Madurai, Tamil Nadu and is dedicated to Goddess Parvati (also known as Meenakshi) and her husband Lord Shiva. Madurai is the second biggest city of India and is also one of the oldest cities of the world.

A dip in the Golden Lotus tank, situated in the temple, is considered auspicious and is usually taken before visiting the main shrine of the God and Goddess. As per a legend, the pond was created by Lord Shiva and is even older than the temple.

The temple has a hall, which consists of 985 pillars; each pillar is intricately carved with distinct figurines. The 12th century colorful temple was among the thirty nominees of the 'New Seven Wonders of the World'. Madurai is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is governed by the Madurai Municipal Corporation established in 1 November 1866. As of the 2011 census, it is the third largest metropolis in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore in terms of population and 27th largest urban agglomeration in India.[7] Located on the banks of River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and has a documented history of more than 2500 years.[8][9] It is often referred to as "Thoonga Nagaram", meaning "the city that never sleeps".[10]

Madurai is closely associated with the Tamil language. The third Tamil Sangam, a major congregation of Tamil scholars, is said to have been held in the city. The recorded history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BCE, being mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Mauryan Empire, and Kautilya, a minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BCE are evident from excavations by Archeological Survey of India in Manalur.[9][11][12] The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Pandyan Kingdom, Chola Empire, Madurai Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Carnatic kingdom, and the British East India Company's British Raj. The city has a number of historical monuments, with the Koodal Azhagar temple, Meenakshi Temple and the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal being the most prominent.

Madurai is an important industrial and educational hub in South Tamil Nadu. The city is home to various automobile, rubber, chemical and granite manufacturing industries.[13] Madurai has important government educational institutes such as the Madurai Medical College, Homeopathic Medical College,[14] Madurai Law College, Agricultural College and Research Institute and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Madurai. The city covers an area of 147.97 km2 (57.13 sq mi) and had a population of 1,470,755 in 2011.[15] The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court.[b]

It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes [16] from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by government of Tamil Nadu.[17]

Etymology According to Iravatham Mahadevan, a 2nd-century BCE Tamil-Brahmi inscription refers to the city as matiray, an Old Tamil word meaning a "walled city".[18]

Madurai is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the groves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity. The region is believed to have been covered with Kadamba forest and hence called Kadambavanam.[19] The city is referred by various names including "Madurai", "Koodal", "Malligai Maanagar", "Naanmadakoodal" and "Thirualavai". It is believed that Madurai is the derivative of the word Marutham, which refers to the type of landscape of the Sangam age. A town in the neighbouring Dindigul district is called Vada Madurai (North Madurai) and another in Sivagangai district is called Manamadurai. The different names by which the city has been referred to historically are listed in the 7th-century poem Thiruvilayaadal Puraanam wr