Meenakshi Amman
Temple – Religious Significance
A distinct feature of Meenakshi in terms of iconography
is the presence of parrot in her right hand. The parrot is generally associated
with the Vaishnava azhwar saint Andal. "Pancha
Sabhai" refers to the five
royal courts of Nataraja (dancing form of Shiva) where he performed
cosmic dance.
The Tamil word velli means silver
and ambalam means stage or altar. This massive Nataraja
sculpture is enclosed in a huge silver altar and hence called "Velli
Ambalam" (silver abode). This is a special figure of Nataraja which
usually differs from Chola bronzes; in the Chola images, Nataraja is shown dancing with
his left leg raised, but this sculpture has the right leg raised.
According to the Thiruvilayadal Puranam (Shiva's
sacred games), this is on the request of Rajasekhara Pandya, who was a sincere
devotee of Shiva. He requested the deity to change his position, as he felt
that keeping the same foot raised would put enormous strain and got a graceful
acquiescence from the divine master.