Madurai

Madurai is a city in Tamil Nadu, India, and the administrative headquarters of Madurai district. It lies on the Vaigai River, which divides the city into two nearly equal halves. The 2011 census counted 1,017,865 people within the city limits as they stood before the 2011 expansion.

Wikipedia describes Madurai as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in India, with recorded history going back to the 3rd century BCE. The Meenakshi Amman Temple, on the south side of the river, is dedicated to Parvati as Meenakshi and to Shiva as Sundareswarar. It has 14 gopurams, the tallest being the southern tower at 51.9 metres, and the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655. The city is nicknamed Thoongaa Nagaram, meaning the city that never sleeps, and its Municipal Corporation was established in 1866.

Madurai is also the seat of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which was established in 2004 and began functioning that July. The bench is in the news for orders reported on 10 November 2026. Justice B Pugalendhi asked the Tamil Nadu government to examine setting up more special courts for corruption cases after noting 2,423 pending cases in the state, and a bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to register an FIR over an alleged library book procurement scam, LiveLaw reported.

Sources: Wikipedia, LiveLaw, LiveLaw.