After the Sangam age Kalabhras remained in control of Madurai till the middle of 6th Century CE. Around 550 CE, Pandyas regained control of Madurai and ruled it for the next four centuries. Madurai was conquered by the Cholas during early 9th Century and remained under their control till the early 13th Century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital. After the death of the last Pandyan ruler Kulasekara Pandian, Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. The Madurai Sultanate, then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an independent kingdom till its destruction by the Vijayanagar Empire in 1378. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 and Madurai changed hands several times between Chanda Sahib, Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (Marudhanayagam) in the middle of the 18th Century. From 1764 to 1801 the city remained under the control of the Nawab of Arcot.

     In 1801 the British East India Company took direct control of Madurai and brought it under the Madras Presidency. In 1837, the city was expanded to accommodate the growing population by demolishing the fortifications around the temple. This was done on the orders of the then collector John Blackburn. The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct the new streets - Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866. In 1971 it was constituted as a Municipal Corporation.

     Madurai played a significant role in the Indian independence movement - it was at Madurai Gandhi made the decision to switch to wearing a loin cloth after seeing agricultural laborers wearing it. The independence movement in Madurai was led by leaders like N. M. R. Subbaraman, Mohammad Ismail Sahib and Meer Niyamatullah Ibrahim Sahib.


     Madurai city has an area of 52 sq.km, within an urban area now extending over as much as 130 sq.km and it is located at 9.93^oN 78.12^oE It has an average elevation of 101 meters above mean sea level. The climate is dry and hot, with Northeast monsoon rains during October-December. Temperatures during summer reach a maximum of 40 and a minimum of 26.3^oC, though temperatures over 43^oC are not uncommon. Winter temperatures range between 29.6 and 18^oC. The average annual rainfall is about 85 cm.

     Madurai is built around the Meenakshi Sundareswar Temple. Concentric rectangular streets surround the temple, symbolizing the structure of the cosmos. The entire city is laid out in the shape of a lotus. The six major rectangular streets around Meenakshi temple are named after Tamil monthsChittirai, Aadi, Aavani Moola, Maasi, Maarat and Veli streets.

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