Dr.R.Nagaswamy #4682B4 The omnipresent and indivisible Supreme, manifests apparently as two energies-the static and dynamic, viewed from its functional aspect, captivating great human minds as God and Goddess, in the union of which the universe is said to pulsate. A great Tamil poet, Jayamkondar, who immortalized the Chola Emperor Kulottunga I in the beginning of the 12th century A.D., in his work Kalingattupparani, invokes Lord Siva who married the daughter of Himavan, for establishing orderly life on earth. Siva's marriage with Parvati is said to have taken place for the well being of the world. Though Siva remains united with his consort, is the Supreme yogin, who has conquered his senses, says Kalidasa, the greatest poet of India. The same idea is echoed by Saint Appar, in the 7th century A.D., when he extols Siva as the yogin in the company of his consort. The Vedic poets of India visualised the masculine and femenine powers united in Agni as "Agna Vishnu" i.e., the terrific and manifestly benign - from the two different functions it performs says the Vedas. This Vedic concept of dual deities in one, has fascinated Indian mind throughout the centuries. When the divinity became very dear to all, soon all human relationships, as father, mother, husband, son, daughter etc. are visualised. Lord Krishna is the lovable dear child of every Indian. Similarly, the Goddess Uma, was conceived as the dear daughter of everyone. When marriage of the daughter takes place in every Hindu house it is either Gauri Kalyana-the girl is none other then Gauri and the boy Paramesvara or the Sita kalyana the marriage of Sita with Rama. The beautiful child of Himavan, the northern mountain king, was born as Meenakshi, the daughter of the southern ruler Pandya-the Tennavan. Goddess Meenakshi was Uma herself, born in the South as the daughter of the ruler of Madurai. Siva as Sundara married her. The theme is so popular in the mind of the southerner, that he would call any Kalyanasundara theme as Meenakshi Kalyana. This fascinating theme is a unique symbol of Indian personality and integrity. It apparently travelled from the North to the South and returned to North to establish the forgotten union. Some of the steps in this Divine union are visible in the following lines. Goddess Meenakshi, is the presiding deity of the city of Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas in Tamil Nadu. In fact, the Tamil epic Silappadhikaram visualises Ardhanarisvara form of the Goddess as the Adhidevata (divine embodiment) of the city of Madurai. The Pandya Kings' intimate relationship with the Northern Mathura-the ancient Mathura near Delhi and the role they played in propagating the Krishna legend in the south is so well known to Indologists. Interestingly it is the same Pandyas who claimed Saiva lineage. They had as their royal Guru, Saint Agastya, who came to the South, to prevent the earth tilting, as a result of the great congregation of Gods and men attending Parvati's marriage with Siva in the North. The legend is suggestive of the travel of knowledge to the South at the time of Parvati Kalyana. The Jains who also claim close relationship with Vasudeva Krishna of Mathura, came to the South at least two hundred years before Common Era, bringing with them the Brahmi script, and found ready acceptance in the court of the Pandyas and took their abodes in the hills in and around Madurai. The earliest inscriptions found in the Tamil country - 2nd century B.C. are the ones left by bthe Jaina monks. They mention several merchants from Mathura - the present Madurai, also known as the Southern Mathura (Ten Mathurai). The fusion that has taken place several centuries before the Common era is attested by lithic records. The city of Madurai was laid out in the form of a lotus (pdma), the sacred flower, and in the centre of it - rose, the abode of the Supreme. Ancient Indian literature, desribe that the city of 'Rajagir' was planned as a lotus. Maduraikkanchi, another great Sangal Tamil work, assignable to the beginning of the Common era, speaks of the great procession in Madurai, of Gods, led by Lord Siva, in the daily festival, and women and children, dressed in their best attires, thronging to the streets, to winess the same. The divine manifestations are spoken of as lilas, (sports), and sixtyfour such lilas were performed by the Lord in the city of Madurai. Centering around the sixtyfour sports of Sundaresvara of Madurai, several literary works in Tamil and Sanskrit have appeared from very early times. Most of them give graphic description of the