Sorry for missing this. I feel as a group the events preceeding the kumbabishekam were more important. Ive never seen such an extensive restoration of large temples, especially one which is in daily use. They have rebuilt a lot of areas and every pillar, statue, wall, etc has been cleaned to removes centuries of dust, paint accumulation. The ceiling leading to the sanctum sanctorums have been painted with remarkable skill (unlike the last job when nearly everything was botched up). The 4 main towers of the temple have been given a coat of paint and so has the Potramarai Kolam and the areas surrounding it.
The 50 year old electrical connections have been redone to mroe modern units. A whole lot of tube lights and bulbs have been installed illuminating previously dark places of the temple.
Hope the PS group can take sometime out and get to Madurai after the Kumbabishekam. The best hours to view the temple are early horus when the God and Goddess are bought out from thier rooms to the sanctum sanctorums.
I will be at Madurai on 29th and 30th of this month for a marriage function in my family. I would be happy to meet our PS friends, yourself, Rahul on 29th or 30th evening.
Meenakshi Kalyanam painting...ive never heard of this, let alone see. It would be quite a tough task to search this simply because of the sheer number of these in the temple. Also if it was a wall painting as recent as the 40s im pretty sure these would have been painted over and repainted now. Let me ask around regarding this.