INTRODUCTION
Goddess Parvati Devi had taken the avatar of Meenakshi at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, that is before 5000 and odd years back. She came out from a sacrificial fire as a small child. She was brought up by the Pandiyan King, Malayadwaja and his wife Kanchanamalai
The Pandiyan King named her as Meenakshi and took care of her properly and she studied the basic education and was an expert in all kinds of arts and was skilled in handling with powerful weapons. After some time, the pandiyan king crowned her as the princess of Madurai and she ruled the city of Madurai in a proper manner. She captured almost the entire region of the world and went to Indralok and defeated Lord Indra and captured the Swarkalok also. After some time, she went to Mount Kailash in order to capture it. But on seeing the sight of Lord Shiva, she felt shy on her act, and asked him to pardon her. Lord Shiva was very happy on seeing Meenakshi and they got married in Madurai.
It is believed that the wedding was attended by all the gods, goddesses, demi gods, saints and also by the devotees of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Since Mata Parvati herself had assumed the form of Meenakshi, Lord Vishnu, Parvati’s brother, handed her over to Lord Shiva. Even today, the wedding ceremony is celebrated every year as ‘Chithirai Thiruvizha’ which is also known as ‘Tirukalyanam’.
MEENAKSHI TEMPLE
The famous Meenakshi Amman temple is situated in Madurai, and the great temple was built by Kulashekara Pandiyan king before some thousands of years. The temple is dedicated to Meenakshi and Sundareswarar.
It is believed that Lord Shiva had taken the form of Sundareswarar (the good looking one) and married Parvati (Meenakshi) at the site where the temple is currently located. Meenakshi Amman Temple was declared as one of the wonders of India with regard to its architecture and historical monuments. Daily thousands of devotees are visiting this temple to have a glimpse of their divine father and mother. During the annual ‘Tirukalyanam Festival,’ millions of devotees would visit this temple to participate in the festival.
Let us worship the divine couples and be blessed.
“OM SREE MEENAKSHI THAYE NAMAHA”
“OM SREE SUNDARESWARAR THANTHAIYE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
WRITTEN BY R.HARISHANKAR