Madurai
Country: India · 1,561,129 inhabitants
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Wikivoyage
Madurai (Tamil: மதுரை), formerly Madura, is the third-largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It's on the banks of the river Vaigai and has been a major settlement for two millennia. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The city was the capital of the Pandyan kingdom at Korkai, around 600 BCE, and was moved to Koodal (present-day Madurai) during the reign of Nedunj Cheliyan I.
Madurai is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and Madurai Nayak kings in the ancient traditional Tamilian style of architecture. It is also one of India's most outstanding Hindu pilgrimage centres. Madurai is also called as City of Junction (Koodal nagaram), City of Jasmine (Malligai maanagar), Temple city (Koil maanagar), City that never sleeps (Thoonga nagaram) and City of four junctions (Naanmada koodal).
Wikipedia
Madurai is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai district, which is governed by the Madurai Municipal Corporation established on 1 November 1866. As of the 2011 census, it is the third largest metropolis in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore in terms of population and 27th largest urban agglomeration in India. Located on the banks of Vaigai River, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and has a documented history of more than 2500 years. It is often referred to as "Thoongatha Nagaram", meaning "the city that never sleeps".
Madurai is one of the oldest cities in India and South Asia. The third Tamil Sangam, a major congregation of Tamil scholars, is said to have been held in the city. The recorded history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BCE, being mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Mauryan Empire, and Kautilya, a minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BCE are evident from excavations by Archeological Survey of India in Manalur. The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Pandyan Kingdom, Chola Empire, Madurai Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Carnatic kingdom, and the British East India Company's British Raj. The city has a number of historical monuments, with the Koodal Azhagar temple, Meenakshi Temple and the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal being the most prominent.
Madurai is an important industrial and educational hub in Tamil Nadu. The city is home to various automobile, rubber, chemical and granite manufacturing industries. Madurai has important government educational institutes such as the Madurai Medical College, Homeopathic Medical College, Madurai Law College, Agricultural College and Research Institute and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Madurai. The city covers an area of 147.97 km2 (57.13 sq mi) and had a population of 1,470,755 in 2011. The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court.
It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by government of Tamil Nadu.