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Adi veedhies (Sree Meenakshi Temple)

Adi Veedhies (Sree Meenakshi Temple)



By crossing the Muthu veerapa Mandapam and Meenakshi Naicker Mandapam.We can reach the south Adi Veethi(street).

In the courtyard at the eastern end of the temple elephants and camels are kept.Proceeding west ,we find several office housed in small buildings.The temple library Thevaram school,Thiruppugal sabha,Temple  employees Association ,Deivaneri
kazhagam,Panniruthirumurai mandram,Dhandapani Thiruppugal Sangam are all here.

The Southern outer tower of the temple is the tallest of all its towers .It is 170 feet high it base 108 feet long and 67 feet broad .All the 1511 sculptural figures in this tower are very big.Panoramic view of the city can be seen rom the top of south tower.

There are two gigantic forms of the yali on both the sides of this tower .The diameter of each eye of these creatures is itself 2.5 feet.From this we can guess the statue of the other parts.

This tower was built in 1559 by Sevvanthimoorthy Chettiar of Siramalai

In the West  Adi Street on the south of the west tower there is a cattle form and on its north there is the office of the Sivaganga Devasthanam.

Any one coming from the Madurai Railway Junction catches sight of the west tower at first.It is 154 feet high with a base 101 feet by 64 feet.There are 1124 sculptures in it.This was built by Parakrama Pandyan who ruled Madurai during 1315 to 1347.

At the eastern side of the northern wall of this tower there is a stone with two songs engraved on it .Any ordinary person  posseissing Tamil knowledge can read them.

In the North Adi street ,there is a Thiruppugal Mandapam.This was built in 1952.Beside this ,there is the Thiruvalluvar Kazhagam housed in a beautiful mandapam.This society was started in 1941 by Thirukkural Attavandanam.This society was Das this building is used for religious meetings and discourses.

The Northern tower is called Mottai Gopuram meaning a bald or unfinished tower,This was built by Krishna Veerappa Naicker (1564-1572).For some reason or another its plastering was left incomplete .Later ,the plastering was done by the Nagarathars and Abisheka Pandaram.

The nine -storeyed tower is 152 feet high with a base 111 feet by 66 feet.There are only 404 sculptures in it.This small number also seems to have been a reason for the tower being called mottai gopuram

At the western side outside this tower is the temple of ''Mottai Gopura Muniyandi''.This deity is chiefly worshipped on tuesdays and fridays.At those times,the North tower also is decorated with flower strings.







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