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Sri Meenakshi Temple January 28, 2000 Sri Meenakshi Temple is the sweetest temple I have seen so far. Buried in the center of Maduri, it is surrounded by 10 foot high red and white striped candy-cane walls and its gopurams tower over the city. The largest is 50 meters tall. It is surprisingly peaceful for such a large temple, a true refuge from the busy city outside its walls. Even the beggars, touts, and guides are low-key.
The south gopuram of Sri Meenakshi Temple The temple is dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. Her consort (spiritual and sexual partner or husband) is Shiva, who is in this incarnation Sundareshwar. Meenakashi is also Lakshimi, Padma, Sita, and Rukmini, in other incarnations. Sundareshwar is here depicted dancing the cosmic dance in the reverse position of that of the classic "dancing Shiva" Nataraja I saw in Chidambaram. It is a fascinating study -- Hindu mythology --- so rich and vibrant, confusing and very open to interpretation. It makes for great stories and debates.
Monkeys enjoy the peace of the temple, too Most people enter the temple by the Southeast gate where the main goddess shrine is located, but I entered by the big south gate where I met first a shrine of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, the ever-popular clearer of obstacles. This shrine was absolutely covered in ash that devotees were continuously pouring on it from little packets they'd bought outside the temple. In front of the shrine, or "murti," as the representation of a god or goddess is called, a shallow bowl of oil burned with a yellow flame. People crowded around the flame to capture the smoke in their hands and wave it onto their heads. They might also press their hands together or even bow down on their knees to press their heads to the ground before it. Many would also gather the ash that was sitting on the shrine to replace the "new" ash they'd poured on the shrine. Anything -- ash, food, flowers, fruit -- that has been offered to a shrine is considered "blessed" by that god and is therefore sacred.
Ganesha shrine For me, the water tank was reminiscent of Kanchipuram [link to dispatch], but without fish. It is also much finer and larger, with a view of three of the brightly painted gopurams at once. People sat around the water, stepping in it, washing their faces and arms in it, or even fully immersing themselves in it, for it is also considered sacred. tank.jpg The water tank
Bathing in the sacred waters The water tank is sunken in the middle of the south end of the temple, and surrounded by steps. Above is a myriad of wide hallways leading to other shrines and other sections of the temple grounds, which is vast -- 350 hectars. The outer hallway is light and airy, its pillars are painted a light, minty green, and the ceiling is plastered with intricate portraits, about poster-sized, of the Hindu gods and goddesses.
The outer hallway at the South Gate People stream through these hallways toward the inner sanctum where they receive "darshan" (viewing an icon of a god, and usually "blessed" by a priest who presides over a short ceremony in front of the icon, called a "murti"). After darshan one traditionally sits outside of the shrine for a while, facing it, in contemplation. The hallways of this temple and many others are dark and expansive, but alive with people in spiritual contemplation, with tiny oil lamps offered to the murtis, with footsteps and music and voices and work.
A sunbeam lights a dark temple hallway Lot's of people work in the temple, not only the priests but people who clean and people who tend to the murtis, which must be fed and dressed and put to sleep just like the mortals who worship them. A woman bathes a stone murti of Lakshimi in milk. Someone dresses Ganesha in a red robe. At night the lights are turned off and the murtis are allowed to sleep. In the morning bells are rung to wake them up. Hindu religious practice is just teeming with ritual. Each murti is an icon of a god or goddess, and each of these gods and goddesses are only one "aspect" of God, with a personality all its own.
Another hallway Devotees "feed" the murtis fruits, sweets, and breads. This "prasadha" is bought from stands inside and outside of the temple, along with flowers, ash, milk, oil lamps, and other offerings as appropriate. Some gods and goddesses have favorite foods or offerings, and devotees take care to offer those in particular.
A prasadha stand inside the temple One of the most unusual aspects of Hinduism to the somewhat sheltered western mind is its worship of the lingham, which is literally the representation of the penis, that "springs up miraculously" in sacred areas. This icon is found everywhere, usually accompanied by the yoni (representation of the vagina) which is to say that there is a kind of shallow bowl in which a phallic symbol stands upright.
A lingham shrine at the Sri Meenakshi temple Here it is all a part of life. The gods and goddesses are seen as divine, but fallible, and I believe that must make them quite accessible to devotees. Therefore, the temple is not only a place of worship, but a quiet place of refuge. I've seen people reading and writing, having quiet meetings, talking, joking, laughing... the temple seems a place to be natural, not terribly formal, though there is protocol with the murtis and for darshan. No part of life is absent from the temple. Not commerce, not scams, not surreptitious love affairs. Beggars, touts, scammers, and lovers... all are devotees, and the gods and goddesses, fallible as they are, seem to understand. GO BACK TO SPIRIT |