city of Madurai, and the marriage of Goddess Meenaksi with Sundara. Some such significant works are Kalladam, Thiruvilayadal puranam of Nambi and Thiruvilayadal Puranam of Paramjyoti Muni, all in Tamil and the Sundarapandyam in Sanskrit. The territory of the Pandyas is so sacred, says the Thiruvilayadal Puranam of Nambi, that Lord Rama, the son of Dasaratha, came to this region with a formidable army of monkeys, built a bridge across the ocean, destroyed the Rakshasas and to wipe away to sin of killing, adored Lord Siva, which is a reference to Ramesvaram-located in the Pandya country. The work also refers to Kanyakumari, (the Cape Komari), where the Goiddess as a girl - Bala, performed severe penance to obtain Siva as her husband. The Pandya country itself was kinown as Kanya desa. The city of Madurai was also known as Alavay and Nan-Madak-kudal (the city of four towers. The towers spoken are the temples of Goddess Kanya, Vishnu, Kali, and Siva. "This great city is serving as the lotus seat at Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth; the white lotus abode for Saraswati, the Goddess of learning; the Yogapitah of Uma, the giver of Jnana, and the very tilaka (auspices mark on the forehead) for Bhumi, the Goddess of earth; obviously refrring to the abundance of wealth, learning, intelligence and beauty in the city. (Paramjoti muni Thiruvilayadal - Ist chapter). There are two other points mentioned in these works that deserve special mention. The early work gives a description of the temple of Siva. "The globular universe (Mudu-perandam), supported by eight directional elephants (dik-gajas), is the sky high vimana (temple) erected by Indira. The Pandya is none other than Siva, and Madurai, the very Sivaloka; the people residing in it are the Sivaganas". This poetic description by Nambi is of historic interest. Around the middle of 14th century, the tempele suffered damage during Muslim invasion. The Madurai city was reconquored towards the close of the 14th century by the Vijayangara conqueror Kumara Kampana, who reestablished worship in the temple. His queen Gangadevi has given an eyewitness account of this episode in her work Madura-Vijayam in Sanskrit. In the first half of 16th century, Visvanatha Nayak, the founder of the Madurai Nayak dynasty rebuilt the vimana of Sundaresvara. The vimana, the inner sanctum tower of the present Sundaresvara temple, as built by him stands to this day. The present Sundaresvara temple, as built by him, has unique architectural features with eight huge elephant sculptures supporting the superstructure as described in the above mentioned Tamil verse. Clearly Visvanatha has taken the design of the Sundaresvara temple from the poetic description of Nambi. It conveys the philosophy of the entire universe, the kingship, the world view, and the residents as Sivaganas. It also conveys the clear cut message, that any temple structure is not a mere framework built of materials, but goes beyond and stands for a philosophy pertaining to that divinity which it seeks to manifest visibly. The residents living within the environment are constantly reminded of that philosophical faith, thus making them men of higher living. The second point of great interest is story of the birth of the girl Tatataka -Meenakshi with fish like eyes. The Pandyas adopted the Goddess Uma as their own daughter, which is symbolized in the legend. Out of the sacrifical fire was born the girl Tatataka, the daughter of Malayadhvaja Pandya. Even as a girl she learnt all marshall arts including horse and elephant riding, besides dance and music. This is symboic of the the combination of male and female power (Ardhanari) in her.The famous thousand hymns to Lalita Tripurasundari (Lalita Sahasranama) mentions that Lalitha is the combination of the powers of Siva and Devi (Siva siva saktyaika rupini Lalitambika). When Malayadhvaja Pandya died without any male issue, the girl performed all rites to the departed king. She was crowned as the ruler of the Pandya country and soon became such a powerful ruler that there were none to oppose her. She assembled her mighty army and marched one direction after the other, reducing seven quarters to submission. She decided finally to conquer the North (the last of the quarters) and came to North as far as the foot of the Himalayas. Siva's retinue rushed to Him to narrate their plight in front of the girls' army. With a smile on his face, Siva came down to meet her. It was parvati, the daughter of Himavan who went South and was born as the Pandya Princess and was now back in the North. On seeing Siva, her consort, she was filled with bashfulness. She was ready to unite with him. Siva consented for the union and agreed to marry her. On the day of Uttara nakshatra in the month of Palguna. She returned to South Mathura, where the wedding of Goddess Meenakshi with Sundaresvara took place. A few observations may be made at this juncture. The legend illustrates that 1) ancient Indians did recognise the right of women to rule a kingdom and that they did prove able rulers, and commanders. It is well known that Megasthanes refers to the southern country ruled by women. 