In the temple-city of Madurai on the bank of the Vaigai in Tamil Nadu, the great Meenakshi Amman temple enshrines the Goddess Meenakshi — the fish-eyed one, a form of Parvati — together with her consort Shiva as Sundareswarar. Uniquely, it is the Goddess who presides here as the sovereign deity, worshipped as the warrior-queen who ruled Madurai before her divine marriage to Shiva — a celestial wedding re-enacted each year in the grand Chithirai festival.
The temple's legends are told in the Tamil Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam, the sacred games of Shiva at Madurai, and it is sung in the Tevaram hymns of the Nayanars. Its vast complex is famed for fourteen towering gopurams encrusted with thousands of vividly painted sculptures of gods and celestial beings, and for its Hall of a Thousand Pillars.
A masterpiece largely shaped under the Nayak kings, Meenakshi Amman is among the most magnificent and beloved temples of the South.
Madurai's great temple is named for the Goddess, Meenakshi is the presiding deity and Sundareswarar her consort.
Source: Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, HR&CE Tamil Nadu
