History of Madurai City
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Madurai is a 2600 years old
historical city surrounded by elegant natural plantations, technical institutes and textile mills situated in Tamilnadu, India.
The city is known for its rich
heritage, culture and historical background in the sense that Lord Shiva
himself performed sixty-four wonders called "Thiruvilaiyadals"
in Madurai many centuries ago. Madurai is located on banks of river
Vaigai and was the capital of Pandya kingdom.
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Madurai is the busiest
commercial center in south Tamilnadu. This sacred city of south India
attracts thousands of pilgrims and visitors from India and abroad.
Legend says, Madurai was once called
forest KADAMBAVANAM. Once a merchant named Dhananjaya who was passing
through the forest, saw INDRAN - the king of Gods, worshipping a
SWAYAMBHULINGAM under a kadamba tree in the
forest. This was reported immediately to the king KULASHEKARA PANDYAN.
Kulashekara cleared the forest and built a magnificent Sri Meenakshi
Sundareswarar temple around the sacred LINGAM and he built a lotus
shaped city around the temple. On the naming ceremony of the city, Lord
Shiva appeared magnificently to bless the city. The divine nectar (madhu)
from the matted locks of Shiva fell on the blessed city. So, then the
city was named "Madhurapuri". Madurai has reference in the
great Indian epics - Ramayana , Kautilyas and Arthasastra.
As early as the 302BC, Megasthanes
visited Madurai. Great travel-historians like Pliny (77AD) and Ptolemy
(140AD) have made reference to Madurai in their travelogues. Marcopolo
visited Madurai in 1293AD followed by Ibn Batuta in 1333AD. Later many
people from Rome and Greece visited Madurai and established trade with
the Pandya kings.
During the 10 century AD, Madurai was
captured by Cholas. The Cholas ruled Madurai from 920 AD till the
beginning of the 13th century. In 1223 AD Pandyas regained their kingdom
and once again become prosperous. Pandian Kings patronised Tamil
language in a great way. During their period, many master-pieces were
created. "Silapathikaram", the great epic in Tamil was written
based on the story of Kannagi who burnt Madurai as a result of the
injustice caused to her husband Kovalan. In April 1311, Malik Kafur, the
general of Alauddin Khilji who was then the ruler of Delhi, reached
Madurai and raided and robbed the city for precious stones, jewels, and
other rare treasures. This led to the subsequent raids by other Muslim
Sultans. In 1323, the Pandya kingdom including Madurai became a province
of the Delhi empire, under the Tughlaks.
The 1371, the Vijayanagar dynasty of
Hampi captured Madurai and Madurai became part of the Vijayanagar
empire. Kings of this dynasty were in habit of leaving the captured land
to governors called Nayaks. This was done for the efficient management
of their empire. The Nayaks paid fixed amount annually to the
Vijayanagar empire. After the death of Krishna Deva Raya (King of
Vijayanagar empire) in 1530 AD, the Nayaks became independent and ruled
the territories under their control. Among Nayaks, Thirumalai Nayak
(1623-1659) was very popular, even now he is popular among people,
since, it was he who contributed to the creation of many magnificent
structures in and around Madurai. The Raja Gopuram of the Meenakshi
Amman Temple, The Pudu Mandapam and The Thirumalai Nayakar's
Palace are
living monuments to his artistic fervor.
Madurai started slipping into the
hands of the British's East India Company. In 1781, British appointed
their representatives to look after Madurai. George Procter was the
first collector of Madurai.
Now after Indian independence,
Madurai is one of the major districts of Tamilnadu State. Madurai is
surrounded by several mountains. It is famous for Jasmine Flowers.
Jasmine flowers are transported to various other cities of India from
Madurai. Kodaikanal is the beautiful hill resort situated near Madurai.
The city is surrounded by three small prominent hills which are called
the Anaimalai, Pasumalai and Nagamalai named after their resemblance to
an Elephant, a Cow and a Snake respectively.
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