The Meenakshi Temple is located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The most important is pilgrimage centre and for wonderful architecture. The divinity of worshipped is lord somasundara (Lord Shiva) and goddess Meenakshi. It is built by the Pandyan king kulasekhara and important festivals celebrated here is Meenakshi kalayanam in April-May and the Teppam festival.

Although the accurate date of the temple's origin is not known, the structures that are standing today date typically between the 12th and the 18th century. The present temple was built in the 17th century A.D. by the Nayak rulers. They occupy a vast space - 258m by 241m. The temple has the "pool of lilies", measure 49.5 m by 36 m, bounded by steps and has a pillared portico on four of its sides. At every turn there is an excellent sculpture, overwhelming architecture and marvelous carvings.

It looks like an equipped citadel from outside. The Temple premise includes a complex of columned Mandapas, tanks, stores, shrines and, at the core, the two temples of Shiva as Sundareshvara and Devi as Meenakshi. The stonewalls and towers of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai rise out of the crowded streets of the city center. From her tedious maze-like palaces the Goddess Meenakshi presides. It is said that her picture is carved out of a single emerald.

The sanctuary of Shiva has a meeting hall, a vestibule and a cella which is surmounted by a small shikara which penetrates through the flat roof covering of the whole portion of the temple. The sanctuary of Meenakshi is half the size of Shiva's sanctuary. The Gopuras at Madurai are surrounded by the most richly adorned in southern India. The temple is beauty with eleven gopuras. Four among them are 45 mtrs in height. Each gopuram is a pyramidal structure with a straight or somewhat curved slope. The gopurams with life size statue of images from Hindu mythology are the captivating sights of this temple.

Various kings have renovate the temple, adding entangled corridors, larger-than-life sculptures, polishing and honing an abode fit for Meenakshi, the Goddess Shakti herself, born as daughter of a Pandya king. According to the myth of this temple the marriage of the goddess to Shiva actually took place in Madurai and is still celebrated every summer with great pomp and gaiety.

The south gateway is the perfect way for entering the twin temples of Shiva and Meenakshi. On looking up you would see the four fabulous beasts called Yalis looking downwards. The eyes would glide from the yellows to the flashes of pure greens, blues, and whites on the 150 ft South Gopuram. It is beautifully balanced, nine stories high and crowded with griming gargoyles and gryphons that rest on the elaborate curved edges. Between them stand or quietly sit sedate gods and goddesses.