Meenakshi Temple

The Meenakshi Temple stands on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in Madurai, dedicated to Meenakshi, the fish-eyed form of Parvati, and her consort Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva.

The oldest surviving masonry was raised under the Pandya king Sadayavarman Kulasekaran I around 1190 to 1216 and enlarged by his successors. In 1311 the Khalji general Malik Kafur sacked Madurai, destroyed the temple and carried its treasure to Delhi; under the ensuing Madurai Sultanate the idols were hidden and the complex lay abandoned for some sixty years.

The Vijayanagara prince Kumara Kampana reconquered the city in 1378, rebuilt the walls and reconsecrated the images. His Nayak governors expanded the shrine. Under the Madurai Nayaks, above all Vishwanatha Nayak, it took its present form with fourteen gopurams, a thousand-pillared hall and the golden lotus pond.