The history of the place is described in detail in the Halasya Mahatmya in Sanskrit and in the Tiruvilayadalpurana in Tamil. Reference to madurai is made in the Indian epic Ramayana and kautilya’s Arthasastra.Great chroniclers such as Megasthenes (302BC) pliny (77AD) and Ptolemy (140A.D) have made references to this city in 1293 AD,followed by Ibn Batuta in 1333 AD.

This place is also famous for the representation of Lord siva dancing as Nataraja with the right foot planted on the ground while in all other representations he stands on his left foot.The hall where nataraja is said to have danced here,is known as velliambalam or the silver hall.

Legends state that madurai was originally a forest known as kadambavanam,where the kadamba trees grew luxuriously.The discovery of the sacred place is attributed to a merchant by name Dhananjaya of Manavoor, a few miles to the east of the preent town of madurai.The Merchant was returning from the west coast, it became night.The day was somavara or Monday and the merchant observed Indira.The lord of the Devas,workshipping the swayambu(self-created) linga.He reported the fact to the king,kulasekara pandian,who at once cleared the forest and built the temple and the beautiful city around it ,as laid down in the silpa sastras or the science of architecture .The town is planned in the shape of coiled serpent and it is said that the design of the town was suggested to the king by Lord sundreswarar himself.

On the day the city was to be named lord siva is said to have appeared.Drops of nectar from his hair fell on the town.hence the place was named madurai mathuram meaning "Sweetness" in Tamil.

Madurai’s history can be divided into roughly four periods, beginning over 2000 years ago when it was the seat of the sangam literature as well as being the capital of the pandyan kings.Apart from a brief perioch when it fell to the cholas,

Madurai remained with the pandyas until the decline of their empire. The 2000 year old region of the nayaks marked the second golden era when art, architecture, and learning scaled new heights once again.

Madurai is one of the oldest cities of India,with a history dating all the way back to the sangam period of pre Christian era.the glory of madurai returned in a diminished form in the earlier part of this millennium,it later on came under the rule of the vijayanagar kingdom after its ransack by the ravaging armies of Delhi(Malikkafur).

During the 16th and 18th centuries,madurai was ruled by the Nayak Emperors the foremost of whom was Tirumalainayakar.The sangam period poet Nakkeerar is associated with same of the tiruvilayadal episodes of sundarewarar that the enacted as a part of temple festival traditions even today.

The sangam age or the Golden age of tamil literature produced master pieces way back in the pre Christian era and in early Ist millennium.madurai was the seat of the tamil sangam or Academy of learning.The entire city of madurai is built around the meenakshi sundareswara temple.The temple par excellance concentric rectangular streets surround the temple,symbolizing the structure of the cosmos. The cholas ruled Madurai from 920 A.D till the beginning of the 13th century.In 1223 A.D pandays regained their kindom and once again became prosperous.Pandian kings patronized Tamil lanuage in a greatway.During their period,Many master pieces were creaed silapathikaram the great epic in tamil was written based on the story of kannagi whi burnt Madurai as a result of the injustice caused to her husband kovalm.In April 1311 Malikafur,the general of Alauddin Khilji.

As early as the 3rd century B.C Megasthanes visited madurai.later many people from Rome and Greece visited madurai and established trade with the pandya kings.Madurai flourished till 10th century A.D. when it was captured by chola the archivals of the pandya.who was then the ruler of Delhi reached madurai and raided and robbed the city for precious stones.jewels and other rare treasures.This led to the subseauent raides by other muslim surface.In 1323 the pandya kingdom including madurai became a province of the delhi empire, under the Tughlaks.

The 1371, the vijayanager dynasty of Hampi captured madurai and it became part of the vijayanagar empire.kings of this dynasty were in habit of leaving of the captured land to governors called nayaks.this was done for the efficient management of their empire.The nayaks paid fixed amount annually to the vijayanagar empire.After the death of Krishna Deva Raya (king of vijayanagar empire) in 530A.D the nayaks to be came independence and ruled the territories under their control.Among nayaks Tirumalai nayak (1623-1659) was very popular even now he is popular among people,since it was he who contributed to the creation of many magnificent structures in and around Madurai.The Raja Gopuram of the Meenakshi Ammam Temple.The pudhu mandapam and the Thirumalai Nayakar’s palace are living monuments to his artistic forever.

Madurai started slipping in to the british East Company.In 1981 british appointed their representatives to look after madurai,George procter was the First collector of madurai.Now After India’s independence madurai is one of the major district’s of Tamilnadu state.Later on madurai district was bifurcated in to two districts namely madurai and Dindugal Districts.In madurai District,there are 15 state assembly constituencies and two parliament consistuencies

Madurai is famous for temples.the Aappudaiyaarkovil tevara stalam and the koodalnagar Divya desam are the most important temples one should rarely miss go.In the vicinity of madurai is Tirupparam kundram one of the 6 padai veedu shrines of murugan (glorified in Madurai sangam nakkeerar’s thirumurugatru padai).

Also the vicin city of madurai is Alagar kovil one of the prominent Divya Desam shrines of the srivaishnavite faith.

The greater part of sree Meenakshi temple was built between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries.It was built first of wood and then replaced by brick and mortar.At about 700 A.D.stones were introduced in the temple.kulasekara pandian built several mandapams such as the Swami koil,Artha mandapam,mani mandapam and Maha mandapam.He also constructed a great part of the city around the fort.He also constructed temples of protective deities on the four sides of the city-the Ayyanar koil in the east.vinayagar koil in the south,perumal koil in the west and the kali kovil in the North.

The history of this city dates back to the 6th century B.C.It was the capital of the Pandyan Empire till the fourteenth century A.D.

Madurai is an international tourist centre.many Foreign tourist visit the city.more Entertainment facilities,shopping facilities are available in madurai.