Thread by @History_Mystery

#MeenakshiSundareshwararTemple is a historic temple located on southern bank of Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It is dedicated to Meenakshi, a form of DeviParvati & her consort, Sundareshwar, a form of GodShiva.

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#MeenakshiSundareswarar temple was built by King Kulasekara Pandya (1190-1216 CE). He built the main Portions of the 3-storeyed gopura at the entrance of Sundareswarar Shrine & central portion of Goddess Meenakshi Shrine are some of the earliest surviving parts of temple.

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In early 14th century, the armies of Delhi Sultanate led by Malik Kafur plundered temple, looted its valuables & destroyed Madurai temple town. Contemporary temple is result of rebuilding efforts started by Vijayanagara rulers who rebuilt the core and reopened the temple.

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📷1: Main Gate of #MeenakshiSundareshwararTemple

📷2: #LordVishnu (left) gives away his sister & bride Meenakshi's hand into waiting hand of groom Shiva. Temple commemorates this legend every year with a festive procession.

📷3: Goddess Meenakshi in sanctum (1801 sketch).

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📷1: Sculptures in the 1000 pillar mandapa (choultry), around 1895.

📷2: An aerial view of the compound from the top of the southern gopuram, looking north.

The temple complex consists of monuments inside a number of concentric enclosures.

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The outer walls have 4 towering gateways, allowing devotees and pilgrims to enter the complex from all four directions. The temple complex is spread over about 14 acres & has a golden lotus sacred pool for pilgrims to bathe in, a 1000 pillared mandapa.

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#MeenakshiSundareshwararTemple has 14 colorful gopurams, the tallest of which is southern tower, rises to over 170 ft & was rebuilt in late 16th century. Oldest gopuram is eastern one, built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan.

These are gateways to various shrines & mandapas.

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Each gopuram is a multi-storeyed structure, covered with sculptures painted in bright hues.

📷1+2: The south gopuram is the tallest and curvilinear inner and outerviews). The colorful sculptures narrate legendary scenes from Hindu texts.

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📷1:Both the Meenakshi and Sundareswarar shrines have gold plated Vimanam (tower over sanctum). The golden top can be seen from a great distance in the west through the apertures of two successive towers.

📷2: Beautifully carved sculpture in the pilgrim pillared hall.

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📷1:In 1516, Saluvanarasana Nayaka added sacred pool for pilgrims to take a dip, naming it Ezhukadal (7 seas, Saptasaharam).

📷2:The sacred temple tank is called Porthamarai Kulam ("Pond with the golden lotus"). The pool is 165 ft by 120 ft in size.

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Chinnappa Nayakkar constructed the 100 pillared Mandapa Nayaka Mandapam which houses the famed Nataraja statue with his "right" leg up in dance mudra, instead of the left leg typically found in Nataraja bronzes.

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The Thousand Pillar Hall contains 985 (instead of 1000) carved pillars, with two shrines occupying the space of the remaining 15. The hall was built by Ariyanatha Mudaliar in 1569 and blends engineering skill and artistic vision.

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Each pillar in the 1000 pillared hall is a carved sculpture.

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There are periodic ratha (chariot) processions where one of the metal copy icon of goddess is taken out of temple in an elaborate car shrine decorated with colorful clothes and flowers, with volunteers pulling the car through the streets of Madurai.

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Photograph of sanctum of the #MeenakshiSundareshwararTemple,1870s. The temple complex is within a high-walled enclosure, at the core of which are 2 sanctums for Minakshi & Sundereshwar, surrounded by a number of smaller shrines & grand pillared halls.

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#PhotoTweet 1: Sculptures painted in bright hues on various gopurams of #MeenakshiSundareshwararTemple

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#PhotoTweet 2: Sculptures on gopurams.

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