Madurai and the Sri Meenakshi Temple

Jeff here writing my first blog entry, so be patient with the non-blogginess of my language.  Claire and I arrived in Madurai late Tuesday evening in a light rain storm.  After a solid nights rest we left early for the Sri Meenakshi temple.  Evidently it opens at 4:00am, but we decided to forgo the dark and waited until 8:00.  The biggest Hindi temple in India, the architecture is truly amazing...

 

The above is an image of the South tower of the temple from the interior golden lotus pond,

built in the mid 1500s.

There are four large towers at North, S, E, and W sides of the temple.

Claire making friends faster than she expected!

Once these ladies saw our cameras, they swarmed Claire and reeled her in for a photo op with huge smiles.

This Indian elephant will bless you for 10 rupees!

This guy stepped in front of the frame as Claire was snapping a photo of the North tower.

 

A close up detail of some of the statues of the North tower.  The towers each have over seven hundred individual statues in them.  Very colorful too!