Délices d’Archtecture: Madurai

Even by the already interplanetary standards of India Madurai stands out as otherworldly, a bastion of spirituality reflected in buildings and people, the Meenskshi Temple, sacred to the Fish Eyed Goddess, seems to be a sacred portal into another world, pulsing with energy and spreading it’s love over this extraordinary place.

The Gandhi Museum

Mohandes K Gandhi was a river to the Indian people and led them with love and compassion to independence. His museum in Madurai seemed worth a visit. Gandhi was a powerful force for peace and his open smiling face seemed to exude the same sense of calm and joyful serenity as the Dalai Lama or […]

Tasty Madurai Treats

When in Madurai there are some culinary delights one has to try; Halwa and jalebi from the Nagapattanam Halwa shop still drawing the crowds 119 years later – Granted it’s an ideal location on the doorstep of the Meenakshi temple. The jalebi is a sweet fried spiral, tasting a little like baklava – but without […]

Graphic Art of India

In Ye olde days (the 1980s) India had fabulous graphic art everywhere. Hand painted and drawn signs, advertisements and giant movie posters abounded. They were glorious, and always just a tiny bit strange, out of proportion, really quite large stars making eyes at each other or gazing dreamily into the middle distance, looking as if […]

Madurai

Madurai is the most photogenic place in India. Beautiful locals with soulful smiles, incredible wrought iron, modernist pastel buildings and outlandish graphic art. Our window looks out onto the Meenakshi temple so at around 5 in the morning there is the Quasimodo effect – bells that seem to ring sonorously but interminably. There is also […]

The Temple of the Fish-Eyed Goddess

We’ve been intrigued by the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai since reading an essay on it by William Dalrymple in The Age of Kali. Meenakshi is a form of the goddess Parvati. She is the wombless issue of the Pandyan King Malayadhwaja and his wife Kanchanamala – a gift from Shiva. She is born with three breasts […]

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