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Situated on the banks of the River Vaigai, in the heart of South
India, Madurai is a town where history and mythology diffuse with
ease, adding richness and colour to the present.
It is not yet 4 pm and
the narrow streets around the temple bustle with activity. The
innumerable tea stalls do brisk business serving steaming idli’s
and vadais on plantain leaves…the irresistible aroma of
strong filter coffee vies with the divine fragrance of jasmine that
wafts gently through the crisp air… At the temple entrances
women assemble small baskets of offerings – bananas, betel
leaves, coconut and flowers…others expertly create garlands out
of rose petals…priests, holy ash smeared on their forehead,
typing their tufts of hair into tight knots hurry towards the temple
bells begin to clang clearly, slowly, rhythmically…reverberating
through the town…
Tradition is in the air,
palpable even as you enter the town of Madurai. Because, as Chief
Priest Ganesha Bhattar simply explains, “Madurai is a Kovil
Maanagaram – a temple cite. In Madurai locals believe, it was
lord Indra himself who found a Shivalinga in the forest and installed
it in the temple. And Madurai grew around it.”
Two thousand years into
history, the Meenakshi temple today is still the pulsating hub of
Madurai and be it commerce or culture, lifestyle or tourism, it is
all happening in the four square streets that encircle the temple
complex – the Aadi Veedi, Chithirai Veedi, Aavani Moola Veedi
and Maasi Veedi (named after the months of the Tamil calender). The
narrow streets are a bevy of activity with people leisurely stopping
to buy anything from plastic toys to ‘eversilver’ vessels,
readymade clothes and glass bangles, fresh fruit and of course
strands of tightly knotted jasmine. “Because Madurai is known
for its malli (jasmine)” says Kesavan, a trader in the
sprawling flower market on Aavani Moola Veedi who, along with five or
six others, sends about 500 kg of jasmine a day on flights to Mumbai
and Chennai. The 90 other small traders sitting behind mountains of
flowers ensure that every woman walking the streets of Madurai has
jasmine in her hair! And at the turn of the next corner on Maasi
Veedi is another landmark – the Madurai sungudi sarees
(cotton tie-and-dye with zari). Four hundred years ago the
zari-loving king Thirumalnayakar invited weavers from Saurashtra to
come and settle there and now the 30 or 40 traders, sitting on matted
floors behind the carved wooden doors of Devanga Chattiram, have put
Madurai on the world map with their sarees. “We seen export to
Singapore and Malaysia” says the owner of Sundram Traders, one
of the bigger shops. And then there are the rows upon rows of
jewelers and of course, the constant crowd around Lala’s
Thiruneveli Halwa shop which opens only after 6 pm and does roaring
business past midnight!
Thousands of pedestrians
incessantly throng the streets (vehicular traffic around the temple
is a rarity!). A jaunt into town isn’t complete without stopping
to savour the idlis (famed to be as soft as the jasmine flower) and
coffee from any of the hundred of stalls that line the streets.
Because this is a part of Madurai’s ethos, just as a day isn’t
complete without a visit to the Meenakshi Temple!
“The temple is our
life”, gushes 70 years old Anandam, sitting in a ‘portion’
of a house on Maasi Veedi, here home for six decades. And she, like
most of her neighbours in the ‘portions’ around the temple,
cannot remember a time when she was not attended at least two of the
six daily poojas at the temple. “Except the three days
when the temple is closed”, she corrects herself innocently,
“when Meenakshi and Sundareshwarar (temple deities) go to
Thiruparam Kundram (just outside Madurai) to marry their son,
Murugan; the day the deity goes to the Theppakulam and the day
of the Puttukku Man Somanda festival when Shiva goes to the
Vaigai river,” she elaborates, lost in her thoughts of the
events.
But in Madurai, where 300
days in a year are “Festival Days” these events are a
reality. “Around Deepavali, all of us children would wear our
best pavadai and dance a kolattam on the streets in
front of the procession of the deity”, remembers Selvi who has
grown up two roads away from the temple, and her mother still
distributes glass bangles blessed by Goddess Meenakshi, to her
friends and relatives during the Aadi festival. And of course, the
big event for the locals is the enactment of the various legends by
street dancers in vesham (costume).
And as you watch the old
women of Madurai, their silken hair tied back in a knot, cotton
sarees elegantly worn in folds, chunky gold earrings on their
elongated earlobes dazzling in the sun, striding briskly with their
heads held high, you realize that Madurai is ruled by Meenakshi and
the women have taken her strength.
