Art & culture, Madurai

Madurai is called the Athens of the East. Rich in culture and tradition, the city sports a pristine oriental flavor in all its ancient monuments and age-old rituals and festivals. Home to architectural marvels like the Meenakshi Amman Temple and Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal,Madurai is the epicenter of commercial and business activity in South India. It is a connecting city to small towns and districts like Ramanathapuram, Theni, Dindigul, Manamadurai and others. It is also Tamilnadu’s gateway to Kerala and deep southern districts like Nagerkoil, Kanyakumari and Thiruvanathapuram. Abode of the great Pandya kings and the Nayak rulers, Madurai is a precious jewel in the crown of South India. The people of Madurai follow a conventional-cum-modern lifestyle. The culture of the place is synonymous with the culture of Tamilnadu and Maduraiites have a penchant for the rituals and religious practices of Southern Tamilnadu.
People: Madurai is home to people of diverse classes, castes and communities. There are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sindhis, Marwadis, Anglo-Indians, Maratis and a whole lot of other minor communities. The place also has a large concentration of Malayalis (people from neighboring state Kerala), Telugu and Kannada communities (people from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka). A popular tourist destination, Madurai sees a lot of tourists all year around.
Couture: Since Madurai is home to people from various cultural backgrounds, the city sees different kinds of couture. Hindus follow the traditional costume culture of Tamilnadu – dhoti for men and saris for women, whereas Gujaratis, Jains, Telugus, Kannadigas, Sindhis and others follow their traditional wear. However, the youth of the city dress up in modern costumes like jeans, tshirts, blazers etc. The city houses a lot of international brands like Levi’s, Gucci, Armani also.