The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s3.7

c5.s3.7

Dakshiṇa-Mathurâ—Madura on the river Kṛitamâḷâ in the province of Madras (*Chaitanya-Charitâmṛita*, Madhya, ch. 9). It was also called Mathurâ and Minâkṣhî. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Pāṇḍya or Pāṇḍu. It is one of the 52 Pīṭhās where Satī’s eyes are said to have fallen (Bhāgavata, X. 79 and Mahāvaṃśa, ch. 7). It was called Dakshiṇa-Mathurā in contradistinction to Uttara-Mathurā or Mathurā of the United Provinces (Upham’s Rājaratnākarī). Madura was a province of the kingdom of Vijayanagar till the middle of the sixteenth century when Viśvanātha, the founder of the Nayak dynasty, became its independent ruler, and Trimula, the most powerful monarch of the line, reigned from 1623 to 1639. The great temple of Mīnākshī with its thousand-pillared hall was built by Arya Nayak in 1550.