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Fortune Pandiyan, Madurai

Fortune Pandiyan Hotel is the ideal place to stay for business and leisure travelers visiting Madurai. Celebrated for its Meenakshi temple, Madurai is one of India's oldest cities with a history dating back to the 6th century BC. It was the capital of the great Pandya Kingdom until the 14th century and is now an important cultural, religious and commercial centre of South India. The newly renovated Fortune Pandiyan Hotel, a Fortune Welcomgroup Hotel, is set amidst 3 acres of landscaped gardens. The hotel offers guests the highest standards in accommodation, cuisine and personal service. For over three decades, Fortune Pandiyan Hotel has played host to several Heads of Government, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Diplomats and other prominent guests. The name Madurai - mathuram means "sweetness" in Tourist. Today, Madurai is a developing industrial hub of Tamil Nadu. As a guest at the Fortune Pandiyan Hotel, experience the traditional warmth and hospitality of South India blended with the efficiency of a contemporary hotel.

Fortune Pandiyan Hotel is renowned for its fine cuisine, ranging from an exhaustive menu of South Indian to International cuisine at the coffee shop - Orchid. The Ranch Bar is an intimate pub that serves a wide variety of spirits and drinks. Orchid (64 Covers): Our multi-cuisine restaurant at the lobby level. Serves sumptuous buffets for breakfast, lunch & dinner, as well as an a-la-carte selection of Indian, Chinese & Continental cuisines. Smoking / Non-smoking section available The Ranch (32 Covers): The bar serves a variety of sundowners and innumerable cocktails.

Facilities :
A multi-cuisine restaurant with special traditional recipes, Swimming Pool, Parking, Laundry, Doctor on Call, Car Rental, Limited room service, Gymnasium.

The Fortune Pandiyan Hotel is an ideal venue for meetings, conferences and events for 10 to 500 guests. The facilities include small to large function rooms and an outdoor lawn area that can accommodate up to 1500 guests for weddings and parties. The conference facilities are fully air-conditions and equipped with all modern audio visual equipment. The Fortune Pandiyan's unique atmosphere, quality and attention to detail ensures that every function is truly a memorable occasion.

The temple town of Madurai is one of the most ancient heritage sites of India truly reflective of the cultural ethos of India. Madurai is a 2,600 years old historical city known for its rich heritage and culture. The city is located on the banks of the River Vaigai and was the capital of Pandya Kingdom. As early as 302 B.C., Megasthanes visited Madurai. Great travel historians like Pliny (77 AD) and Ptolemy (140 AD) had made reference to Madurai in their travelogues. Marco Polo visited Madurai in 1293 AD followed by Ibn Batuta in 1333 AD. Later Madurai was trading with Rome, Greece, Java, Sumuthra, and Boreneo. Today, Madurai is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major trading center for south Tamil Nadu and is famous for handloom towels and Jasmine flowers which are exported to all over the world. Madurai has many educational institutions including agricultural college, engineering colleges, medical college and the famous Madurai Kamaraj University. The crowning glory of this historic city is the sprawling Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, which is one of the greatest Shiva temples in India.

The temple is known for its sprawling landscape filled with sculptural wonders; halls, pillars and lofty towers with lavish artwork in all forms. The temple was built over a period of time from 12th to early 18th century by Pandyan Kings and Nayak rulers. The original temple was built by King Kulasekara Pandyan, but the entire credit for making the temple as splendid as it is today goes to the Nayaks. The Nayaks ruled Madurai from the 16th to the 18th century and left a majestic imprint of their rule in the Meenakshi - Sundareswarar Temple. The temple complex is literally a city - one of the oldest and the largest of its kind in India. Today, the complex extends over an area of 60,000 Sq. metres. The walls of the temple enclose a rectangular space that is 830 ft by 730 ft. with four massive gateways each towering about 160 to 170 ft. high. Each gopuram or gateway with a base of about 170 square feet has more than 1,500 sculptures. In addition to these four gopurams, there are eight other gopurams of various sizes in the complex. Meenakshi temple is a complete unification of architectural skill and artistic beauty. The visitors is awed by its magnificent architecture, tall towers, nearly 2,000 intrically carved monolithic pillars, marvelous sculptures and old paintings.

At the eastern end of the old city, occupying an area greater even greater than that of the Meenakshi-sundareswarar temple complex is the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam, built by Thirumalai Nayak in 1646. This enormous temple tank is fed by water brought from the Vaigai through an ingenious system of underground channels. The tank has a Mandapam at the centre enshrining Lord Vigneshwara. In January-February on a full moon day, the Teppakulam is the venue of a float festival which attracts thousands of tourists.

Gandhi Museum :
The building that houses the Gandhi Museum is the palace of Rani Mangammal of Nayak dynasty built in 1670 A.D. The museum has Gandhiji's personal belongings; photos, paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and same articles used buy Gandhiji; a special exhibition with illustration depicting the history of the Freedom movement and many more.

Alagar Hills form chain of hills with dense forests and sparkling rivulets and streams, 25km-away from madurai, in the north eastern direction. In the forests, are found rare Trees of economic importance and valuable medicinal plants. The forest department maintains and abortion of preservation of such plants. On the hill slopes there are fortresses and ramparts which have withstood the Navajos caused by fending warriors clans and chieftains.With evergreen forests in the background, a temple of Sri Vishnu with great antiquity and mythological history is situated. The temple is dedicated to God Alagar, named after exiquite beauty. A little away from the temple is the perennial spring, and bath in it is considered as holy and devotees visit in large numbers. Many festivals are conducted, all of them inside the temple premises. One major festival is conducted in April every year, when God Alagar is taken in a never-ending procession of devotees, to Madurai to attend the Divine marriage of Goddess Meenakshi. God Kallagar after a week long sojourn, entering the river vaigai in all splendor and mounted on a galloping golden horse, accompanied by milling goads and devotees in fancy costumes, and thousands of country carts, is the stunning finale of the week long festival.Noteworthy features of this Festival are the emotional and physical involvement of rural people from the suburbs and the mode of offering to God reminiscent of Islamic custom.

Madurai has been hailed as the Athens of the East for its rich culture. The city has also been a unique confluence of religions in the past. Saivaism, Vaishnavism, Jainism,Christianity and Islam flourished here. The early Jains caves in Madurai represent the earliest lithic monuments in this region.The caves contain the earliest epigraphic records in Brahmi characters paleographically assigned to a period from 2nd century BC to 3rd or 4th century AD. Salient features of the caves may be summarized as follows: The natural caverns were made suitable for habitation by cutting stone beds in them. The beds were chiseled smooth with one side raised a little to serve as pillows. The over hanging rock was cut in the form of drip-ledge so as to prevent rain water flowing into the cave shelters. These holy residences were mostly located near springs of water which catered to the basic needs of the ascetics.There are about twenty six caves with more than 140 stone beds , all situated within a radius of 20 miles from Madurai city. The Brahmi records inscribed on these monuments refer to the names of the resident monks as well as the laity who cut the stone beds.

Hotels In Madurai
Fortune Pandiyan	GRT Regency
Heritance	Park Plaza
The Gateway Pasumalai