Madurai, capital of the kingdom of Pand?ya, with its famous temple, commonly known as the Minaksi temple, is considered as a vibrant centre of religion and a backdrop for the national legends of Tamil Nadu. A group of legendary deeds of siva, his ‘games’, have Madurai as their stage and constitute a marvellous story. The large temple describes this entire story to us in the form of a long series of modern mural paintings (19th century), while three literary works (two texts in Tamil entitled Tiruvil?aiyatar?puranam, dating back to the 12th and the 16th cent. A.D., and a Sanskrit text Halasyamahatmya) recount the story in detail. The present publication contains a photographic reproduction of the mural paintings and a summary of the texts in French.
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