But Madurai really comes
into its element during the Chithirai Festival in May. “Lakhs
of people descend on Madurai”, recounts 80 years old Pandy.
“All over friends and relatives come from nearby villages and
stay with us for ten days”. Madurai becomes preoccupied with
the happenings of Meenakshi and Sundareswara. Whether is Meenakshi’s
coronation, when thousands will throng the sanctum sanctorum to get a
glimpse of the Goddess bedecked in her diamond crown and gold skirt,
the street enactments of her digvijayan and finally the
elaborate wedding with Sundareswara, the people savour every minute
to it. “Even at 1 pm we run from street to street just to get a
glimpse of the procession”, says Pandy reverently. On the last
day lakhs of people congregate on the banks of the Vaigai for the
Azhagar festival, when Azhagar, Meenakshi’s brother, is appeased
because the couple could not wait for him for the wedding. Azhagar
returns in a 3 day procession to his abode in the scenic Azhar hills,
about 12 miles from Madurai.
“While new people
move into Madurai”, says Anandam, “the first thing we do is
to introduce them to the temple and tell them all the stories”.
The prompts us to ask her about the intricately sculpted stone
mandapams (halls) that dot the town. Her eyes light up as she
says, “Oh, the one on the Vaigai is the sight of Naarai
Moksham,” and remembers another in the middle of a pond where
every year the deity “would be exquisitely decorated and boat
trips would be arranged for all of us to go and see it. Today these
structures of beauty lie desolate in parched tanks, frequented only
by anti-social elements after dark.” Invaluable stone sculptures
in the Museum at Thirumalnayakar’s palace are carelessly moved
to make room for gyrating belles of a cinema shooting. Signs,
perhaps, of changing times. As one social worker explains, “With
the 40 cinema theaters in this town, Madurai has become the hunting
ground for Film Distributors”. Ironical that it should happen
to the home of Sangam literature, where the worthiness of literary
works and even the likes of the Thirukural were put to test.
All the same Madurai is a
town which even today abounds in temples (there are more than 100),
palaces and festivals, and with Kodaikanal, Thekkadi and Munnar,
tourism is naturally its mainstay. Last year (1997) alone,
statistics show that 25 lakh people visited Madurai, of them 30,000
were foreigners, “Programmes of dance and folk arts are
organized during the Chithirai festival, to promote tourism”
says Mr. Shankaralingam, Joint Director Tourism Govt. of Tamil Nadu.
The 50 middle class hotels that jostle for space around the temple
claim 80% occupancy year round. “The average visitor just spends
a day in Madurai and requires a place to wash and change”, says
the owner of 40 year old College House hotel, rumored to have 300%
occupancy during season! Most hotels now have expansion plans for the
future. “We are also inviting private entrepreneurs to put up
new hotels”, adds Shankaralingam. But first the corporation
will have to find ways of decongesting and expanding the town.
However, the locals smugly believe, it is impossible. Because the
(mythological) serpent Alavay has already defined the boundaries of
the town!
These trappings of
tourism are farthest from our minds as we sit in the cool temple
courtyard, lost in the divine music of a lone nadaswaram
player. Images of Madurai drift into our minds…the small shops
inside the temple with their palm leaf baskets and wooden toys…the
temple elephant gamboling in the crowded streets blessing little
children with its trunk…the bus conductor speaking chaste Tamil…
The sun is setting and somewhere in the distance the town crier beats
his drum to announce the evening pooja (worship) and women
hurry towards the sanctum sanctorum, their faces radiant with
turmeric and vermillion, glass bangles tinkling as they walk.
Watching them, we slowly realize that visiting this town is more than
being just a tourist – visiting Madurai is a tryst with the rich
cultural heritage of the Tamil people.
Getting There
Madurai is well connected
by train and bus routes from anywhere in south India and by air from
Chennai and Bombay.
Transport
The best way to see the town
is on foot, However, tourist cars can be hired for Rs.700/- to
Rs.900/- per day.
Travel operators also offer
package tours everyday to nearby Kodaikanal, Rameshwaram for around
Rs.200/- per day and even further on to Kanyakumari etc. for Rs.250/-
per day.
Other Places of Interest
Places around Madurai are
Munnar, Thekkadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Palani Hills.
Travel Tips
To experience the flavour of
Madurai one has to ignore the heat and dust, sample the idlis
and vadas, drink filter coffee at College House Hotel, shop
for curios at the Pudu Mandapam Market and spend the evenings
relaxing at the Pottramarai tank. Don’t forget to try some of
the fresh warm Thirumalveli halwa for Lala’s on your way
to the station.
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