It was completed by Amaravati Purur Vayinagaram Chettiyar family in 1878 CE. The city was laid out in the shape of concentric squares and ring roads around them, with radiating streets culminating in the Meenakshi-Sundaresvara temple. The Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai ( CC by SA 2.0 ). Nefer Say Nefer - Was Nefertiti Buried in the Valley of the Queens? It was completed about 1372 by Vasuvappan after the Vijayanagara rulers reopened the temple complex after remaining in ruins and dormant for about five decades. The traditional texts call him a poet-saint king, additionally credit him with a poem called Ambikai Malai, as well as shrines (koil) each for Natarajar and Surya near the main temple, Ayyanar in the east, Vinayagar in the south, Kariamalperumal in the west and Kali in the north. In fact the Tamil poet and saint . One legend describes a childless king and queen performing yajna for a son, they get a daughter who inherits the kingdom, conquers the earth, meets Shiva ultimately, marries him, continues to rule from Madurai, and the temple memorializes those times. [115] King Tirumalai Nayak's patronage of the poet Kumaraguruparar has an important place in the history of pillaitamil (a genre of Tamil literature). It was built by Thirumalai Nayakar's wives Rudrapathi Ammal and Tholimamai. Om vcyyai nama The shrine has a 3-storied. Om raha pjyyai nama 20 , Om raha kelyai nama This Tower has lesser figures of sudhai than other outer towers. 108 Names of Meenakshi Amman | Goddess Meenakshi Ashtottara The gopuram near the Ganesha shrine (Mukkuruni Vinayakar), also called the Nadukkattu gopuram or Idaikattu gopuram, was built by the Siramalai Sevvanthimurti Chetti family. [38] It is one of the shrines of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams. [69][40], Some of the major gopurams of the Meenakshi temple complex are:[16][40], The Meenakshi temple has two separate shrines for the goddess Meenakshi (Parvati, Devi, Amman) and god Sundaresvara (Shiva, Deva, Cuvami), just like most Shaiva temples.