townplanning_madhurai

8/17/2019 TOWNPLANNING_MADHURAI

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STUDY OF TRADITIONAL CITY: MADHURAI

The city of Madurai rises from the wide plains of the

Vaigai River (Source: Periyar Plateau) valley in very

southern India It is one of the oldest

cities in the world! its historycovers some two and a half

millennia" and during much of

that time it has #een an

important cultural and political

centre

(The famous epic poem

Silappadi$iram" set in a#out the

%nd century & '" spea$s of four great South

Indian cities of that time: randai the luurious"

Van*i the strong" Puhir the guardian of the sea" and Madurai

of the high ramparts +ven then" Madurai was considered ancient"and it alone of the four has survived to the present) ,ot only

has it survived! it has preserved a character and vitality that ma$e

it a remar$a#le place -uite apart from its longevity

Initially" the central city was encircled #y ramparts The

penetration of the wall is cele#rated in the ela#orate gate

towers" carved with images of .a$shmi #esmeared with

ghee

/ithin the walls" the shape of the

city is compared to a lotus & palace

nucleus is suggested in several

ways: there were four #road streetsaround the royal -uarters" inha#ited #y

ministers" merchants" 0rahmins" and

various royal servants! these would

conform to the petals1of1a1lotus

analogy

.ater" the 2rst and

perhaps most a#le of the line"

Viswanatha ,aya$ (,aya$ Rule: Pandyan

Viceroy1ship)" pulled down the old Pandyan

ramparts and erected a considera#ly

larger" dou#le1walled fortress #uiltaround the temple comple as the focal

point" esta#lished the four main streets"

which run in epanding concentric s-uares around the sacred centre: &dhi" 3hitrai"

&vanimoola" and Masi The original schematic shape is this:

Two gopurams" large gateway1towers" are shown here #etween &dhi and

3hitrai Streets 0y Tirumala4s time (early 56th century) these have #een

incorporated in a new temple #oundary wall" with north and south gopurams added


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&dhi Street is then inside the sacred precincts 7e further

emphasi8ed the eastern ais in the ecavation

of a sacred tan$ or

Teppa$ulam

(the

largest of its $ind in India)" several

miles outside the city 7is other ma*or

investment was an enormous palace

in the southeastIt is their palace" and their

festival

processions" which

de2ne a Vastu

mandala! secular

rule operates in this

contet

The spaces

are designed in such

a way that religious

processions"

rathyathras can #e accommodated

easily The streets were developed asceremonial aes with water #odies"

$unds as well as dharamshalas" which

were #uilt along the aes for annual

rituals li$e the 3hithirai festival

The old city of Madurai is

considered to #e designed according to

the Ra*dhani plan" descri#ed in


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Manasara" one of the Shilpasastra" and has the 2vefold concentric rectangular

formation with Meena$shi1 Sundareshwara Temple at a very centre point

The city of Madurai is as a lotus 9ower that springs from the navel of .ord

Vishnu The streets of the city are the petals The $ovil at the centre is the thalamus

within the petals

The developments within and #eyond these streets are on an irregularpattern & de2nite hierarchy of street pattern was adopted with the width of the

Streets decreasing as they #ranched out" ending up in stone paved streets and

lanes 1 the width of some #eing *ust ; m The entire city was enclosed within the

fort walls and surrounded #y a moat

&round 5or a permanent resident" concentric circulation dominates! it moves

through the secular 8one of the city while only indirectly ac$nowledging the sacred

3entre

Royal Palaces" 0rahmins and Priests at the 2rst concentric rectangle Traders"

?ishatriyas and Vaishnavaites on the second rectangle The lower caste Sudras and

immigrants 8oarashitrains in the third rectangle

@ust as the mandalas of the tets are loc$ed in place #y speci2c deity

allocation" so Madurai ehi#its the analogous distri#ution of trade groups" giving a

cross1grain identity to the pattern South and +ast 3hitrai Streets house many of the

cloth merchants" +ast &vanimoola Street the paper merchants" South &vanimoola

Street the goldsmiths and *ewelers" +ast Masi Street the grain merchants" and so

on +ach trade group aAects its environment" and this demarcation of territory

sta#ili8es one4s sense of orientation &t the very centre" the enormous gateways of

the temple and the architectural splendor within con2rm the hierarchy suggested in

the secular 8one

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