Temples of South India

South India's extraordinary 16th century Meenakshi temple town in Madurai, seat of an ancient civilisation

South India's extraordinary 16th century Meenakshi temple town in Madurai, with its hall of 1000 pillars, is the seat of an ancient civilisation. Meenakshi's temple, the abode of the fish-eyed goddess, has four incredibly huge gopurams or elaborately carved towers, soaring into the skies. The Shree Ranganatha Swamy temple at Srirangam has 1,100 magnificent pillars. You can see that the artistic and engineering marvels of this ancient culture are among the greatest in the world.

All the major colonial powers wanted a piece of India, and the English and French battled for supremacy in south India. South India saw a number of religions flourish, including Hinduism, Jainism and Christianity, each bringing a distinctive architecture. Apart from the Meenakshi and Shree Ranganatha Swamy temples, the palace of Tirumalai Naik, once capital of the Naik dynasty of Vijayanagar, is another engineering marvel, with tall pillars without rafters. There's also a dam on the Cauvery (Kaveri) river, built with modern engineering. It is remarkable how ancient religion and modern science co-exist closely in south India. Meenakshi Shedde