The Meenakshi Temple is a theologically and culturally significant temple for Hindus. Professor Christopher Fuller signifies that through the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundaresvara the supremely important rite of passage for women, the cultural concept of sumangali or auspicious married woman who lives with her husband but is also independent, organizer of the social connections and who is central to Tamilian life. The marriage of the goddess and god is a symbolic paradigm for human marriage. This event is commemorated with an annual festive procession that falls sometime around April. The temple is also significant because it implies an affinal, protective relationship between Shaivism and Vaishnavism traditions of Hinduism, by making Shiva the husband of Meenakshi, and Vishnu her brother, a significant relationship in Dravidian kinship system. Meenakshi herself is a central part of the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, and represented as the dominant figure of the pair in this temple. The temple thus symbolically celebrates all three of its major traditions.