Madurai - Tiruparankundran Murugan Temple

2 Sep 2011: We reached this temple(around 12 Kms from Madurai) quite early in the morning around 5.00 am. There was no crowd and we were among the first ones to reach the sanctum. We were immediately followed by a large marriage group. This temple was built by Pandayan King in the 8th century. The innermost shrine is cut out of a solid rock. This is considered as the first of the six abodes of Lord Muruga,Apart from Lord Subramanya(Muruga), there are also separate shrines for Lord Shiva, Lord Vinayaka, Goddess Durga, Lord Vishnu and other deities.It is believed that the marriage of Lord Subrahmanya with Devasena, the daughter of Lord Indra, took place here only. Therefore, this temple is regarded as an auspicious place for marriages,

Madurai -Koodal Azhagar Temple

1 Sep'2011: This temple also known as "Thirukoodal" is located near the Madurai Meenakshi Temple. This is one the 108 Divyadesams celebrated by Vaishnavites. Perialwar has sung praises of the Lord Azhagar here. The Deity can be seen in three different forms:
In the lower portion of the temple, the lord appears as “Viyooga soundararajan” in sitting posture called veetriruntha thirukolam under Aadhiseshan. In the second portion the lord is in sleeping posture and known as Andhara Vaanathu Empiraan.In the final portion the lord appears as Sooriya Narayanan in nindra tirukolam or standing posture. There are three different sanctums one above the other.
Koodal is another name for Madurai. It also means "meeting point" - Madurai is a place where all gods and goddesses, devas and saints had congregated to witness the wedding of Madurai Meenakshi with Lord Sunderaswarar. This temple is unique in the sense that this is the only Divya Desam among the 108 to have Navagrahas Sannithi located in the Temple.
The LOrd here is known as Koodal Azhagar(Azhagar means the beautiful one) and his consort or Thayar as Maduravalli Thayar ( also known as varagunavalli, maragadha valli and vagulavalli)
We also visited sub sanctums of Chakrathalwar, Lakshmi Narasimhar & Andal.
After this visit we were quite hungry and went to a nearby cafe 'Murugan Idly' for tiffin. It was a small but neat place and the food was good - we were served piping hot idli's followed by delicious onion uthappam's. The cafe also served Jil Jil (cool cool) Jigarthadna - a special beverage that has its origins in Madurai. In Hindi it means Cold Heart. Please log onto website for details and recipe for jigarthanda: http://sukanya-keralaiyer.blogspot.com/2007/05/jigar-thanda.html

Madurai Meenakshi -Ashta Sakthi Mandapam

Here are photos of the Astha Sakthi Mandapam. Each of the eight saktis ( representing female consorts of different Gods) is elegantly and skilfully sculpted.
1.Kaumari2.Rowthri3.Vaishnavi4.Mahalakshmi5.Manonmani6.Maheswari7.Shyamala & Yagyaroopini9.Other Sculptures:

Avani Festival @ Madurai Meenakshi Temple

2/9/2011: We visited the temple once again on the afternoon of the second. We were extremely fortunate that we accidentally chanced on the occasion of the Avani Festival - the Utsava Murthy's (Festival Idols) of the various deities ready to embark on a procession around the temple as part of the Avani Festival celebrations. See photos below:

1. A colorfully decorated cow with dholak 2.Silver elephant on palanquin 3.The Temple Elephant-colorfully attired 4.Goddess Meenakshi & Lord Sunderaswarar in Golden Palanquin 5.Goddess Meenakshi - magnificently attired 6.Lord Muruga atop his favorite vehicle - peacock 7.Lord Ganesha atop his vehicle - a rat 8.The procession begins: Led by the temple elephant followed by other vehicles.

Madurai Meenakshi Revisited

1/9/11 : We were in Madurai on Ganesh Chathurthi Day.We reached in the evening & checked into TTDC Hotels near Arasaradi - we were given a nice double deluxe A/c suite with an annexe @ Rs.1250/-(which included a Sr,Citizens discount of Rs.350/-). After getting refreshed we went straightaway to the Madurai Meenakshi Temple:( Please log onto www.sankriti.blogspot.com/2008/10/madurai-meenakshi-temple.html for the earlier post of 2008).
In the outer prakaram of the Meenakshi sanctum we captured photographs of the King Thirumalai Naicker and his consorts who were associated significantly with the construction of the temple during the 17th Century.We noticed that the Lotus Pond was completely dry - but nevertheless looked so majestic in the fading light of the evening. The Vibhuti Pillayar continued to draw generous crowds - as per tradition, devotees picked up Vibhuti from the trough and showered the Pillayar with it.Since the day was Ganesh Chathurthi, a day of celebration for Lord Ganesha we noticed that the Mukkuruni Pillayar was adorned with Silver Kavacham (covering) apart from other adornments including plenty of flowers and garlands - it was truly magnificent to behold.(He got his name because a gigantic modhakam is given as an offering to him on the Vinaayakar Chathurthi Festival.This modakam is made with 3 kurunis of rice.A kuruni is a type of measure. It is equivalent to 4 padis. Mukkuruni is 3 X 4 = 12 padis of rice.12 measures of rice are taken and cleaned well with water. Then it is soaked. It is then pounded in a 'ural' - mortar. The flour is mixed with gram, coconut, cane sugar, salt, cardamom, etc. It is then moulded and wrapped in a cloth and made into a bundle. It is then steamed in a giant 'kopparai' - steamer which was made especially for this purpose. When appropriately cooked, it becomes a gigantic 'Modakam'.)
We paused for a few minutes at the Rajatha Sabhai - to admire the lareg dancing figure of Nataraja in Silver Kavacham. At the sanctum sanctorum of Sundareswarar we revisited the Astha Dik Gaja mandapam - a remarkable sight of eight elephants carved in stone around the sanctum - 2 elephants in each direction. Outside the sanctum is the Kambathadi Mandapam - which has the Nandi, the Dwaja sthambam and an array of magnificent stone sculptures.
At the Kili Mandapam we found devotees rubbing sandalwood on a large cylindrical stone to produce sandal paste - an old tradition that has been revived at this temple.We also noticed magnificent sculptures of the Mahabharatha heroes - the Pancha Pandavas ie.Dharma, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula & Sahadeva.
We found nice beautiful and bright frescoes depicting temple legends on the walls adjacent to the Lotus pond.We also visited another Mandapam near Adi Veethi which had some amazing sculptures - see pics below: