Located in the heart of the temple city of Maduari, about 460 km southwest of Chennai, the capital city of Tamilnadu, and around 400 km southwest of River Vairagi, the Meenakshi Amman Temple, also known as Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwara Temple, is a magnificent example of Dravidian style of architecture.

Dedicated to goddess Meenakshi Amman, a form of Parvati, and her consort, Sundareshwara or Lord Shiva, the temple is a major pilgrimage destination of the Shaivas, one of the major Hindu traditional worshippers of Lord Shiva, and is considered one of the oldest and the largest temples of India. Covering an area of almost 700,000 square feet (65,032 sq m), the huge temple complex, bordered by high walls and gateways, apart from containing the Meenakshi Amman temple, also houses dozens of shrines of varying sizes, containing Lakshmi, Krishna, Rukmini, Brahma, Saraswati, and other Vedic and Puranic deities, as well as artworks showing narratives from major Hindu texts.

Meenakshi Amman Temple is associated with several legends. According to the Tamil text Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam, when the childless ruling Pandyan King Malayadwaja and his wife Kanchanamalai were performing a Yagna, a Vedic traditional worship with symbolic offerings in the presence of sacred fire, seeking a son for succession, goddess Parvati in the form of Goddess Meenakshi came out of the pious fire as a three-year-old girl with three breasts.

However, Lord Shiva advised the royal couple to treat her like a son, and assured them that the girl would lose her third breast when she meets her husband. Subsequently, when the girl grew up, the king crowned her as the successor, who proved herself gifted in battle, conquered armies in all directions, except the north, where she was confronted by the god Shiva, dwelling on Mount Kailasha, and lost her third breast as she saw him. Vishnu, another principal god in the Hindu pantheon, presided over the wedding of Shiva and Meenakshi, in the guise of Meenakshi’s brother, and after her marriage with Sundareshwara, a form of Lord Shiva, she took her true form of Meenakshi, and became the reigning deity in the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple.

However, according to some early Tamil texts, Lord Indra, the king of the vast Hindu pantheon, installed a small tower, the initial shrine, known as Indra Vimana, more than 3500 years ago, over a naturally formed stone linga, an abstract or an iconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva, as a sign of his devotion to Lord Shiva, one of the primary Hindu deities, the creator, preserver, and destroyer.

Following the lead of Lord Indra, the other gods also began to worship there, and witnessing the miraculous scene of gods worshipping at the linga, a human devotee informed the matter to the local king, Kulashekhara Pandya, who built a temple at the site.

It is likely that the earliest temple in Madurai was constructed in the 7th century, since Thirugnanasambandar, the contemporary Shaiva saint, mentioned about the temple in his songs, describing the deity as Aalavaai Iraivan. Subsequently, it grew with the contribution of several Hindu dynasty into an enormous complex extending over an enormous area of almost 700,000 square feet (65,032 m), containing several shrines, including the two principal sanctuaries at the centre of the complex, dedicated to Meenakshi, a manifestation of the goddess Parvati, and to Sundareshwara or the Handsome Lord, a form of the Lord Shiva. Unfortunately, the temple was destroyed to a great extent during the Islamic invasion in the 14th century, which was later restored by the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire. Subsequently, the temple was rebuilt in 1560 by Vishwanatha Nayaka of the Hindu Nayaka dynasty, who also gilded the Vimana, the tower over the sanctum, of the primary shrines with gold. However, the temple complex was expanded to its present form by Thirumalai Nayaka, who constructed several structures in the complex including the Vasantha Mandapam for celebrating Vasanthatsavam or spring festival and Kilikoondu Mandapam, the corridor of parrot. Later, the corridors of the temple tank and the Meenatchi Nayaka Mandapam were built by Rani Mangammal, who broke tradition by refusing to commit Sati after the death of her husband Chokkanatha Nayaka, and guided her 15-year-old son in governing the kingdom as his regent.

The temple complex has 14 majestic towers, locally known as gopurams, of which five serve as the gateways to the Sundareshwara shrine and three to the Meenakshi shrine. Of the 14 towers, 4 massive nine tier towers are known as Rajagopurams. Among the others, 5 gopurams are five tiers, 1 seven tier, 2 three tiers, and 2 one tier gold gilded gopurams. All the towering gopurams are decorated with stucco images of brightly coloured Hindu deities and others important figures from Hindu mythology, saints or scholars, adding grandeur to the temple. The tallest tower, rising 170 feet in the sky, contains more than 1500 figures that are repaired and repainted every twelve years.

The shrine of goddess Meenakshi, one of the two principal sanctuaries of the temple complex, houses a green stone image of Meenakshi, standing in bent-leg posture, and set in a square garbha griya, the central sanctum. Her raised right hand holds a lotus, with a green parrot it, while her left hand hangs by her side. The temple complex also contains a metal version of the idol, which is used during a festive procession. However, the shrine of Sundareshwara, with its entrance aligned to the eastern gopuram, and housing a stone linga in its square plan sanctum, shaded under a stone cobra hood, is the largest structure within the complex. There is a metal symbolic image of Shiva, a pair of embossed feet on a metal stool, called the Cokkar, kept near the sanctum during the day, and carried in a palanquin; a sedan chair, to the chamber of the goddess Meenakshi every evening, symbolically for spending the night together, and carried back to the Sundareshwara sanctum in the morning. Both the Meenakshi and Sundareshwara shrines have gold plated Vimana, the tower over the sanctum, which can be seen from a great distance.

The other important structures in the complex include the magnificent Aiyaram Kal Mandapam or The Thousand-Pillar Hall, constructed by Ariyanatha Mudaliyar in 1569, which in fact contains 985 columns carved with divinities, female musicians, and attending figures, and two shrines occupying the space of the remaining 15. The most prominent carved figures on the columns include Rati, the female counterpart and wife of Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love and sexuality, Kartikeya, Ganesha, and Shiva, as a wandering mendicant. Today, the hall houses a Temple Art Museum, displaying several drawings, photographs, icons, and other artefacts, representing the old history of around 1200 years. Ashta Shakthi Mandapam or The Hall of Eight Goddesses, located near the east gopuram, between the main entrance for visitors and the smaller gopuram leading to the Meenakshi shrine tower, was built by Tholiammai and Rudrapathi Ammal, the two wives of Thirumalai Nayaka. Named after the eight forms of goddess Shakti - Koumari, Roudri, Vaishnavi, Mahalakshmi, Yagnarupini, Shyamala, Maheswari and Manonmani - carved on its pillars, the beautiful hall, with hemispherical ceiling, is decorated with breathtaking bas-reliefs, one of which displays the marriage ceremony of Goddess Meenakshi and Lord Sundareshwara.

In addition to the above, the huge complex of the Meenakshi Amman Temple also contains several other halls, which include, among others, the 109.90 feet (33.5 m) wide and 140.75 feet (42.9 m) long Meenakshi Nayakkar Mandapam, equipped with 110 stone columns, each 21.98 feet (6.7 m) high; Vasantha Mandapam, also known as Pudhu Mandapam, constructed by Thirumalai Nayakkar, where Vasanthotsavam is celebrated during the months of April-May; Vanniyadi Natarajar Mandapam; Annakkuli Mandapam, built in the late 16th century, and the Kolu Mandapam, displaying dolls during the celebration of Navaratri festival during September/October. Apart from that, the complex also contains a sacred pond, 165 ft (50 m) by 120 ft (37 m) in size, and known as Potramarai Kulam, in which the pilgrims once used to take a dip, before stepping inside the main shrine of Meenakshi Amman.