2) It was Meenakshi's visit, rather revisit to the north that brought in the union. This is certainly not the end of the story. 3)The city of Madurai has one of the most sacred hills, Thirupparamkinru, the abode of Lord Subrahmanya near by. The Sangam Tamil literature is full of reference to Thirupparamkunram and the temple of Lord Subrahmanya. Often the temple of Subrahmanya is spoken off in association with the city of Madurai, the abode of Siva. An inscription of the early Pandya age-8th century, calls the hill of Subrahmanya as Parama Sikhara i.e. the the Supreme hill, the Sanskrit name for Param kunru. Subrahmanya is called Muruga in Tamil. The word Muruga means the young, the beautiful, and the God of Tamils. He is also called Ceyon, i.e., the child, reddish in colour, dear etc. As a child Muruga is seated on the lap of his mother Uma. Every major Siva temple in Tamilnadu has an utsava vigraha, called Somaskanda, representing Siva, with Parvati and the child skands, seated on Parvati's lap. The Somaskanda metal image is the principal processional image representing the main mulasthana linga. Thus Siva, Uma and Skanda are invariably found in Siva temples. It would be interesting to recall how the Vedic Rishis of India visualised the deity. The Vedic seers called Agni as a sisu, a child, born on a lotus in a pond. He sleeps on forests (waters) and on the laps of mothers. Agni is seated on the lap of his mother. Agni is Kumara born in a Pond, (pushkara-sraja). Agni is Taruna, Amrita, Priya, Amartya and Jataveda. He is the Hiranyarupa (golden colour) with leaping flames; he destroys his enemies. Agni is the year (samvatsara) with six ritus. He is also associated with Krithika. A hymn in the Yajurveda, uses the word Skanda in association with Agni. Muruga is called Kandan in Tamil. The Tamil work Thirumurukarruppadai, describes likens Muruga to the sun emanating from the ocean and who comes riding on his bird peacock, spreading his rays. It seems that the young Agni is identical with subrahmanya as he is said to be born in a pond, seated on the lap of his mother etc. Mention may also be made that Subrahmanya is called Agneya and Agni kumara. A point of very great interest, mentioned by Nambi in his Thiruvilayadal puranam, is Lord Subrahmanya was present at the wedding of Meenakshi Sundaresvara at Madurai. The building of Meenakshi Sundaresvara temple, in the Subrahmanya temple of Uttara-swamimalai in Delhi, is thus of historic significance. It symbolizes the coming of Goddess Meenakshi to the North, to unite with her Kailasapati. When our beloved Rashtrapati, Sri R. Venkatraman, first built the temple of Subrahmanya, followed by the temple of Meenakshi Sundaresvara, Lord Subrahmanya is already present at the emergence of Meenakshi sundaresvara. Our Rashtrapati has re-established what was apparently forgotten-the two way movements of the Indian ethos, the North and the South, the dual personality being purely apparent, but in effect remaining one indivisible flame of knowledge - the Agni of the Vedic sages. In building the temple, our Rashtrapatiji is in the footsteps of Vedic seers of immortal India and all those who have helped in this venture are like the very ganas. The assembly of divine. The Southern Mathura has united with the Northern Mathura. The Meenakshi Sundaresvara temple in Uttara-swamimalai temple complex at Delhi will stand as a spiritual temple rediating the flames of knowledge, piety, devotion and righteousness. All consecrations of Siva temples culminate with the marriage festival Kalyana mahotsava of Siva and Uma. It would therefore be appropriate to close this humble offering with the Tamil verse found in Paramjoti Munivar's Thiruvilaiyadal puranam, on the marriage of Meenakshi Sundaresvara. "He himself is the God of fire He indeed kindles the fire He himself consumes the food He, the indivisible one, split Himself into man and woman Stands united, so that the world may prosper; Who can fathom the greatness of this union?"