Meenakshi Amman
Temple – Shrines
This temple has a four layered concentric courtyard
closed off by high walls on four sides. Goddess Meenakshi and God Sundareswarar
are worshipped at two inner sanctums or garbagrihas dedicated one to each of them.
Both the Meenakshi shrine
and the Sundareswarar shrine
are huge temples in
themselves – with their own sets of 2 prakarams mahamandapam and gold
plated vimanams.
The central shrine of Meenakshi Amman temple and her
consort Sundareswarar are surrounded by three enclosures and each of these are
protected by four minor towers at the four points of the compass, the outer
tower growing larger and reaching higher to the corresponding inner one.
The Meenakshi shrine has the emerald-hued black stone
image of Meenakshi. The shrine of the goddess Meenakshi houses an emerald
colored image of the goddess in stone. The goddess is depicted as holding a
green parrot in her right hand. The parrot is thought to symbolize Andal, a Vaishnavite saint.
Surrounding the sanctum are halls called Kilikoondu mandapam meaning the
corridor of bird cages. This name comes from the fact that at one time the
corridor housed green parrots that were trained to utter the goddess’s name.
Today, only two such cages remain.
The eastern entrance to shrine houses a
13th century gopuram. A 5 tiered gopuram adorns the Western entrance to
the Amman temple complex. At every entrance along the axis of the shrine are
shrines to Vinayakar and
Subramanyar.
The Meenakshi Amman idol is carved out of a green stone,
presumably Jadeite. Some people think it is made up of emerald; hence Meenakshi
is also called "Maragathambal" or "Maragathavalli".
Maragatham is the Tamil word for emerald. However, the statue is too
large to be built entirely of emerald and Jadeite is perhaps the best guess.
Taking pictures of this idol is prohibited. The distinctive feature of the
statue is its eyes. The eyes are big, beautiful and mysterious
and Meenakshi is indeed a very apt name (Meen=Fish & Eyes=
Aksi). There is a tower directly on top of this shrine which is
plated with gold.
The Sundareswarar shrine lies at the centre of the
complex, suggesting that the ritual dominance of the goddess developed later.
Both the Meenakshi and Sundareswarar shrines have gold
plated Vimanam (tower over sanctum). The golden top can be seen from
a great distance in the west through the apertures of two successive towers.
The area covered by the shrine of Sundareswarar is exactly one fourth of the
area of the temple and that of Meenakshi is one fourth that of Sundareswarar.
The Sundareswarar temple
alone has 5 gopurams – four 5 tiered ones on its outer walls and a single three
tiered one adorning the entrance to the inner prakaram. This tower is said to
be an ancient structure. Crowning the sanctum is the Indra Vimaanam. Also
seen here are several images of the manifestations of Shiva, as seen in the Thiruvilayadal Puranam.
Within the Sundareswarar temple complex is a shrine to Nataraja – the Rajata Sabha or the Velliyambalam.
Meenakshi’s shrine is located to the southwest of
Sundareswarar shrine; the north east position being that of dominance,
architecturally, the shrine to Sundareswarar shows this dominance. The Koodalazhagar temple is also located to the Southwest of the
Sundareswarar temple, thus reflecting the importance of the Sundareswarar
temple.
The idol of Sundarar is a Lingam, a phallic symbol that
shows the masculine power. This lingam was formed as a Suyambu, meaning it was
not carved, but found in this shape itself. Kulasekara Pandyan, the grandfather
of Meenakshi installed this Lingam here. At that point, it was merely
worshipped as a symbol of Siva (masculine energy). During Meenakshi- Sundarar
wedding, this Lingam was dubbed as Sundarar, and the tradition is kept till
date.
The presiding Lord of this sacred shrine was in the
times of yore known as Chokkanathar. Now the deity is known as Sundareswarar,
Meenakshi Sundarar, Somasundarar, Kalyana Sundarar, Shenbaga Sundarar, Attavai
Shevagan, Chockalingam, Adiyarku Nallan, Adhiraveesi, Vilayaduvan, Abhideka
Chockar, Azhagiya Chockar, Kadambavana Chockar, Puzhugu Neidhu Chockar,
Kadambavaneswarar, Karpoora Chockar, Madureswarar, Irayanar, Peralavayar and
other names.
The tall sculpture of Ganesh carved of single stone located outside the
Sundareswarar shrine in the path from Meenakshi shrine is called the Mukkuruni
Vinayakar. A large measure of rice measuring 3 kurini (a measure) is
shaped into a big ball of sacrifice and hence the Ganesh is called Mukkuruni
Vinayagar (three kurinis). This deity is believed to be found during a
17th-century excavation process to dig the Mariamman temple tank.