Location: 9.8 degrees North latitude, 78.8 degrees East longitudeElevation: 330 feet
Madurai was the capital city of the Pandya kings of South India. Madurai's cultural heritage goes back 2500 years, and the city has been an important commercial center since as early as 550 C.E.
The Madurai airport is even smaller than the Trivandrum airport, which I didn't think was possible. Madurai is about an hour's flight nearly due south from Bangalore.
We are supposed to depart for Madurai from Bangalore International airport at about 6:30am. But we don't. We sit and sit and then sit some more while they try to get the little turboprop aircraft started. They are not successful. Question: Is it unrealistic to think someone (anyone!) should actually check that kind of thing before they loaded all the passengers and luggage?. So we deplane, hop aboard a shuttle bus to traverse the 100 foot distance across the tarmac to the replacement plane, and climb on to aircraft #2. This one starts on the first try. We were away. . .Sri Meenakshi Temple
Let's get the disappointing news out of the way first. The Meenakshi Temple, which sits smack dab in the center of town, is a huge temple complex. It's history dates back some 2000 years, although the majority of the construction took place in the late 16th century. The striking architectural elements are the 12 gopurams (entry gates) spread over the temple site. These gopurams are covered with elaborately carved and brightly painted carvings. It's certainly the primary reason I added Madurai to my list of destinations. The gopurams should have looked like this:
but what I see is this:
All of the gopurams (save one of the smallest ones visible in the above photo) are all covered up with what looks like thatched roofing."Am I in the right city?" "Is this the Meenakshi Temple?" "The towers don't look the way I thought they would. . ." "Just what is going on here?"
It turns out that all the of the gopurams are currently undergoing a restoration: a good cleaning and a new coat of paint. The thatched roof is scaffolding covered by, you guessed it, actual thatched roofing to keep the sun off the cleaners/painters as they work.
"Couldn't they have covered/restored a few at a time? They felt the need to cover up the entirety of the main tourist attraction? Really? At least leave one of the large gopurams uncovered for us tourists. I won't tell anybody that the carvings needed a fresh coat of paint. Honest!"
(say this with me)
Ooooooooommmmmm. . . .Ooooooooommmmmm. . . .Ooooooooommmmmm. . . .
Feel the disappointment being purged from your body. Let it go. Okay, let's just get on with exploring what we can see of the Meenakshi Temple by first wandering around the temple exterior.
Ghandi is big down here. He travelled to Madurai several times during his lifetime, and it was actually right here in Madurai that he took up his now-famous loincloth and bare feet style of dress, as he decided to set an example and 'dress as those least privileged dress'.
These next two photos are actually taken from within the temple complex, but show more of the exterior than interior.
Let's move inside the temple (remember to remove your shoes, please).
Small disclaimer: I don't get into the temple until sometime after 4pm. There isn't much natural light that finds it's way into the cavernous temples in this country to begin with, and at this point in the late afternoon even less. My little digital camera doesn't do dark spaces very well. Here are the handful of images that turn out at all.
A closeup of the carvings that are supposedly on all the gopurams. They would have been a sight to behold.
Just a few of the 1000 pillars (no, I did not count them. I will just trust that the museum people are telling me the truth.)
The next photo is obviously not of a column of any kind. I'm not sure exactly what kind of vehicle this was or who was transported in it. But I found it interesting.
A few examples of the bazaar stalls that populate the temple, just inside the entrances. Offerings to the deities, keepsakes and mementos, kitschy tourist stuff. I look but do not buy.
Temple Market
Across the street on the east side of the Meenakshi temple is temple market. Wall-to-wall cloth stalls and tailors' shops. Everyone wants to make me some new clothes, or at least sell me some material. The "white person hassle factor" is quite high here. Polite shakes of the head beget no, thank you's beget more emphatic No!'s finally beget fairly rude gestures. I am The Ugly American, but I do manage to get out of the market with my wallet of Rupees intact.
Tirumalai Nayak Palace
The Tirumalai Nayak palace was built around 1630 by the ruler whose name it bears. Most of the palace is long gone; the materials were recycled for use in later construction projects. What's left is an entrance gate, a large main hall/square, and a smaller dance hall. This palace is undergoing some kind of restoration effort as well. It's quite impressive even in it's current state.
The dance hall is quite an architectural space in and of itself.
The dance hall doubles as a little museum of antiquities unearthed around Madurai. A lot of the sculptures lining the walls are from the 10th - 13th century B.C.E.
St. Mary's Cathedral
Madurai is also the seat of the Catholic Church in this part of India, and so it boasts a very nice cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The Ghandi Museum
The Ghandi Memorial Museum sits in a tamukkam (exhibition pavillion) across the Vaigai river from Madurai-proper. The museum contains a very detailed account of India's stuggle for independence from the British from 1757 to 1947 and the instrumental role Ghandi played. The British do not come off very well! The final exhibit is the blood-stained dhoti (long loincloth) Ghandi was wearing when he was assassinated in Delhi in 1948.
Out & About
A typical street in downtown Madurai: clogged with motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, and people (because the sidewalks were already a crush of humanity). Cars just blare their horns and expect people to get out of the way. Pedestrians do not have the right of way in India. Another custom you learn quickly here (it's quite Darwinian). I suppose if people did have the right of way, cars would be waiting literally forever to get anywhere.
Out walking his elephant. He is kind enough to stop long enough to allow me this photo.
Looking north from a bridge over the Vaigai River (on the way to the Ghandi Museum).
Looking south from a different bridge over the Vaigai River (on the way back from the Ghandi Museum).
and the wild (?) horses that inhabit the green space of the riverbed.
Q: How do you get concrete up the the third floor of your construction project in Madurai?
A: The human concrete-bucket brigade.
The Locals
Wherever you are, there are always people who want to have their picture taken.
And Finally. . .
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