Madurai: The City Showered by Divine Nectar, Madhurapuri

If you miss a trip to Madurai, while in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu, you are missing out on the Tamil roots, its soul. Dating back to the 3rd century BCE, Madurai would be one of India’s oldest metropolises that traded with ancient Rome, long before the name Chennai would have ever been uttered.
The Pandyan King Kulasekarar built a great temple and created a lotus shaped city around the temple. On the day the city was to be named, as Lord shiva blessed the land and its people, divine nectar (Madhu) was showered on the city from his matted locks. This city was henceforth known as Madhurapuri, now Madurai. The temple known as the Meenakshi Amman Temple, in the centre is one of India’s most celebrated temple structures.
The rest of Madurai reflects the common urban Indian paradox of modernity in the form of an IT boom jostling for space around its ancient traditional heart.

More at