About Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest incessantly occupied cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and Madurai Nayak kings in the Dravidian style of structural design. It is also one of India’s prominent Hindu pilgrimage centres.
The present day city of Madurai is said to have been known as Kadambavanam, a forest. Lord Indra was worship Swayambhu, the Lingam in the forest which was noticed by Dhananjaya, a farmer. The Lingam was under the Kadamba tree. The reported about what he saw in Kadambavanam to King Kulasekara Pandiya.
Lord Shiva has performed about sixty-four wonders called “Thiruvilaiyadals” in the city of Madurai and thus Madurai occupies a very imperative place in the history. Megasthanes visited Madurai in the 3rd century BC and the place is said to be visited by many people from Rome and Greece and they were concerned in the trade with the Pandiya Kings who were ruling over the place in those days. Thus the city was named as Mathuram, meaning sweetness in Tamil, which is now distorted to Madurai.
Madurai’s recorded history goes back to the 3rd century BC and the city is mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to India and Kautilya, the minister of the Mauryan king Chandragupta Maurya. The city was the principal organizational and cultural centre of the Pandyan dynasty which ruled over the southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala till the first half of the 14th century AD. In about 1311, the Pandyan dynasty was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate which established the province of Ma’bar which later became independent as the Ma’bar Sultanate. When the Ma’bar Sultanate began to decline in the latter years of the 14th century, Madurai was absorbed into the Vijayanagar Empire. The viceroys of the Vijayanagar Empire recognized the Madurai Nayak kingdom and ruled as independent kings from 1559 to 1736. After a brief period of occupation by Chanda Sahib and the Carnatic kingdom, Madurai was annexed by the British East India Company in 1801.
Madurai has a long and well recorded history. As early as the 3rd century BC, Megasthenes visited, the city being referred to as “Methora” in his accounts. The city is also mentioned in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Madurai has been described as the seat of the Pandyan Dynasty in Sangam literature. The city is also described extensively in the 2nd-century CE epic Silapathikaram. The city was home to the third and last Tamil Sangam (between 300 BCE and 200 CE). Madurai finds mention in the works of Roman historians Pliny the Younger and Ptolemy and those of the Greek geographer Strabo. It is also mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
After the Sangam age, most of present day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhras dynasty, which were ousted by the Pandyas around 550 CE. The Pandyas were in their turn removed from power by the Chola dynasty during the early 9th century. The city remained under control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital. After the death of the last Pandyan ruler, Kulasekara Pandian, Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. The Madurai Sultanate, then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an self-governing kingdom till its destruction by the Vijayanagar Empire in 1378. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 and Madurai changed hands several times between Chanda Sahib, Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (Marudhanayagam) in the middle of the 18th century.
Many master-pieces or “Silapathikaram” were created during that time. The great Tamil epic was also written during this time. It is based on the story of Kannagi, who burnt Madurai in lieu of unfairness caused to her husband Kovalan. In April 1311, Malik Kafur, the general of Alauddin Khilji, the then ruler of Delhi, raided and robbed Madurai for valuable stones, jewels, and other rare treasures. This was followed by following raids by other Muslim Sultans. Finally, in 1323, the Pandya kingdom came under the Delhi Empire ruled by the Tughlaks.
The year 1371 saw the downfall of the Tughlaks and Madurai came under the reign of the Vijayanagar dynasty of Hampi. Kings of this dynasty left the captured land to governors called Nayaks, for the well-organized management of their empire. After the death of Krishna Deva Raya (King of Vijayanagar Empire) in 1530 AD, the Nayaks became independent and started ruling the territories autonomously. Among Nayaks, Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) was the most popular one.
He is remembered by the people of Madurai even today, for his immense contribution to the city. He created 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 examples of his passion for art. Later, Madurai slipped into the hands of the British’s East India Company. In 1781, British appointed George Procter to look after the city. He was the first collector of Madurai.
In 1801 the British East India Company took direct control of Madurai and brought it under the Madras Presidency. In 1837, the city was expanded to accommodate the growing population by demolish the defences around the temple. This was done on the orders of the then collector John Blackburn. The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct the new streets – Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866.
Today in the state of Tamil Nadu, Madurai stands as an important city that connects the Northern and the Southern Tamil Nadu with 15 State Assembly constituency and two parliament constituencies.
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 different other cities of India from Madurai. Kodaikanal is the beautiful hill resort situated near Madurai. The city is surrounded by three small famous hills which are called the Anaimalai, Pasumalai and Nagamalai named after their similarity to an Elephant, a Cow and a Snake respectively. Another famous thing that attracts people in Madurai is the Jasmine flowers. It is being sent to the other parts of India and also exported to foreign countries.
