Madurai

Hand coloured antique wood engraving drawn by W. Purser (1858) shows Madurai city and Meenakshi Temple as seen from the north bank of the Vaigai river

Madurai is mentioned in the Buddhist text Mahavamsa, that in the 6th century BCE, Prince Vijaya (BCE 543–505) married the daughter of King Pandu of Madurai and 700 men of prince Vijaya married 700 maidens from Madurai as their wives. The princess and maidens were sent to Sri Lanka with valuable items by ships and they landed in MahaTittha, present-day Mannar.[1]

Madurai has been inhabited since at least the 3rd century BCE.[2] Megasthenes may have visited Madurai during the 3rd century BCE, with the city referred as "Methora" in his accounts.[3] The view is contested by some scholars who believe "Methora" refers to the north Indian city of Mathura, as it was a large and established city in the Mauryan Empire.[4] Madurai is also mentioned in Kautilya's (370–283 BCE)[5] Arthashastra.[3] Sangam literature like Maturaikkāñci records the importance of Madurai as a capital city of the Pandyan dynasty.[6][7] Madurai is mentioned in the works of Roman historians Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE), Ptolemy (c. 90 – c. CE 168), those of the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BCE – c. 24 CE),[8] and also in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.[9]

Pandyan dynasty at its greatest extent

Coin of Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, first ruler of the Sultanate of Madurai, 1335–1339 CE

After the Sangam age, most of present-day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhra dynasty,[10] which was ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE.[11][12] The Pandyas were ousted from Madurai by the Chola dynasty during the early 9th century. The city was fought over between the Cholas and the Pandyas during the 12th century, changing hands several times,[13] until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital.[14] After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (1268–1308 CE), Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate.[14] The Madurai Sultanate then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an independent kingdom until its gradual annexation by the Vijayanagara Empire in 1378 CE. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 CE under the Nayaks.[15] Nayak rule ended in 1736 CE and Madurai was repeatedly captured several times by Chanda Sahib (1740 – 1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764 CE) in the middle of the 18th century.[3]

In 1801, Madurai came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency.[16][17] The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule. The city evolved as a political and industrial complex through the 19th and 20th centuries to become a district headquarters of a larger Madurai district.[18] In 1837, the fortifications around the temple were demolished by the British.[19] The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct new streets – Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets.[20] The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866 under the Town Improvement Act of 1865.[21] The British government faced initial hiccups during the earlier period of the establishment of municipality in land ceiling and tax collection in Madurai and Dindigul districts under the direct administration of the officers of the government. The city, along with the district, was resurveyed between 1880 and 1885 CE and subsequently, five municipalities were constituted in the two districts and six taluk boards were set up for local administration. Police stations were established in Madurai city, housing the headquarters of the District Superintendent.[22]

It was in Madurai, in 1921, that Mahatma Gandhi, pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, first adopted the loin cloth as his mode of dress after seeing agricultural labourers wearing it.[23] Leaders of the independence movement in Madurai included N. M. R. Subbaraman,[24][25] Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar and Mohammad Ismail Sahib.[26] The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act passed by the government of Madras Presidency under C. Rajagopalachari in 1939 removed restrictions prohibiting Shanars and Dalits from entering Hindu temples. The temple entry movement was first led in Madurai Meenakshi temple by independence activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer in 1939.[27][28]

In 1971, the municipality of Madurai was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation.[29] In 2011 the Corporation of Madurai expanded the area of its jurisdiction from seventy-two wards to one hundred wards, an increase in area from 51.82 square kilometres (12,810 acres) to 147.997 square kilometres (36,571 acres).[29]

^ Cite error: The named reference Geiger 1912 59 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Zvelebil, Kamil (1992). Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature. BRILL. p. 27. ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Harman was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura, Ca. 150 BCE-100 CE. Concept Publishing Company. p. 2. ISBN 978-90-04-15537-4. ^ Agarwal, S. K. (2008). Towards Improving Governance. Academic Foundation. p. 17. ISBN 978-81-7188-666-1. ^ Mangudi Marudanar (2004). Mathuraikanchi (PDF). Online: Project Madurai. ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 181. ^ Bandopadhyay, Manohar (2010). Tourist destinations in India. Delhi: Oriental Books. pp. 93–6. ISBN 978-93-80944-00-5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bard12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Nagarajan, N.; Subramanian, K., eds. (1977). History of Land Revenue Settlement and Abolition of Intermediary Tenures in Tamil Nadu. Madras: Government of Tamil Nadu. p. 473. (no preview) ^ Dalal, Roshen (1997). The Puffin History of India for Children, 3000 BCE – CE 1947. Puffin Books. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-14-333544-3. ^ Kersenboom Story, Saskia C. (1987). Nityasumaṅgalī: Devadasi Tradition in South India. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. p. 16. ISBN 978-81-208-1527-8. ^ Balasubrahmanyam, Sirkali Ramaswamy (1979). Later Chola Temples: Kulottunga I to Rajendra III (A.D. 1070-1280). Faridabad: Thomson Press. pp. 290–293. OCLC 888754347. (no preview) ^ a b Salma Ahmed, Farooqui (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid Eighteenth century. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. p. 26. ISBN 978-81-317-3202-1. ^ V., Vriddhagirisan (1995) [1942]. Nayaks of Tanjore. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 115. ISBN 978-81-206-0996-9. ^ Markovits, Claude (2004). A History of Modern India, 1480–1950. London: Wimbledon Publishing Company. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-84331-152-2. ^ B.S., Chandrababu; S., Ganeshram; C., Bhavani (2011). History of People and Their Environs. Bharathi Puthakalayam. p. 582. ISBN 978-93-80325-91-0. ^ King 2005, pp. 73–75 ^ Reynolds|Bardwell 1987| p. 18 ^ Narasaiah (2009). Aalavai – Madurai Managarathin Kadhai. Palaniyappa Brothers. p. 85. ISBN 978-81-8379-517-3. ^ "Madurai Corporation – citizen charter". Madurai Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012. ^ Imperial gazetteer of India: Provincial series, Volume 18. Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 229–230. ^ "Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai". Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal / Gandhi Book Centre. Retrieved 22 August 2012. ^ "Kamat Research Database, Biography: N.M.R.Subbaraman". Kamat Research Database. Retrieved 30 June 2012. ^ David Arnold (1977). The Congress in Tamilnad: nationalist politics in South India, 1919–1937. Manohar. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-88386-958-1. ^ More J. B. P (1977). Political Evolution of Muslims in Tamilnadu and Madras 1930–1947. Orient Blackswan. p. 106. ISBN 978-81-250-1192-7. ^ "Special postage stamp on freedom fighters and social reformers". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. ^ "Deeds of a great social reformer remembered". The Hindu. 26 February 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2012. ^ a b "Overview of Madurai City: Municipal Area". Madurai Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016.