The Temple of Meenakshi's Mother

Not all those who visit the famous Meenakshi temple in Madurai visit this small temple dedicated to her mother. Yes! There is a lesser-known temple for Kanchana Mala, the mother of Meenakshi, in Madurai.

Opposite the entrance of Meenakshi shrine, there is a giant Nandi sculpture located in the middle of East Avani Moola Street. A small street named Ezhul Kadal (Seven Oceans) Street is found behind the statue. The small east-facing temple of Kanchana Mala is located on this street.

The legend of the temple goes like this...

After the demise of Malayadhwaja Pandya, his daughter Meenakshi ruled the Pandya empire. Madurai city was her capital. She invaded all over India. After winning over many Kings, she went to the Himalayas, where she met Lord Shiva. She fell in love with him and married him. After the marriage, Lord Shiva, in the name of Sundara Pandya, started ruling the Pandya empire.

Per the advice from Gautama Rishi, Kanchana Mala, the mother of Meenakshi, wanted to take a dip in seven holy oceans to attain salvation. This could be done only by holding her husband's arms. His son-in-law, Sundaresha, brought Malayadhwaja from heaven and obtained water from seven oceans to form a tank. The tank was named Ezhu Kadal Teertham (Tirtha of Seven Oceans). After taking a dip in this tank, Kanchana Mala attained salvation.

In the 1980s, the dried-up tank was used to build a shopping complex. The tank, which was supposed to have been formed by Sundaresha, is no more there. Only a tiny temple stands there now.

The small temple enshrines Shiv Linga with Devi in the sanctum. Although the temple is named after Kanchana Mala, the presiding deity is Shiva.

Linga is named Jalakandeswara, and his Devi is called Manonmani. Both are small stone images. At the entrance of the sanctum, the images of Ganesha and Subramanya are found.

A big stucco image of Nataraja is found on the wall of the maha mandap. Here, Nataraja is uplifting his right leg instead of his usual posture of uplifting his left leg. It is similar to that of the Velli Ambalam shrine inside Meenakshi temple. Sivakamai, Patanjali, Vygarapada and a King (probably Malayadhwaja) are found nearby.

In the outer mandapa, there are stucco images of Malayadhwaja Pandya and Kanchana Mala. They are found seated on a royal throne.

In Navagrahas, Budha is found with a lion face, which is unusual.

The Nayaka period temple has some old pillars and a few miniature images. I heard that there was a 16th century inscription from Saluvanarasa Nayaka, which got destroyed when the tank was replaced by the shopping complex.

Happy travelling.

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