The unique thing about Madurai's streets

Among the many other unique aspects of the city, one is the interesting names of the roads in Madurai. A good number of lanes and bylanes in the city are names after interesting things. Here's a ride through the roads. A short history Since time immemorial, Madurai has been a well planned city in terms of construction of roads and buildings. The streets in Madurai were said to have been designed by the Pandya kings centuries ago. Be it the architecture or the roads in the old areas of the city, the residents are all praise for their ancestors. Months N Sulaiman, retired regional assistant director of art and culture department gives us an insight into some of the popular streets in the city and the reasons for their existence. He begins, "Meenakshi Amman temple is the centre point for the formation of all the roads. The roads unlike the other major cities are square shaped. The first road called 'Aadhi Veethi' is situated inside the temple campus. This street is purely for spiritual purpose. Common people aren't allowed to use it. The chithirai street, Masi Street, avani moola street and the consequent streets lay in consecutive squares around the temple." If a person begins touring a street, he would land on the same road in an hour. He cannot be diverted anywhere, except for the narrow cross cuts between the streets. "The streets surrounding the temple are named after Tamil months. The city has been described as 'lotus shaped' city in one of the Tamil literatures. An ariel view of the place will be breathtaking," he adds. Occupation Names of some streets also denote a particular occupation. For instance, some cities have localities named after profession of people living there. Back here in Madurai, that was exactly what was done. Sulaiman continues, "In ancient times, the artists and the painters working in the temple and the king's palace were given houses in a particular street. Hence, the street came to be called 'chithrakarar theru' (a street of artists). The 'kollanpattarai theru' (a street of iron workshops) was the abode of ironsmiths. They would make weapons for the palace army. The street where musicians dwelled was baptized 'Mettukara theru' (a street of music composers)." Businesses Some streets also pointed to the nature of business done in the corresponding premises. Interestingly, the same is being followed till now. Priya G, a frequent visitor to this area, says, "Starting from the 'valayal kaara theru' (the street of bangle sellers), the nature of each business can be identified from their names. The gold merchants, gold jewellery shops are in a street called 'nagaikadai theru' (street of jewellery shops). Some of the other interesting streets are Pathirakaara theru ( street of utensil sellers), Vethilai pettai (street of betel leaves) and nel pettai (street of rice wholesalers). These street names are self explanatory." History Apart from the streets named after the regional flowers and national leaders, there are some significant numbers of streets that denote the historical events in their names. Travise, a student says, "A classic example is the 'Barathiyaar Ula Veethi (the walking street of Barathiyar). The national poet Barathiyar used to walk in that particular road during his teaching reign at a school nearby. This incident dates back to the era of pre-independence."