Festivals

Chithirai Festival
This festival is celebrated between the months of April and May (Chithirai - according to the Tamil Calendar), when the celestial marriage of Meenakshi to Sundareswarer is celebrated , Azhagar travels to Madurai. A gold processional icon called The Sundararajar is carried by devotees in procession from Azhagar Koil to Madurai for wedding ritual.

The Float Festival
Held in January - February, the float festival takes place in the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam. The night comes alive as the specially constructed raft carried the deities around the lake. Brightly lit with flowers on all sides, not to mention the throng of people that gather to watch the fetivalm there is a sense of peace that this ritual seems to inspire. decorated with flowers and lights carries the deities around the tank.
The images of Meenakshi and Lord Sundareshwara are mounted on floats or rafts, and taken to the Mariamman Teppakkulam Tank. The illuminated rafts embellished with flowers are floated on the waters of the tank. The floats carry them back to the central shrine amidst chants and music.

Avanimoola Festival
Held in late August or early September, the Avanimoola festival marks the coronation of Sundareshwara (Shiva). The special feature of the festival is its series of plays based on the myths from the legend of the temple. The coronation of the deity and the procession of the images all form an integral part of this elaborate festival.

Panguni Festival
Panguni Festival is a 14-day annual event is held in the Tirupparankundram temple during April/May. The celebrations mark the coronation of Lord Subramanya and his marriage to Devyani, the daughter of Indra. The festivities involve elaborate coronation rituals, wedding ceremonies and grand processions. The deities from the Meenakshi temple actually travel in a procession to attend the wedding and return in the evening.

Royal Court

Rating:
Budget

Address:
No.4, West Veli Street,
Opp: Railway Station,
Madurai - 625 001
India

Accessibility:
10 kms from Airport and 3 kms from railway station.

Locational Advantage:
Royal Court is located in the heart of the shopping centre.

Hotel Description:
Royal Court is a well-known budget hotel in Madurai. The hotel is centrally located in the heart of the shopping centre and is close to the Meenakshi temple. The hotel staff is friendly and takes care of the needs of the guests. The Royal Court offers the first-class style and service to its guests.

Accommodation at Royal Court:
Royal Court offers a total of 70 centrally air-conditioned guest rooms. All the rooms are well equipped with contemporary amenities.

Amenities & Services at Royal Court:
Restaurant, Car Parking Available, Internet Access, Laundry, Bar, Security Lockers, Luggage Storage, Swimming Pool, Children Friendly, Telephone/Fax Facilities, 24 Hour Reception, Travel Desk/Travel Info, Key Card Access, Lift / Elevator, Bike Parking, Free Car Park, No Smoking, Free Internet Access, Taxes Not included in price, Gym, Smoking Rooms, 24 hours check in.

Accomodation

While you are on your trip to Madurai, the temple city, you will not have a problem, finding a comfortable stay for yourself. The city has a number of accommodation options ranging from deluxe hotels to inexpensive guesthouses. You can choose from amongst a wide range of options, according to your need and pocket. Given below is some more information on the accommodation options in the Madurai city of India.

Hotels
There are a number of hotels in Madurai which can prove to be good accommodation options. Some of the good hotels in the city are:

* Best Western Germanus Hotel
It is a three-star business-class hotel and is located at a distance of 1 km from the railway station and the city bus stand and around 12 km from the airport.
* Hotel Sangam
It is located in the heart of the city and provides facilities like swimming pool, conference and banquet hall, restaurant, money exchange, travel agency, doctor on call, car rental, shopping arcade, etc.
* Hotel Taj Garden Retreat
This hotel is hundred years old and is located on the Pasumalai hill, at a distance of 15 km from the Madurai airport. The hotel provides a panoramic view of the Temple City and the Kodai hills. It is only 15-minute drive from the famous Meenakshi temple and city centre.
* Hotel Madurai Ashok
It is situated at a distance of 14 km from the airport and 4 km from the Madurai junction railway station. It provides facilities like restaurant, swimming pool, conference facilities, coffee shop etc.

