Trip to Madurai – Rameshwaram – part 3
Continued from http://allyouwannaknow.net/aroundtheworld/2009/06/03/trip-to-madurai-rameshwaram-part-2/
We went further in for the darshanam of Meenakshi amman. We got a 15 Rs ticket (per head) which led us to another queue, which was also long, but had a fan here and there….still Prashanth and Daddy were actually taking a bath in sweat.
We noticed the temple pillars when we were in the queue. We found that the pillars were shining….we first thought it was oil or water…but no…then Prashanth said this was Mica which gave the shine.
It took us about 30 minutes to near the shrine of Goddess Meenakshi…in the meanwhile I was trying to figure out the song that was sung by Susheela about the Goddess….Finally I got it
“Kondai mudi alangarithu, konjum kili kayil vaithu, anjuga mozhi umayaal veetrirundal
Andha azhagiya maanagar madurayile”
You can find it at http://psusheela.org/tam/tamdev_hindu_songs.php (this plays only with real player)
And yes…signing this (and irritating Sangu on the way with my comments), we finally reached the front and had a nice Darshan of the goddess and also managed to see the kili (parrot) in her hand ( it was pretty dark and so it did take an effort)
Next was the Shivan Sannidhi. There was not much crowd there. We managed to reach the shrine straight.
Nice pics and history details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Temple
To know about the temple timings and other temple related details http://www.maduraimeenakshi.org/menu_pg.php?id=2?s_id=6
We then came out and saw the huge vinayakar statue called mukkuruni pillayar. It seems yearly once a huge kozhukattai is made which is of the size of the status and offered to god.
Next was a small hole in the roof from where we could have a view of the Golden Gopuram tip. This could be seen only from one point at that spot.
Then was a lakshmi shrine where we could go and write our desires on the wall with our fingers (just imaginary writing)which would be fullfilled by the goddess.
Then was the statue of oordhwathaandavar and Badhra kaali. Here the status depicted how shiva defeated shakthi in the dance in Thillai (check for details under the thillai temple details at http://blogs.prashu.com/travelogue/content/2009/02/00283/tamilnadu-pilgrimage-main-objective-was-navagraha-part-3.php). This is a statue where shiva is pulling off his earing with his foot
We also came across the shrine where Vishnu was handing Meenakshi in marriage to Shiva.
Here, lord shiva is called Sundareshwarar.
Their marriage is supposed to have been a great thing to watch and a beautiful experience. All the Tamil marriage songs would address Meenakshi and Sundareshwarar as the bride and bridegroom.
If you listen to the songs and let your imagination flow….it is a great feeling….I love it.
We came out of the temple and decided to skip the ayiram kaal mandabam. We tried to look through the shops…but dint find anything interesting. Amma got a packet of thazhambu kungumam.
We came out and collected our slippers.
Next was the decision to drink a nice cold fruit juice in a shop opposite to the temple….little did we know that all the flies in Madurai also feasted at the same shop. His cleaning of tumblers made us feel somewhat…
But we had already paid for the coupons…so we anyway had the so called milk shake and walked back to our tavera saying bye to Meenakshi amman and Sundareshwarar.
We headed back to the hotel. Had a quick change of clothes and packed up. We left Madurai towards Rameshwaram.
[...] Continued from http://allyouwannaknow.net/aroundtheworld/2009/06/05/trip-to-madurai-rameshwaram-part-3/ [...]
[...] Trip to Madurai – Rameshwaram – part 3 [...]
[...] Next day was visit planned to Madurai meenakshi amman temple. To know some details of the temple itself you could read http://allyouwannaknow.net/aroundtheworld/2009/06/05/trip-to-madurai-rameshwaram-part-3/ [...]