Madurai is known as “The Temple City,” and for good cause. It is one of the most important Hindu sites in India, specifically for the entire region of southern India’s large Shaivite population.
The main temple complex is named after Meenakshi (meaning oblong or fish-eyed), one of Shiva’s consorts, is the center of an enormous Mandala design upon which the city is planned, dating back a couple of thousand years ago, making Madurai one of the longest-continuously inhabited city on the planet. Meenakshi holds an unusual place of prestige then as she is the female consort, who is usually secondary to the main deity, in this case Shiva.
As such, the temple of Meenakshi has a large fertility cult following, but moreover, because of the passionate bonding of Meenakshi and Shiva as the King and Queen of the Pandyas, their story is unique in that it is the only one involving Shiva in which he remains faithful to his consort. Like the Greek Gods of Olympus, the Hindu deities were not known for their fidelity.
The large temple complex is squared by one of four towering pyramidal structures known as gopuras on each of the four cardinal points, enhanced by eight more, though smaller gopuras, interspersed amongst them. The effect while in the inner courtyard is quite dramatic as each of the gopura constructions is literally inundated with thousands and thousands of highly ornate and colorful, complicated sculptures within sculptures that are dizzying to look at, to say the least. It is estimated that there are 30 million discreet sculptures in the entire complex, and before going there last evening, I had believed that this was mere tourist-jargon hyperbole. Hardly. It is truly impossible to focus one’s gaze while in the temple complex, and being non-Hindu, I was also not allowed to enter the most elaborately decorated portions of the sancta sanctorum, something I actually cannot fathom having seen the mere build-up to it in the hallways.
Again, as in Rameshwaram, it is not a quiet experience. The stone-cut hallways are buzzing and echoing with prayers, chants, music, and the mere chit-chat from the hoards of families going around the temple complex. Paying your respect and devotion at a Hindu temple is very much a family activity, in addition to the various mendicant, solitary monks and ascetic sadhus that also pepper the galleys. The halls, already brilliant with colors everywhere on the painted statues and electrifying mandalas on the ceilings, were furthermore resplendent with thousands and thousands of saris and dazzling children’s clothing of every conceivable color on the visible spectrum. Incense, candles, and the constant jingle-jangling of bangles and anklets of the women and small children who were racing around through the dense forest of stone pillars took the sensory experience once again to a new level. I had thought having been in India for a month that I had become more used to the tsunami of sensory input, but I was once again proven to be mistaken. I was just as dazzled by the immensity of it all as I had been the first day I set foot in Madurai’s frenetic cacophony symphony of sights, sounds, smells , tastes, and textures .
Last evening, I spent about 2-3 hours in various locations of the temple, at least the places where I was allowed and it was a pure pageantry of images, sounds, and smells that I will not soon forget. I am glad that I waited to go the Meenakshi Temple for the first month as otherwise it may have just been a sensory overload, but now, having been here long enough to absorb more, it was truly a moving experience and was a testament to the highly reputed devotion, or bhakti, that the Tamil Nadu citizens have for Shiva and Meenakshi.
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