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Madurai, an Unique city!

Madurai is an unique city in many ways. I am just sharing one of the unique coincidences, I came across.

Of course, it has Meenakshi Amman temple which is an architectural marvel.

But, how it received its name?. Mathura in the north is the Birthplace of Lord Krishna.Madura , which means a drop of nectar, in the south is the place where Lord Narayana /Vishnu took his first Avatar, Matsyavathar. According to Srimad Bhagavatam, the first Manu (Vaivaswatha Manu) was the Dravida King by name Satyavrata who saw the Lord in the form of fish in Krithamala/Vaigai River in Madurai and what follows is the story of Matsyavatar ,which is similar to that of Noah's Ark.(there is still a branch of river Vaigai by name Krithamala in Madurai( now it is a drainage)).By the by, the name Pandya literally has come from Tamil word "Pandaya"(பண்டைய ) i.e old.

The first Manu is from Madurai!! ( There is an interesting corollary to this which tells that Ikshvaku dynasty are the descendants of this King from Madurai. This implies that Sri Rama is also King of Madurai.)

Now move over to another religion, Islam and its Holy Prophets

According to some of the Islamic traditions, the first man and the Prophet, Adam crossed the sea from South India (Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said:  
Al-Saddi said: Allah said (interpretation of the meaning): “Get you down, all” [al-Baqarah 2:36]. So they came down; Adam came down in India and the Black Stone and a handful of leaves from Paradise came down with him, and he scattered them in India, and a perfume tree grew, which is the origin of what comes from India of perfume from the handful of leaves that Adam brought down. Adam only took them because of his sorrow at leaving Paradise when he was expelled from it.)  and went to Srilanka(Sarandip) , Garden of Eden , and did a penance there.

Is it not an interesting coincidence that both Srimad Bhagavatam and Quran talk about the first man from  South India?!!

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