Madurai

Once the capital of the Pandya dynasty, the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu supposedly got its name from the Tamil word for honey. According to legend, when King Kulasekhara Pandya first built Madurai more than 2,500 years ago, Shiva shook nectar from his locks to purify and bless the new city. Known as the Temple City, Madurai's old city, south of the Vaigai River, was laid out in accordance with ancient temple custom, with the great Meenakshi Temple at the center. Shops and stalls surround the Meenakshi on three concentric squares of streets that are used for religious processions almost every day.