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Meenakshi


Meenakshi is an Avatar of the Hindu Goddess Parvati - and consort of Shiva - who is worshipped mainly by South Indians. She is also one of the few Hindu female deities to have a major temple devoted to her - the far famed Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She is considered as a form of Goddess Lalitha Tripurasundari, one of the Dasa Maha Vidhyas.

The word Meenatchi (eyes shaped like a fish, i.e., almond eyes) is derived from the Tamil word meen (fish) and Atchi (to rule), hence meenatchi mean ruling of fish emblem ( pandya kingdom)

Once Indra killed a demon, even though the demon had not harmed anyone. This act brought a curse upon Indra that forced him to become a wanderer. As he wandered, Indra found himself lost, and nobody would tell him the way to redeem him from his sin. After much wandering Indra was freed from his suffering through the power of a Shivalingam in a forest, and so he built a small temple at that site.

The king was childless and sought an heir for the kingdom. Shiva granted him his prayers through an Ayonija child (one born not from the womb). This child was three years old and actually the incarnation of goddess Parvati the consort of Shiva. She was born with fish-shaped eyes and an extra breast . It was said that the extra breast would disappear when she met her future husband. She was named Meenakshi, (meaning fish eyed) from the words meen (meaning fish) and akṣhi (meaning eyes). Meenakshi also means "the one who has eyes like that of a fish". Fishes are said to feed their younger ones with their eyes, similarly goddess looks after her devotees. Just by her sight our miseries disappear.

She grew up to be a Shiva-Shakti personification. After the death of the king, she ruled the kingdom with skillful administration.


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