Madurai (pop. 1,017,865; met. area pop. 1,462,420) is a textile center and temple city in southern Tamil Nadu, India. It lies on the Vaigai River. It is the third largest city in Tamil Nadu. Only Chennai and Coimbatore have more people.
Madurai is home to the Meenakshi Temple, a major center of pilgrimage for Hindus. In addition to its magnificent gopuras (gateways), the temple has a spectacular hall of a thousand pillars. Each pillar is individually carved. Most of the temple that exists today was built from the 1300’s to the 1600’s. The temple is named after Meenakshi, the guardian deity of Madurai. Meenakshi’s marriage to Sundareshwara, an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva, is celebrated every April or May in a festival called Chithirai.
Madurai was the base of the Sangam, a Tamil poets’ academy that flourished for several centuries, starting around the 300’s B.C. In ancient times, Madurai was also a center for trade with China, Greece, and Rome. Madurai was the capital of the Pandyas, who ruled much of the surrounding region at various times from the A.D. 600’s to the early 1300’s. At other times during that period, the Chola Empire ruled the Madurai region. The Vijayanagar Empire rose to power during the 1300’s. The British took control of the region in the late 1700’s. In 1840, Madurai’s walls were dismantled to allow the city to expand.
