Meenakshi Amman Temple

A Hindu temple famous for its towering gopurams covered in thousands of painted figures.

It has monuments inside several concentric enclosures, each with high masonry walls. The outer walls have four large gopurams, or ornamental gateway towers, one for each direction, and ten smaller ones. The tallest is the southern tower, built in the 16th century, which rises to about 52 metres. The temple draws thousands of visitors every day, and the state emblem of Tamil Nadu is based on its west gopuram.

The goddess with fish eyes

Meenakshi means fish-eyed in Tamil, from the words for fish and eyes. According to a 16th-century Tamil text, a king and queen of the Pandya line prayed for a child and a three-year-old girl appeared from the fire. When she grew up and met Shiva, who came as Sundareswarar, she took her true form as Parvati. Their wedding is the main festival, and many devotees visit her shrine before his, because she is seen as the goddess born in Madurai.

Destroyed and rebuilt

Tamil texts mention a temple here from the 6th century. The early structures were built by the Pandyas in the 12th and 13th centuries. After armies of the Delhi Sultanate destroyed it, the Vijayanagara Empire rebuilt it in the 14th century, and the Madurai Nayaks expanded it greatly in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was neglected under the British Raj, and after independence it was restored with donations. Further restorations took place in 1974, 1995 and 2009.

Towers, halls and a golden pond

The southern gopuram has over 1,500 mythological figures, and the outer towers together show nearly 4,000 stories. The shrines of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar lie in the innermost courtyard. The temple also has many mandapas, or halls, including the Hall of Thousand Pillars, and a main tank called the golden lotus pond. In 2017 the temple was named the best Swachh Iconic Place in India.

On the globe

The model shows the temple's colourful gateway towers. Look for the layers of painted figures.