Meenakshi Temple - Evening

Friday, 26 September 2014

We returned to the temple for an evening visit. The Navratri festival (honoring the goddess, Durga) is in full swing, and in the evening the temple is lit with strings of lights and is crowded with worshippers.

Before entering the temple, we went through the extremely crowded Pudu Mandapa bazaar just outside the gate. Tailors, metalware, and bookshops (textbooks mostly) dominate, but many other things can be found as well.

Just inside the entrance to the bazaar is a large carving of Durga on a pillar. A bamboo ladder was brought up, and additional garlands were added to Durga while we watched. The stone is dark from constant oiling. (Note the lighter color at the top of the column.)

Durga -- before and after. Note the new floral garland and an additional garland of lemons.

An additional carved pillar is across the entrance from Durga:

This sculpture depicts the wedding of Meenakshi (Parvati) to Sundareswarar (Shiva).

By now it was dark and we were able to get the full effect of the temple at night.

Temple entrance

There are many stalls and shops inside the temple -- mostly selling flowers and worship supplies.

A brightly lit corridor inside the temple. It's very easy to get turned around and confused inside the temple.

Next to the temple tank.

The temple tank lit up for Navratri.

We did not wait for the evening ceremony. It probably would have been close to midnight before the gods were put to bed for the night. The lines of worshippers waiting to visit Meenakshi and Shiva were very long, and everyone has to have had a chance to visit the gods before the temple is closed.