CHENNAI, INDIA, December 28, 2007: Officials of the famous Meenakshi Temple in Madurai maintain that Delhi’s Akshardham is smaller than at least three different temple complexes in Tamil Nadu.
“Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple and the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Thiruvannamalai are definitely larger temple complexes,” said B Raja, joint commissioner of the Meenakshi Temple. He pointed out that the outermost wall of the Meenakshi Temple is 260m long and 245m wide. The total area of the complex is 17 acres. This is larger than Akshardham which, press reports have indicated, is only 108m long and 96m wide, its grounds covering 2 acres.
When informed that the entire Akshardham complex was spread over 30 acres, Raja said, “A temple is a place for prayer. It is incorrect to include facilities for non-religious activities such as restaurants or boating arrangements as the Akshardham complex has, as part of a temple, just because they happen to be in the vicinity.” Raja also noted that the Thiruvannamalai Temple dedicated to Lord Siva is even larger — at 25 acres — than the Meenakshi Temple. “However, the built-up area in Madurai covers a wider area than Thiruvannamalai,” he said. Also the main tower at Thiruvannamalai is 66m high.
But even these two temple complexes are dwarfed in size when one takes into account the massive Sri Ranganthaswamy Temple complex in Srirangam near Tiruchy. “Srirangam, surrounded by the waters of river Kaveri, is a 600-acre island-town enclosed within the seven walls of the gigantic Sri Ranganathaswami Temple. There are 21 gopurams, among which the Rajagopuram is the tallest in South India at 72 metres in height, and dates to the 17th century, although it was fully completed in 1987. The temple complex measures 950 meters by 816 meters (about 190 acres) along its outer perimeter,” writes Prof VS Seshadri.
“We will not challenge any results, but we are curious to know if their officials visited our large temples like Srirangam, Madurai Meenakshi, Thiruvannamalai and Thiruvarur temples before arriving at this verdict,” said a senior official of the Temple Administration Department.
For information on Angkor Wat, built as a Hindu temple around 1130 CE by King Suryavarman and listed by the Guiness Book as the “Largest Religious Structure in the World,” click here.