Madurai

Madurai appears in Tamil tradition as the seat of the Sangam academies of poets, and in Greek and Roman accounts as a capital trading pearls, cotton and spices with the Mediterranean. It was the capital of the Pandya kings, one of the three crowned dynasties of the Tamil country, whose power rose and fell repeatedly against the Cholas and the Cheras. The city's plan, a series of concentric rectangles around the temple, is traditionally explained by the legend of divine nectar falling on the site, which gives the name Madurai.

In 1311 the armies of the Delhi Sultanate under Malik Kafur sacked the city, and an independent Madurai Sultanate ruled for several decades until Vijayanagara forces took it in the 1370s. Under Vijayanagara's governors, the Madurai Nayaks, who became independent as the empire weakened, the city was rebuilt on a monumental scale: Thirumalai Nayak, who ruled from 1623 to 1659, extended the Meenakshi temple, built his palace and laid out the tank at Vandiyur. Rani Mangammal, ruling as regent later in the century, is remembered for roads, choultries and water works.

The Nawabs of Arcot and then the British took control in the 18th century, and under British rule the fortifications and moat around the old city were dismantled, their line becoming the ring of Veli streets. Cotton weaving and trade sustained the town, and the railway reached the city in the 19th century. Madurai was a centre of nationalist activity — Gandhi first adopted the loincloth here in 1921 — and in 1939 the Meenakshi temple was opened to all Hindus regardless of caste. The 20th century added textile mills, granite works and a university, and the city has grown steadily outwards while the old quarter has stayed much as it was.

Madurai calls itself the city that never sleeps, and its public life turns on the temple. Worship runs from before dawn until the night ceremony in which Sundareshwarar is carried to Meenakshi's chamber, a ritual repeated every evening. Priests, garland makers, musicians and bronze workers form trades inherited over generations, and the temple's festival calendar, with the great Chithirai celebration in April or May, organises the year for much of the city.

Tamil language and literature carry particular weight here because of the Sangam tradition: Madurai has long been a centre of Tamil scholarship, and the city is proud of its role in the language's history. Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam are taught and performed, and the drums and nadaswaram of temple processions are heard constantly during festivals. Jallikattu, the bull-taming contest held in villages such as Alanganallur at Pongal, is followed passionately and has been the subject of long legal and political argument.

Madurai jasmine, or Madurai malli, has a protected geographical indication and is woven into garlands sold by the metre at dawn; the scent is inseparable from the city. Alongside the Hindu majority there are long-established Muslim neighbourhoods around Goripalayam and Christian communities with schools and colleges of their own. Social life is conservative and family-centred, and visitors are met with directness and curiosity rather than reserve.

About 1.5 million people live in the city, making it the third largest urban centre in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore. The economy mixes temple-related trade and pilgrimage, textiles and readymade garments, granite quarrying and cutting, rubber and automobile components, and a long-established medical and educational sector that serves the whole southern districts — Madurai Kamaraj University and several large hospitals draw people in from a wide area.

The day begins before five for flower traders and temple staff; the jasmine market is done before most shops open. Office and school hours run early to avoid the heat, shops shut through the middle of the day and reopen in the late afternoon, and the streets around the temple stay busy until very late, which is where the sleepless reputation comes from. Many households in the old city live above their shops in narrow buildings with internal courtyards.

Water is a constant preoccupation. The Vaigai is dry for much of the year and supply depends on reservoirs and groundwater, so tanker deliveries and rationing are routine in the hot months. Traffic in the old streets, the condition of heritage buildings, and the conversion of farmland on the city's edge into housing are recurring local issues, while migration to Chennai, Bengaluru and the Gulf draws away many young workers.

Madurai has a reputation across Tamil Nadu for cooking that is heavier and meatier than the coast's. Kari dosa, a dosa griddled with minced mutton and egg, is the dish most associated with the city, eaten late at night around Simmakkal. Mutton is treated seriously: chukka, dry-fried with pepper and curry leaves; kola urundai, fried minced-meat balls found across the Tamil country; paya, a trotter soup eaten at breakfast; and mutton biryani made with the short-grained seeraga samba rice of the region. Kothu parotta — flatbread chopped on the griddle with egg and masala — is a street staple.

The vegetarian side is equally distinctive. Idli shops open before dawn, serving small, soft idlis with coriander and coconut chutney. Mess halls serve a rice meal at lunch with sambar, rasam, poriyal and curd, refilled as long as the diner keeps eating. Parotta with salna, a thin spiced gravy, is the standard cheap plate at any hour.

The city's best-known drink is jigarthanda, a cold mixture of milk, almond gum, sarsaparilla root syrup and ice cream, sold from shops that have made it for generations. Paruthi paal, a sweet warm milk of cottonseed, is drunk at roadside stalls in the evening, and filter coffee is everywhere. Halwa, in the style brought from nearby Tirunelveli, and sweet shops around the temple round out the list, and jasmine, sold by the length, is bought at the same stalls.