History of Madurai

[7] Sangam literature like Maturaikkāñci records the importance of Madurai as a capital city of the Pandyan dynasty.

[13] After the Sangam age, most of present-day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhra dynasty, which was ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE.

[16] The city remained under the control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital.

[16] The Madurai Sultanate then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an independent kingdom until its gradual annexation by the Vijayanagar Empire in 1378 CE.

[18][19] The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule.

It was in Madurai, in 1921, that Mahatma Gandhi, pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, first adopted the loin cloth as his mode of dress after seeing agricultural labourers wearing it.