Indian Columbus

Why is Madurai called the Temple City? Is it because of the vast temple of Meenakshi Sundareswara located at the city's center? Else, is it because of the hundreds of temples at every nook and corner across the city? Maybe, both are valid reasons to call this ancient city the  Temple City . The city, primarily associated with Lord Shiva and his consort, has some important temples of Lord Vishnu too. This article covers one such important Vaishnavite temple -  Madana Gopala Temple . Madana Gopala means lovely cowherd - Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu. This temple is located at Melamasi Street, next to  Immaiyilum Nanmai Tharuvaar Temple . Legend All temples in South India would have some associated legends. This temple, too, has few tales. They are not recorded in Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam or any authentic texts that talk about Madurai. After Lord Shiva, as Sundaresa, married Meenakshi, he installed Shiv Linga (Immaiyilum Nanmai Tharuvaar) and went into deep medita...

Immaiyilum Nanmai Tharuvaar Temple - the word is hard to pronounce for those who do not understand Tamil. It can be loosely translated as "the God who protects the devotees even in their current lifetime". This is one of the important temples of Madurai. There are two unique things about this temple. We could see only the back side of Shiv Linga as he faces the opposite direction of the sanctum's entrance. Lord Shiva himself installed and worshiped this Shiv Linga, which is very unique. Legend As per the legends related to Madurai, Meenakshi, the incarnation of Uma, was born as a Pandya princess, and she ruled the empire. She invaded many kingdoms in Bharat and went up to the Himalayas. There, she met Lord Shiva on a battlefield, which resulted in her marriage to him. Lord Shiva settled down in Madurai. He ruled the empire in the name of Sundaresha (Sundara Pandya). Before his coronation, he installed, worshiped, and performed poojas to the Shiv Linga of this t...

Dandayudhapani Temple is a small temple located on a corner of Netaji Road in Madurai city. However, it remains one of the most famous temples of Madurai. Also called Madurai Palani Andavar temple, it enshrines Lord Kartikeya in the form of Andi. He has a shaven head, clad in a loin cloth, and holds a thin staff called Dandayudham. The iconography is similar to that of the famous temple at Palani hills. Although Dandayudhapani took the form of an ascetic, his idol is always dressed up in royal attire. The temple is famous mainly due to this almost-permanent Raja alankara of the deity. The temple's structure cannot be dated older than 50-60 years. However, as per tradition and belief, Sundarar, the saint in the 7th century CE, stayed in this temple for a few days and went to Tiruparankundram. Hence, the temple is also called Sundarar Mutt. The small mandapa of the temple enshrines many deities, such as Shiv Linga, Dakshinamurti, Durga, Ganesha and Bhairava. Happy travelling. ...

All of you know about the connection between Tiruvannamalai and the greatest among the great sage, Sri Ramana Maharishi. However, only a few of you would have heard of or visited the holy abode of Maharishi in Madurai. Hardly within 300 meters from the Southern Tower of Madurai Meenakshi Temple, a tiny house is located on Chokkappa Naicker Street. Named "Ramana Mandiram" nowadays, this is the exact location where Ramana Maharishi spent his teenage. After the demise of his father, the young Ramana, who was merely 12 years old, moved to his paternal uncle's house in Madurai (in Feb 1892 CE). This is where Sri Ramana attained self-realization after getting the sudden fear of death first. After attaining self-realization, Sri Ramana remained in this house for about six weeks. He started visiting the Meenakshi temple daily and spent many hours there. On 29th August 1896 CE, he ran away from his house, boarded the train, and ultimately reached Tiruvannamalai. The ho...

Nothing is as important as being passionate about something. I always love to explore the works of passionate people. Dr. A.V. Arun is one such great person. Orthodontist by profession, he has a passion for collecting antique and vintage cameras. His private Vintage Camera Museum is located in ECR near Tiruvidanthai in the suburbs of Chennai. It has an unbelievable count of 2,100 cameras due to his 22 years of outstanding work. This small museum is heaven for photographic enthusiasts and those who explore the history of cameras. Name a category of the camera; you can definitely find it here. Box cameras from the 1900s, vintage spy cameras of the World War II period, instant Polaroid cameras, large box cameras dating back from the 1870s, sub-miniature cameras, video cameras, 8 mm and 16 mm cameras, camera flashes, accessories, 100+ years old folding bellow cameras, twin lens cameras, cameras that were used in World War II, range finder cameras, field cameras, rare SLR cameras, me...

For 48 days starting from 1st July 2019, all the roads in Tamil Nadu lead to Kanchipuram. Yes, around one crore (10 million) devotees have thronged to the holy city to get darshan (glimpse) of Athi Varadar, who comes out of the water once in 40 years. Almost all the temples in Kanchipuram have significance. This town makes one wonder if the number of temples is more than that of houses. Every nook and corner has a temple. Among all the Vaishnavite temples of the town, the Varadaraja temple is the most popular and the biggest. The temple, which is always crowded, got tenfold the usual crowd for these 46 days thanks to the arrival of Athi Varadar. Athi Varadar is the idol of Varadaraja, made of the Athi tree (fig tree). It is believed that this Murti was worshiped as the temple's presiding deity earlier. Different versions explain why this icon was placed under the water and replaced by the current stone icon. But none of these views have concrete evidence. Also, many legends are...

Tiruvidanthai  is a southern suburb of Chennai in the Tamil Nadu state of India. It is located on East Coast Road, around 40 km from Chennai. The coastal village has an ancient and beautiful temple of  Nithya Kalyana Perumal Temple . This temple is considered the  62nd Divya Desam,  located in the Tondai region.  (Read the temple's name as "Nitya" Kalyana Perumal - In Tamil Nadu, it is always spelled as "Nithya Kalyana", with an additional letter of "h"). Highlights: Tirumangai Alwar  has written 13 Pasurams about this temple in his verses. Manavala Mamunigal has also sung hymns about this deity. It is considered the  62nd Divya Desham temple . It is located in the Tondai region. In the olden days, it was also called Nityakalyanapuri, Sripuri and Varaha Puri There are 360 consorts for Vishnu on this site. God  -  Aadi Varaha Perumal or Lakshmi Varaha Perumal or Gnanapiran ; Utsava deity -  Nithya Kalyana Perumal Goddess...