It’s been a while since I blogged. Much has happened in Madurai in the meanwhile. I wanted to blog with appropriate photos & getting delayed. Finally got them & will be blogging regularly from now on.
Before that, I wanted to share the rare photos of Madurai appearing in a forum. It’s a treat to see serene streets around Meenakshi Amman Temple & Yaanai Malai standing alone.
It’s not known about the origin of these photos, but a great find. Do have a look at http://allaboutmadurai.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=25 and also on the second page at http://allaboutmadurai.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=25&start=10
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Yaanaimalai (Elephant hill) at the outskirts of Madurai has a unique shape & a treasure trove for archaeologists. It has jain caves at the top, numerous inscriptions all around the hills and also two carved temples at the bottom.
Lakshmi Narasimha temple is carved deep into the hill and the deity (carved in the hill) stands near the centre of the hillock at ground level.
It’s a wonder that some people thought it fit to propose cutting the hill, carve a sculpture in the middle & scoop the remaining rocks for granite exports. The effort was named as beautifying the place & to give Madurai a tourist place!
Well, Yaanai malai already earned it’s own merit over thousands of years (it’s even mentioned in very old tamil scripts) to become a tourist spot. And being a unique shape, it already have a striking pose, looking majestically at the approaching urbanization.
Thankfully, protests were loud & that proposal was officially struck down last week by Government of Tamilnadu. Now it only needs beautification around the hillock & promoting it properly.
The tail end of the hillock still retains a lot of greenery and a nice picnic spot, untouched by urbanization.
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This is just one of the few remaining mandapams between Madurai and Srivilliputhur (75kms), on Madurai – Tenkasi highway. This mandapam is said to be served as a bell tower during Thirumalai Naicker’s rule at Madurai.
Legend has it that, King Thirumalai Naicker is very religious and showed reverence to Aandaal Temple at Srivilliputhur. He is known to have his lunch only after the “Uchi Kaala Poojai” (pooja at noon) performed at Aandaal Temple at Srivilliputhur, about 75Kms from Madurai.
It is interesting to know how the news travelled 75 Kms everyday in time to the king in those days. When the pooja is performed, the big bronze bell at the temple will toll. It can be heard for about 5Kms. So the king built mandapams all the way from Madurai to Srivilliputhur with less than 5Km intervals. When the bell is heard at the first mandapam, the person-in-charge there will toll a similar bell installed at the mandapam, which can be heard at the second mandapam, which in turn strike their own bell. The bell sound is thus carried over all the way to Madurai within a few minutes.
Though there were no signs of a pedestal for a bell in this mandapam, I inclined to believe the story. It is said that he built them bigger so the public who usually travel on foot can take rest in these mandapams.
The mandapam is now unsafe to venture in. But the beauty of the art works were too valuable to loose. It lies just on the edge of the highway near Srivilliputhur, but somehow was left unmaintained. History & architecture casually lying by the road side.
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