The oldest existing city in the Indian peninsula and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Madurai is richly steeped in cultural heritage. The city, earlier known as Madhurapuri, grew around a huge temple built by Pandian King Kulasekhara 2,500 years ago.
Madurai became famous during the Sangam period through the third and last conglomeration of Tamil scholars, which existed for more than 100 years. The city was the magnificent capital of Pandya kings and visited by travellers such as Megasthenes (302 BC), Pliny (77 AD), Ptolemy (140 AD), Marco Polo (1203 AD) and Ibu Batuta (1333 AD). Today, Madurai is synonymous with the awe-inspiring Meenakshi-Sundareswarar Temple