Madurai

Flower vendors near Meenakshi Amman sell fragrant heaps of jasmine and marigolds used as devotional offerings. Sound and light shows dramatize the history of Thirumalai Nayak Mahal, a colonnaded 1636 palace with Dravidian and Islamic architectural features. The Gandhi Memorial Museum, in a domed 17th-century palace, documents the Indian struggle for independence. Beyond the old city lies Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam, a vast temple tank filled by the Vaigai River. Every January or February it hosts Madurai’s Float Festival, in which Hindu icons are placed into the tank on ornamental rafts.