Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BCE are evident from excavations by Archeological Survey of India in Manalur.

[26] During the 18th and 19th centuries, the temple finds mention in several works like 108 Tirupathi Anthathi by Divya Kavi Pillai Perumal Aiyangar and Koodal Sthala Purana.

Tevaram, the 7th- or 8th-century Tamil compositions on Shiva by the three prominent Nayanars (Saivites), namely Appar,[27] Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar,[28][29] address the city as Thirualavai.

[22][30] The Buddhist text Mahavamsa mentions Madurai in the context of Prince Vijaya's (543–505 BCE) arrival in Sri Lanka with his 700 followers.

According to the Mahavamsa, emissaries laden with precious gifts, jewels and pearls, were sent from Sri Lanka to Madurai of ancient Tamilakam.

[23] After the Sangam age, most of present-day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhra dynasty,[37] which was ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE.

[43][44] The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule.

[49] 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.

[50] Leaders of the independence movement in Madurai included N. M. R. Subbaraman,[51][52] Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar and Mohammad Ismail Sahib.

[58] Ancient Tamil classics record the temple as the centre of the city and the surrounding streets appearing liken a lotus and its petals.

With the advent of British rule during the 19th century, Madurai became the headquarters of a large colonial political complex and an industrial town; with urbanisation, the social hierarchical classes became unified.

[62] Madurai lies southeast of the western ghats, and the surrounding region occupies the plains of South India and contains several mountain spurs.

[73] According to 2011 census based on pre-expansion limits, the area covered under the Corporation of Madurai had a population of 1,017,865[1] with a sex-ratio of 999 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.

[98] The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning, and the Computer Wing.

[95] Law and order is enforced by the Tamil Nadu Police, which, for administrative purposes, has constituted Madurai city as a separate district.

The district is divided into four sub-divisions, namely Thallakulam, Anna Nagar, Thilagar Thidal and Town,[118] with a total of 27 police stations.

[129] There are direct trains from Madurai connecting the important cities in Tamil Nadu like Chennai, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi, Mayiladuthurai, Rameswaram, Thanjavur, Tiruttani, Tirupathi and Virudhachalam.

[133] Madurai International Airport, first used by the Royal Air Force in World War II in 1942.,[134] is located 12 kilometers from the city.

Cotton crop cultivation in the regions with black soil in Madurai district was introduced during the Nayaka rule during the 16th century to increase the revenue from agriculture.

Farmers in the district supplement their income with subsidiary occupations like dairy farming, poultry-farming, pottery, brick making, mat-weaving and carpentry.

[141] With the advent of Small Scale Industries (SSI) after 1991, the industrialisation of Madurai increased employment in the sector across the district from 63,271 in 1992–93 to 166,121 persons in 2001–02.

Kappalur which is sub-urban of Madurai is business hub for automotive industries such as KUN BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mahindra, Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ashok Leyland, Jeep, Fiat India (FCA).

[168][169] the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE.

The temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 5th–9th centuries CE.

This temple is called as Thirumaliruncholai in Sangam literatures and Naalayira Divya Prabandham sung by Tamil Alvar saints.

The temple is the first among the six holy abodes of Murugan, the Arupadai Veedu, literally "Six Battle Camps", and one of the most visited tourist spots in Madurai.

[179] Madurai is popularly called Thoonga Nagaram meaning the city that never sleeps, on account of the active night life.

Legend has it that Hindu god Vishnu, as Alagar, rode on a golden horse to Madurai to attend the celestial wedding of Meenakshi (Parvati) with Sundareswarar (Shiva).

[207] About 400 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection, and the subsequent source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Corporation of Madurai All the major channels in Madurai are linked by the corporation to receive the flood water from primary, secondary and tertiary drains constructed along the roadsides to dispose of rain water.

[212] A branch of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in Thoppur, in the outskirts of the city, is set to be completed by 2022 as per Central government press release.