மதுரை மீனாட்சி சுந்தரேசுவரர் கோயில்Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple

Sthala Mahātmyam

The Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple at Madurai holds the Rajata Sabhai, the Silver Hall or Velli Ambalam, where Shiva as Nataraja is enshrined upon a great silver altar and is revered to have performed the Sandhya Tandava, the twilight dance. A cherished legend explains the unusual posture of the Madurai Nataraja: moved by the devotion of a Pandya king who feared the Lord grew weary dancing eternally upon his raised left leg, Shiva graciously shifted his weight and raised the right foot instead, a reversed stance unique among Nataraja images. The temple is chiefly renowned for the fish-eyed goddess Meenakshi, born of the Pandya king Malayadhwaja's sacrifice, who ruled Madurai and wedded Sundareswarar. Their celestial marriage is relived each year in the Chithirai festival, the grand Meenakshi Thirukalyanam, drawing vast throngs of pilgrims. Other observances include the Avani Moola Utsavam recounting Shiva's sacred games (Thiruvilaiyadal) and Navaratri. The immense twin-shrine complex, with its towering gopurams and thousand-pillared hall, remains among the greatest of Tamil temples.