The narrow streets of Madurai are some of the most congested in India. Rickshaws and taxis, processions of pilgrims and wandering animals all compete for space in an ancient city whose layout has essentially remained unchanged for two thousand years. The roads around the Shri Meenakshi temple actually form a series of concentric squares: an auspicious design thought to represent the Hindu god Brahma. For the full sacred potential to be realised, however, they must be circumambulated in a clockwise direction.