Guesthouses
There are a number of guest houses in Madurai, which serve as a good option for staying. Here, you can avail both bed and breakfast for yourself, in reasonable price.

Hotel Sangam

Rating:
4 Star

Address:
Alagar Koil Road
Madurai-625 002
Tamil Nadu

Accessibility:
14 kms from Madurai Airport, 4 kms from Madurai Junction and 1.5 km from Main Bus Stand.

Locational Advantage:
Hotel Sangam is adjacent to Government Circuit House and is just 3 kms from famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple.

Hotel Description:
Hotel Sangam is one of the leading 4 Star hotels of Madurai. The hotel is adjacent to the Government Circuit House and is close to the famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple. The hotel provides the touch of modern day convenience and warm hospitality. Hotel Sangam is a perfect choice for the business and leisure travelers. It is a home away from home.

Accommodation at Hotel Sangam:
Hotel Sangam offers a total of 50 tastefully furnished rooms. The rooms are spacious and equipped with modern amenities.

Amenities & Services at Hotel Sangam:
24 hours Room Service, Swimming Pool, Safe Deposit, Car Rental, Money Changing, Shopping Arcade, Travel Desk, Cultural Programmes On Request, Doctor On Call, Secretarial Services, Business Centre, Spacious Parking Facility, An Amphi Theatre For Product Launches And Wedding Receptions, Village Theme Dinners On Request.

Shopping At Madurai

Though Madurai does not offer much to those who love to shop, but still shopping in Madurai can be adventurous. The city is famous for its textile industry since long. So, the best items to purchase here are readymade garments, fabrics and sarees. You will also find a number of tailors, along with the garment shops in the market. The city also has handicraft shops where people can buy some good art pieces for their house. The shopping places in Madurai are usually packed with people, especially during weekends and festivals.

You can enjoy the colorful shops and spend time bargaining for your favorite item. Since clothes are a specialty here, the most famous shopping items are cotton fabrics and Batik and Sungundi Sarees, providing a great deal of variety for the Indian woman wardrobe. The best market for cotton is the Prithu Mandapam. It is an old pillared hall inside the eastern entrance of Meenakshi temple. Here, you can buy good cotton and batiks, for which Madurai is famous. After shopping you can sit back and relax on the Pottramarai tank and feel the essence of the city.

For buying handicrafts, you can go to the Handicrafts Emporiums of Government situated here, which offer handicrafts from all over India. You can also visit the Government Poompuhar Handicrafts Shop, Cottage Arts Emporium and the Madurai Gallery. Here, you can get hand-woven silks and cottons, bell-metal lamps, bronze images, wood and stone carvings. Leading shopping areas of the Madurai city of Tamil Nadu are Chithirai, Avanimoola, Puthumandapam and Thevangu Chetty Choultry. You can also explore the following outlets for a nice shopping experience.

Fabrics & Sarees

* Hajeemoosa (East Chithirai Street)
* Kumaran Silks( Vengala Kadai Street )
* Rajmahal Silks (Vengala Kadai Street)
* Adams 88 & 89 (South Masi Street)
* Alankar Textiles -Sungudi Sarees (South Avani Moola )
* Ranee Sarees - Sungudi Sarees (South Masi Street)
* Selections (South Chithirai Street)
* Designs (Nethaji Road)
* Nellai Dresses (Vilakkudhun)
* Co-Optex Sales Emporium (West Chithirai Street)
* Khadi Emporium (Town Hall Road)
* Sri Krishna (West Tower Street)
* Benzers (Nethaji Road)

Handlooms

* Handloom House (East Veli Street)
* Co-Optex (West Tower Street)
* Co-Optex (South Chithirai Street)

