Replete with numerous tourist attractions (places to visit), Madurai as a tourist destination is home to several monuments of cultural, religious & historical
significance. More than 15000 tourists visit Madurai every day to ‘darshana’ (pay homage) of Goddess Parvati in Meenakshi Temple. Kamakshi Grandiose temples of
ancient times are the most prominent tourist attractions of Madurai. Another aspect of Madurai is that the city never sleeps. The shops, restaurants, eating joints
etc remain open 24X7. Madurai in Tamil Nadu is one of the oldest cities in India, with a history dating all the way back to the Sangam period of the pre Christian
era. Though as per legend, Madurai is in existence since time immemorial, but, concrete historical evidences suggest that it was a commercially and culturally
developed city at least 2500 years back. Under the Pandya kings, at the beginning of the Christian era, Madurai served as glorious capital of Tamil land,
mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy and visited by the Roman traders. Until the 14th century, it was the capital of the Pandya rulers of South India who made it
the mother city of Tamil literature with their generous patronage of poets and academies. It’s one of the historical and cultural destinations of Tamil Nadu.
It was for a significant duration ruled by Vijayanagar Empire. Madurai was plundered by Malik Kafur during the reign of Delhi Sultanate. Again, under the Nayaks
of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, it became a great and prosperous capital, adorned by the great Meenakshi Temple which was built in the present form
at this time around the ancient sanctuary. The Nayakas of Madurai were Telugu rulers. The decadence of the Nayaks reached its nadir in 1736 when they sold
Madurai to the East India Company for 17O3OOO rupees. But, even without its ancient glories, Madurai is still one of the principal towns of Southern India,
with a large textile industry and an enormous annual influx of pilgrims to have ‘darshana’ of Goddess Meenakshi. Some of other attractions of the city are
Tirumalai Nayak Mahal, Gandhi Museum, Koodal Azhagar Temple, Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam and Pazhamudhirsolai.