other gods, offices, an art gallery and a museum. It covers almost 15 acres and has four entrances. The place is always crowded with pilgrims, the air is filled with music and chanting and many wedding are held here on auspicious days.