Handicrafts

* Madurai Gallery Cottage Expo Crafts (North Chithirai Street)
* Cottage Industries Exposition Ltd (Nethaji Road,)
* Cottage Arts Emporium (North Chithirai Street)
* Poopahar Sales Emporium (East Avani Moola Street)
* Poopuhar Handicrafts (West Veli Street)
* Surabi Handicrafts (West Veli Street)
* Khadi Gramayog Bhavan (Town Hall Road)
* All India Hanidcrafts Emporium (Town Hall Road )

God Marriage - Royal

The Royal couple brought up this child as their own and named her Tataatakai. An odd feature about the baby was that it had three breasts instead of two, and that a divine prophecy decreed that the third one would miraculously disappear, at the princess’s sight of her consort to be.

Tataatakai grew up to be a valorous queen; she was also known as Meenakshi, the one endowed with fish like eyes. Tataatakai embarked upon a DigVijaya or a tour of victory, across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. In the course of her travels she came to Mount Kailash where she encountered Shiva; upon standing in front of Shiva her third breast disappeared and a valorous warrior princess transformed into a blushing bride.

Shiva directed Meenakshi to return to Madurai, and promised her that he would join her in eight days as her groom. Accordingly Meenakshi returned to Madurai, and at the appointed time, the divine wedding was celebrated with pomp and splendour. Maha Vishnu, believed to be the brother of Meenakshi is said to have given the bride away.

Legend has it that Meenakshi and Sundareswarar ruled over the city of Madurai for a long period of time. Sundareswarar also goes by the name Sundara Pandyan. Ugra Pandyan the son of the divine couple is believed to be none other than Subramanya.

The legend of Meenakshi Kalyanam brings together four of the six main streams in popular Hinduism i.e. the Saiva, Shakta, Vaishnava and Skanda faiths – and this grand culmination of faiths is still celebrated in great splendour today, in an enactment of Meenakshi Kalyanam each year, when images of Skanda and Vishnu are brought to the Madurai Meenakshi temple from Tirupparamkunram nearby. Also of significance is the grand procession of Kallazhagar towards Madurai from the Alagar Koyil temple in the outskirts of the city.

Madurai Symposium

Madurai is a place of great historical and cultural importance. Well known as a seat of learning since the Sangam periods dating back to 4th century B.C, it is famous for its cultural and scholarly pursuits. The city had an academy consisting of critics, poets and savants highly esteemed both by kings and commoners. It was in Madurai that three successful conferences of Tamil scholars called sangams flourished.

In keeping with this tradition, Madurai Symposium is envisioned to be a development arena, where all stakeholders of development-Community Institutions, Civil Societies, Government, NGOs, Financial Institutions and Academia converge at Madurai for the convention, conferences and carnival. Initiated as part of fiftieth year celebration of Ford Foundation, DHAN Foundation hosted two successful bi-annual Symposiums in 2003 and 2005. From this year, Madurai Symposium will be a common platform for the development stakeholders to come together to share and learn from each others experience and practices.

A host of development themes are being implemented for addressing poverty across the country. These interventions are promoted, nurtured and built around specific themes of these water and microfinance emerged as flagships of development interventions. In fact, globally, no other theme has dazzled and excited the development world as did / is being done by microfinance and water. Significant changes have been brought about in the lives of the poor. The local initiatives of communities are much pronounced in the development interventions and their achievements have been astounding. In setting and shaping the future agenda, it is paramount to promote better understanding and harmony among the contemporary development issues and identifying priorities for future.

National Symposium on development interventions in the country, will provide unique opportunity to highlight the seminal contributions of interventions with microfinance, water and other development themes besides significant achievements of women’s organisations, NGOs working in various contexts, rural, tribal, urban, coastal and desert, etc. The key mainstream stakeholders – banking institutions and various wings of the Government would also showcase their achievements. A series of conventions, conferences, seminars and rallies would mark the symposium.

