MADURA, ma-dWrzl. The capital of a dis trict in Madras. British India, the ancient capi tal of the Pandyan Kingdom, 270 miles (344 by rail) southwest of Madras (Map: India, C 7). It is celebrated for some of the finest examples of Hindu architecture in existence. It has wide and regular streets, and large market places. and until recently was surrounded by a double wall with 72 towers and an encircling ditch from 60 to 70 feet wide; the dwelling houses, however. are poor. The Temple of Minarchi or Fish Mother. in the centre of the city, is the fourth of the seven strongholds of idolatry in India. It is said to have been partially destroyed in the flood of Menu, and to have been rebuilt by Sek barn Pandyan in the second or third century: to have been nearly destroyed during the second Mohammedan conquest in the fourteenth century, and renewed by Viswanatha Nayak. Its present splendor is due to Tirumulla Nayak, the last Rajah, who reigned 1622-62. The outer wall of the temple is a parallelogram of S00 by 700 feet, within which are 50 buildings devoted to the various purposes of the temple worship, and the use of those who conduct it. The wall is of granite with a parapet of brick. and is 37 feet high. The main entrances are by four gateways. 30 feet high. through towers 50 -or 60 feet wide at the base which rice in 11 stories to the height of ISO feet. One choltry or rest-house within the inclosure, built by Tirumulla Nayak, is 312 feet by 125, the roof supported by 162 columns, many 01 them wrought from a single stone. Fifty-four of these columns arc 30 feet high, of two stones fitted face to face so as to look like one solid block feet thick, carved on all sides with life-size figures in full relief or in bas-relief. The
granite roof in the Sallasrastambha Mandapam, or flail of One Thousand Pillars, is supported in reality by 997 columns, and the columns in the whole temple number 10,000. .A palace built by Tirumulla Navak has been restored and is an edifice of considerable magnificence. Madura was the political and religious capital of Southern India from the earliest time. It is the Modura of Ptolemy, and in the time of Augustus its king sent ambassadors to Rome. Early in the Chris tian Era a college was founded here for the cul tivation of Tamil literature, and was distin guished for the learning of its professors; the ,are taken to preserve the purity of the language is in evidence to this day. The last sovereign, Queen Menakshi Amman, was dethroned by ('lender Sahib in 1736; from 1740 to 1760 the city was repeatedly besieged. A Roman Cath olic mission. established here early in the seven teenth century. flourished until the English o•cu pation. In 1837 it was reestablished and is a prosperous institution. The American Prtdestant mission established in 1834 has also accomplished much for the people, especially through hospital work. Two colleges and three schools receive State aid, and there are several literary insti tutes. Cotton and coffee mills and cigar fac tories are the chief industrial establishments, supplying a domestic trade. Population, in 1801, 87.42S; in 1901, 105,501.