Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
diately inside the museum entrance. Moving on into the temple, you'll reach a Nandi
shrine surrounded by more beautifully carved columns. Ahead is the main Shiva shrine,
and further ahead to the left is the main Meenakshi shrine, both of which only Hindus can
enter. Anyone can however wander round the temple tank, and leave the temple from
there via a hall of flower sellers and the arch-ceilinged Ashta Shakti Mandapam, which is
actually used as the temple entrance by most worshippers and is lined with relief carvings
of the goddess's eight attributes and has perhaps the loveliest of all the temple's brightly
painted ceilings.
MUSEUM
Gandhi Memorial Museum
(Gandhi Museum Rd; camera ?50; 10am-1pm & 2-5.45pm Tue-Sun)
Housed in a 17th-century
Nayak queen's palace, this excellent museum contains an impressively moving and de-
tailed account of India's struggle for independence from 1757 to 1947, and the English-
language text pulls no punches about British rule. Included in the exhibition is the blood-
stained dhoti (long loincloth) that Gandhi was wearing when he was assassinated in Delhi
in 1948; it's here because it was in Madurai, in 1921, that he first took up wearing the
dhoti as a sign of native pride. The small
Madurai Government Museum
(Indian/foreigner ?5/100, cam-
era ?20; 9.30am-5pm Sat-Thu)
is next door, and the
Gandhian Literary Society Bookshop
(
10am-1pm & 2.30-6.30pm Mon-Sat)
behind. Bus 75 from Periyar Bus Stand goes to the
Tamukkam bus stop on Alagarkoil Rd, 600m from the museum.
Tirumalai Nayak Palace
MAP
PALACE
GOOGLE MAP
(Palace Rd; Indian/foreigner ?10/50, camera/video ?30/100; 9am-5pm)
What the Meenakshi Temple is
to Nayak religious architecture, Tirumalai Nayak's palace is to the secular. Although it's
said to be only a quarter of its original size, its massive scale and hybrid Dravidian-Islam-
ic style still make quite an impression and testify to the lofty aspirations of its creator. You
enter from the east. A large courtyard surrounded by tall, massive columns topped with
fancy stucco work leads through to the grand throne chamber with its 25m-high dome. Off
this is a museum with stone carvings and archaeological exhibits.
Festivals & Events
Teppam (Float) Festival
TEMPLE FESTIVAL