Development film festival, business fairs and cultural shows, involving the traditional and modern performing arts, poster sessions and exhibition of crafts from various locations / groups from India would also form important part of the symposium.

Hotel Madurai Residency

Madurai, the temple city is known for its hospitality and the only place where you can experience this is Hotel Madurai Residency. The ease of home and the effectiveness of office, all in one place where we make every effort to present you a room that is calm and hygienic, with a pleasant thoughtful service at a value conscious price.

Having won the hearts of many Indian and International guests, The Madurai Residency has earned a reputation providing the finest Quality of Hospitality in this region. Building upon this goodwill, the professionally qualified staff, educated in excellent hotel management and catering institutes in India and abroad are dedicated to make your stay comfortable and enjoyable.

Hotel Madurai Residency is perfectly located at the heart of the city very close to the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Railway Junction, Periyar Bus Stand, the Madurai Bazaar and is just 12 kms away from the Madurai Airport.

Madurai is an ancient city, with its history dating back to 2,600 years. The Pandyan King Kulasekhara constructed this lotus shaped city around the Meenakshi temple on the banks of the river Vaigai.

Madurai had trade contacts with the Greeks and the Romans. Foreign travelers like Megasthenes, Pliny (77 AD), and Ptolemy (140 AD) have left a graphic account of the rule of the Pandyan Kings.

Madurai is known as the City of Festivals. Scholars and pious kings founded the first Tamil Academy here. The town has developed encircling the famous Meenakshi Temple, built in the Dravidian style, one for Shiva and the other for his spouse Meenakshi. It is believed that if you place a literary work in the tank of this temple, it will sink if it is worthless and float, it worthy.

This city was henceforth known as Madhurapuri. Madurai is famous for Jasmine flowers.

Mandapam:
The fully Air-conditioned Multicuisine Restaurant serves a display of buffet breakfast and delicious South Indian & Multicuisines for Lunch and Dinner. An ideal place for business chats along with a meal and a wonderful place for your family for an evening dinner. The Restaurant is open from 7 am to 11 pm.

MEGAM:
Be it a time with your loved ones or business friends, enjoy it under the moonlit sky at Madurai's highest Roof Top Restaurant with dinner and a sight of an amazing green city, which you cannot view from any where else. Serves a variety of delicious Indian, Chinese, Continental, Tandoori and Mughal Cuisines and is open from 7.30 pm to 11 pm.

MOHANAM:
A well sophisticated centrally air-conditioned bar tuned according to the harmony of your mind blowing expectations. Offers a wide range of Liquors and Cocktails and is a perfect atmosphere for a get-together of friends or an evening of pure relaxation. Open from 11 am to 11 pm.
The air-conditioned conference hall, well prepared with business oriented services makes it a perfect place for conducting your business meetings professionally. LCD Projectors, Facsimile, Xerox, Travel assistance and a host of other services are made available for business gatherings.

Extra person charge for Non A/c rooms is Rs.175/-

Airport pickup in Qualis (9Pax) A/c-Rs.575/- &
Non A/c-Rs.500/-

Dormitory free accommodation for Drivers.

Culture Holidays

Madurai is one of south India's oldest cities and has been a centre of learning and pilgrimage for centuries. The Shree Meenakshi temple, in the heart of the old town, is a riotously baroque example of Dravidian architecture. The city is one huge non-stop bazaar, full ofshops, street markets, temples and restaurants. Excursions include Rameshwaram, a major pilgrimage centre, in South India;Kodaikanal, a popular hill station in the region; Tanjore, the ancient capital of the Chola kings and famous for metal, copper and bronze craft and the Kanya Kumari temple.

Meenakshi Temple
The temple is dedicated to Meenakshi, the consort of Lord Shiva. The original temple was built by Kulasekara Pandya, but the entire credit for making the temple as splendid as it is today goes to Tirumalai Nayak who brought back glory to this magnificent structure. Located at the heart of the city, the Meenakshi-Sundareshwar temple has long been the focus of both Indian and international tourist attraction as well as one of the most important places of Hindu pilgrimage. People of the city wake up to the chant of hymns at the temple, which is the very centre of their cultural and religious life.

Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam
This is a huge temple tank about 5 km east of the Meenakshi temple. The mandapam in the centre has an idol of Vigneshwara (Vinayaka). Discovered during excavation to build the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, the place was believed to be sanctified and was converted into a teppakulam (tank). This enormous temple tank is fed by water brought from the Vagai through an ingenious system of underground channels. It is the site of the temple's float festival.

Thirumalai Nayak Mahal
There is no other building in Madurai, which better illustrates the architectural style of the Nayaks. The palace of Tirumalai Nayak is about 1 km away from the temple. This Indo-Saracenic building was constructed in 1523 and was originally four times as large as it is today. This palace consisted mainly of two parts, namely Swargavilasa and Rangavilasa which house the royal residence, theatre, shrine, apartments, armoury, palanquin place, royal bandstand, quarters, pond and gardens. The most remarkable part of this palace is the dome of Swarga Vilasam, which lies beyond a huge courtyard and is a magnificent example of the engineering skill of its builders, rising as it does to a height of 20m without support of any kind.

Koodal Azhagar Temple
This ancient shrine has Vishnu in sitting, standing and reclining postures one above the other.

The Gandhi Museum
The Gandhi Memorial Museum is one of the distinct places to be visited in Madurai. This museum is one of the rare living memorials of "The Father of India" and has an elaborate historical account of India's struggle for independence.

Women's Craft Bazaar

WOMEN'S CRAFT BAZAAR - CELEBRATION OF CRAFTSWOMEN
Madurai, India

March 28, 2008 10:00AM to March 29, 2008 07:00PM
Hosted by MAriska Vanakaliyamma Ondrich-Vaithya

The event is organised by MA-Eco-spiritual Goddess Art (MAriska Vanakaliyamma Ondrich-Vaithya. M.Phil., Ph.D.scholar) in collaboration with Dr.P.V.Manoranjitham, reader, Mother Teresa Women’s Uinversity. R&E centre, Madurai. MAriska has joined the SWAN day project and organises a Women’s craft bazaar in Madurai. It is the aim to make craftswomen and their talents visible. The two day function will be a celebration of craftswomen whose talents are often not noticed, not valued and remain invisible. MA-Eco-spiritual Goddess art will also participate . 30 percent from each of her paintings are for her project – a home for homeless aged women with a Wild Herbal and Tree Garden, a school for village girls, an animal home, a sacred grove for the sacred immanent Mother-Goddesses – Earth and Nature Goddesses and a Nature centre for women only.

General Information

The temple towers are the beautiful features in any city. Sri Meenakshi amman temple tower is such a feature beautifying the artful Madurai City. There are several places that are worth seeing in this historically famous Madurai. To name a few ., Thirumalai Naicker Palace which is the oldest palace in India; the string of temples whereever you turn to see ; Sri Meenakshiamman Temple which is the biggest temple of South India ; the Vandiyur Teppakkulam with the central Mandapam which is one of the biggest tanks in South India ; Thirupparankundram, the first abode among the six "Padai Veedus" of Lord Muruga ; Palamudhir Solai, the last of the six Padai Veedus etc. We are proud to take you into the Website of our Madurai.

Madurai has several specialities among the series of World famous ancient cities. Similar to Athens of Greece, which had developed human culture on the banks of river, Madurai is also such a city on the banks of river Vaigai. Madurai city for more than two thousand years continuously has political history and literary history reflecting the culture of those times. Among the various ancient stone inscriptions that were found in India, the largest numbers were found only in Madurai and its surrounding places. In the entire history of the World, the Pandia Kings who ruled with Madurai as capital city get the distinction of having founded Tamil Sangams for enrichment of a Language.