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The Meenakshi Temple attracts devotees from all over India and Tourist from all over the world. The numerous shrines of the temple is bustling with activities from Dawn to Dusk. The Gopurams of the Meenakshi temple is covered with profusion of multi coloured images of Gods, Goddess, animals and many mythological characters. There is also the golden tank where the Tamil literary society (Sangam) met and decided the merits of the works presented to them in a very strange way. The submitted works were dipped in the tank and those manuscripts which sank were dismissed where as those floated were good. The thousand pillared hall is also here. this hall has 985 richly carved pillars and each pillar surpasses the other in beauty. The temple museum is also housed here. Madurai is famous for its Meenakshi temple, one of India's biggest temples which is dedicated to Meenakshi, the consort of lord Shiva. Surrounded by five gopurams which are known for it's stucco work, it is believed that the Kadasma tree under which Lord Shiva meditated, was the only one to cover this area. Exquisite sculptures, hall of thousand pillars, icons, photographs & illustrations make this temple is a famous tourist.

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Kumari Amman Temple    

Picturesquely situated overlooking the shore, this temple and the nearby ghat attract pilgrims form all over India to worship and to bathe. Accroding to legend, Devi did penace here to secu;re /Siva/s hand in marriage. When she was unsucdessful, she vowed to remain a virgin.

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Ramanathaswamy Temple   

A fine example of late Dravidian architecture, this temple is most renowned for its magnificent corrridors lined with  nassive sculpturesd pillars, noted for their elaborate desig style and rich carving. Legend has it that Rama sancitified this place bhg worshipping Siva here after the battle of Sri Lanka.

Kothandaraswamy Temple

This is another famous temple about 12 km form town. It was the only structure to survive the 1964 cyclone which washed the rest of the village away. Legend states that Vibishana. brother of Sita's kindnapper Ravana, surrendered to Rama at this spot / Buses from the local bus stand opposite the toureis office of East Car St will take you down there.

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Madhurai is an animated city packed with pilgrims, beggars, businesspeople, bullock carts nd legions of underemployed rick Shaw wallets. It is one of southern India's oldest cities. and has been a centre of learning and pilgrimage for centuries.

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Mahabalipuram Temple      

World famous for its shore temple Mahabalipuram was the second capital and sea port of the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram. the first Tamil dynasty of any real consequence to emerge after the fall of the Gupta Empire.

Shore Temple:- This beautiful and romantic temple, ravaged by wind and sea, represents the final phase of Palava art and was built in the late 7th century during the reign of Rajasimha. The temple's two spires, containing a shrine for Vishnu and one for Siva, were modeled after the Dharmaraja Ratha, but with considerable modification.

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Chidambaram Temple        

South of Pondicherry, towards Thanjavur, is another to Tamil Nadu's Dravidian architictural highlights-the temple complex opf Chidambaram with the great temple of Nataraja the dancing Siva.

Nataraja Temple:- Chidambaram was a Chola capital form 907 to 1310 and the Nataraja Temple was erected during the reign of Vira Chola Raja The complex is said to be the oldiest in soughern India, It covers 13 hectares and has foru gopurams. the north and south one towering at 49 metres high. Two of the gopurams are carved with the 108 classical postures of Natraja. Siva in his role as the comic dancer.

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Kanchipuram       

Sometimes known as Siva Vishnu Kanchi, Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India and was, successively, capital of the kingdoms of htge Pallavas, Cholas and of the kingdoms fo the Pallaves, Cholas and rajas of Vijayanagar.During Palllava times, it was briefly occupied by the Chalukyans of Badami, and by the Rashtrakutas when the battle fortunes of the Paallava kings reached a low ebb.

Kanchipuram is a spectacular temple city and its many gopurams can be seen from a long way away. Of the orginal 1000 temples, there arestill about 125 left spread out across the city. Many of them are the work of the later Cholas and of the Vijayanagar kings.

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