Madurai and Rameshwaram ( May 2023)
Madurai –the only Living city in the world. The sign proudly proclaims.
Means that it is the only city that has always existed — with people inhabiting at all times — ever since it was mad way back in 600 BC or so.
Built around the river Vaigai- the city has changed its location thrice — along with the meanderings of the river.
Sadly since the past decade or so the river has dried up — with a trickling presence in rainy season.
The first thing that you see are the green healthy vegetation that is all around. The first sight — out of the airport was a 8–10 feet high MorPankhi plant (I had only ever seen it with a bushy appearance of 3 ft or so)
Even the landscape seen from the plane window — had large and small tracts of water and greenery abounding all around the city. The rich red- alluvial kind of soil boded well for the thriving plants.
Coconut, banana and date plantations thrived — all around — more so as we moved from Madurai to Rameshwaram ( a 3–5 hrs distance by road) the regular coconut palms gave way to california palms with their long trunks and a thatch of leaves on the top.
Closer to Rameshwaram these turned into bearded palms- with a second group of leaves growing in the middle of the trunk- which was mostly dried leaves (rather than green healthy ones)
The second thing noticeable was that lady drivers were nearly as many as the men drivers and mostly all on two wheels. (this largely in Madurai)
The third was the colour — colour abounded from the multihued houses, to the multitoned bananas and yellow and green coconuts, to the multicoloured sign boards on shops to buses and the chimneys of the brick
kilns that were all over the route from Madurai to Rameshwaram. Even the many mosques of the cities were colourful- did not see a single green one incedentally( In Delhi it seems kind of mandatory for Mosques to be green hued)
Fourth are the huge life size shining golden statues at nearly every crossroad — the statues were of emminent personalities of the city- politicians, actors, scholar, musicians etc. Surprisingly well maintained- no pigeon droppings and dirt — rather shining bright as if they were polished daily- looked brassy but were actually just golden paint over clay figurines.
While Madurai is synonymous with the Meenakshi Amman Temple — its Jasmine market is a hidden gem.
Unlike the jasmine buds and flowers of Delhi which wilt away in a day — these lasted for over a day and half- retaining their sweet smell and form.
The market had shopkeepers sitting with piles of different grades of jasmine flowers in front of them- other flowere were essentially roses and lotus buds
On the fringes were ladies making garlands, round mat like coaster size plates etc for use in temples and homesand of course the customers buying sackful of flowers to be carried to the multiple temples abounding all over the city.
All temples were miniatures of the Famous Meenakshi temple with high gopums with various dieties carved on them and painted colourfully.
As legend goes — Meenakshi was a child born with three breasts to a King after he prayed long and hard for a child. The prophecy was that the third breast would drop off when she met her match. The king raised his daughter as a son and taught her politics, warfare, rules of ruling etc — all that he would have taught to his son. Meenakshi actively participated in wars enlargening her fathers kingdon =m and she reached the Kailash Parvat ( the abode of Lord Shiva)
There she encountered Shiv and her extra breast fell off, she lost her warrior like countenance and turned bashful and coy. They got married and Shiv came to Madurai-residing as the cities son in law. The Meenakshi amman temple is dedicated to both Shiv and Parvati — in her form as Meenakshi.
Devotees first offer prayers to Meenakshi and then go on to Shiv.
The temple itself is a piece of art. Built over multiple years- under the rule of various king s- the architecture and statues depict different styles. The older statues have different featueres and expression and seem to depict perons of the court, dancers, musicians, and ministers.
There is no wall/ nor ceiling — in the entire temple which does not either have some painting (story of the Meenakshi wedding/ kolam ( traditional decorative auspicious designs/ deities depictions) or a statue carved on it.
the most amazing were these guardian statues of an animal form which had elements of multiple animals ( a horse head/ buffalos’ horns/ peacocks plume/ rhino’s horn/ elephants trunk/ crocodile neck/ haunches and paws of a lion & tiger/ monkeys tail/ fish eyes/ to name a few) and all the guardian statues thus made were exactly the same — in size/ form/ proportions/etc even more amazing when you realize that the entire temple- floor walls, statues, pillars etc are all made in Granite. A marvel how they carved with delicacy and accuracy in those ancient times.
Another amazing depiction was around the Nandi bull enclosure which had on the peripheral walls various depictions of Lord Shiv in his many forms- the dancer, the warrior, the lover, the supreme God with both Brahma and Vishnu paying him homage, the home maker etc
This temple is the soul of Madurai and has to be visited — but with a special pass so that one is not hustling in the HUGE crowds of devotees.
If seeing the Sri Ramanathswamy Temple of Rameshwaram- dedicated to Shiv — a bit of advice — see it before you see the Meenakshi temple- else the beauty of the latter will supersede that of the former. Built in the 1600 century — with granite and pretty in itself. Somehow the concept of a guided tour is simply not available in this temple — — all they offer are two grade of puja- a simple one ( for Rs 3500/-) and the premium one for RS 5500/- the puja involves taking purifying dips in the waters of the 22 Kunds (wells) — changing into dry clothes and then going for the darshan.
Besides the various Natrajan (dancing form of Lord Shiv) temples there is a Hanuman temple where a huge 5 headed statue of Lord Hanuman resides.
Also here are seen the floating stones which had been used to build the ram setu (bridge) connecting the sub continent to Srilanka when Ram went there to fight Ravan and get Sita back. They were surely floating — -whether this was due to some hidden machinery or they actually float — it is a matter of faith, I guess.
Rameshwaram is an island with an extended southern point. A few years ago this area was a thriving fishermen village –but the Tsunami that came in the 2000s wiped out the village and today there is a Long stretch of straight road with the Indian Ocean on one side and the Bay of Bengal on the other. Along this lone road are shacks which serve fresh seafood to tourists. This is Dhanushkoti — -
the tip where the placid and calm waters of the Bay of Bengal meet the turbulent waters of the Indian ocean.
Enterprising Indians, that we are, have set up a colour printer. They take pictures of tourists right there and provide a coloured printout of the same (in various sizes) for a paltry sum of Rs 100/-
The rough sea shore is vigilantly monitored by security personnel ensuring people do not go in too deep into the sea. Also 5:30 Pm is the curfew time here- well before the sunset time.
Foodies can be disappointed in the fare available at Rameshwaram though south Indian fare at Madurai was quite nice. Note worthy were two drinks I loved- the Ragi Koozh, made with the Finger Millet flour and buttermilk) and the Panakam made with jaggery, lemon, ginger and spice.
A good trip- thouroughly enjoyed it.