Religious Places

Parthasarathy Temple

Written by Sudhir Kumar

The Parthasarathy Temple is an 8th century Hindu Vaishnavite temple dedicated to Lord Krishna, located at Triplicane, Chennai. It is one among the 108 divyadesams or holy abodes of Lord Vishnu. Lord Krishna is worshipped in the name ‘Parthasarathy’ in this temple, which means in Sanskrit, ‘charioteer of Arjuna’. It was originally built by the Pallavas in the 8th century by king Narasimhavarman I. One of the distinguishing features of is that it has four of the incarnations or avatars of Vishnu: Narasimha, Rama, Varaha and Krishna. There are shrines for Sri Vedhavalli Thayaar, Sri Ranganatha, Sri Rama, Sri Gajendra Varadharaja Swamy, Narasimha, Sri Andal, Sri Anjaneya, Alwars, Ramanuja, Swami Manavala Mamunigal and Vedanthachariar. There are separate entrances for Lord Parthasarathy and Lord Narasimha.According to Hindu Puranas, Lord Krishna was the charioteer for Arjuna during the Mahabharata war when he gave the Hindu holy book of Bhagavad Gita. Hence, the God, Sri Parthasarathy’s face is full of scars created by the arrows of the Great Bhishma in the Kurukshetra war. Other interesting thing is that, God Krishna is seen with a moustache and without his weapon Chakra. The reason attributed is that he promised not to take weapons in the Mahabharatha war and hence he has only his conch. As He was the charioteer He sported the moustache keeping with the tradition. The Utsavar also has only a stick and not his mace as found with others. This is because the Lord was born in a cowherd clan. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Parthasarathy Temple is a Beautiful Place For Vacations. The temple and the area Tiruallikkeni derives the name from the Holy tank. It is said Goddess Mahalakshmi herself was born here as Vedavalli to Sage Bhrigu. Lily flowers bloomed in this tank. This tank consistes of five sacred wells, and so it is said that its waters are holier than the Ganges.

History of Parthasarathy Temple

The temple was originally built by the Pallavas in the 8th century, subsequently expanded by Cholas and later by the Vijayanagara kings in the 15th century. The temple has several inscriptions dating from the 8th century in Tamil and Telugu presumably from the period of Dantivarman, who was a Vishnu devotee. Tirumangai Azhwar, the 9th century azhwar also attributes the building of temple to the Pallava king. From the internal references of the temple, it appears that the temple was restored during 1564 CE when new shrines were built. In later years, endowments of villages and gardens have enriched the temple.

Legend of Parthasarathy Temple

Triplicane (Thiruvallikeni), situated about .5 km (0.31 mi) from the Bay of Bengal coast and Fort St George, is one of the oldest central business districts of Chennai, South India. Triplicane owes its name to its historic existence as Tiruvallikeni (orThiruvallikeni) or Tiru-Alli-Keni (Sacred Lily Pond, in Tamil) denoting the pond in front of the temple, amidst a big Tulasi forest. The place was also referred to as Vrundha-raNyam (beautiful garden) in Puranic scriptures. During the British rule, the Englishmen were unable to pronounce ‘Thiruvallikeni’ and called it Triplicane. Lord Krishna was the charioteer for Pandava prince Arjuna during the Kurukshetra War war in Mahabaratha. Kunti (also called Pritha), Arjuna’s mother was the aunt of Krishna and the sister of Krishna’s father, Vasudeva. Krishna addressed Arjuna as Partha, the son of Preetha. Krishna was thus referred as Partha Sarthy, meaning the charioteer of Arjuna. Bhagavat Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place in the middle of the battlefield before the start of the war with armies on both sides ready to battle. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma about fighting his own cousins who command a tyranny imposed on a disputed empire, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on yoga, Samkhya, reincarnation, moksha, karma yoga and jnana yoga among other topics tourist place in world.Krishna was neutral during the war, giving his army to Kauravas and offered himself for the Pandavas. Parthasarathy in the temple is thus depicted with a moustache and having only the conch, without his weapon Chakra. This is attributed to the promise he made to the Kauravas not to take weapons during the war. Following the traditions of a charioteer, he sported the moustache and the same is depicted in the temple. The scars in the face of Parthasarathy’s festival idol (presumably made of aimpon, an alloy of five metals) in the temple is full of scars depicted to show the injuries caused by the arrows of Bhishma in the war. The utsavar (festival deity) also has only a stick depicting Krishna was born in a cowherd clan.Lord Venkateswara promised King Sumathi that he would give darshan as Lord Parthasarathy. In order to keep the promise, the Lord Venkateswara appeared as Lord Parthasarathy. Sage Athreya had installed the idol of Lord Parthasarathy Swami. Legend has it that the parents of the great SriVaishnava acharya, Sri Ramanuja came to this temple and prayed to the Lord for a son and eventually the great acharya was born. It is also believed that the great saint Sri Ramanuja is none other than the Lord Parthasarathy himself who was born to revive Vishishtadvaita.

Darshan, Sevas and Festivals

The temple is administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The temple follows the traditions of the Thenkalai sect of Vaishnavite tradition and follows vaikanasa aagama. The temple has grand brahmotsavams (big festival) for Sri Parthasarathy swami during the Tamil month of Chittirai (April–May), on the same month Udayavar uthsavam is also celebrated. In the month of Vaigasi, Sri Varadarajar uthsavam, Sri Nammalwar uthsavam (vaigasi-visagam) and Vasanthothsavam are celebrated. Sri Azhagiyasingar during the Tamil month of Aani (June–July). There are also festivals for Sri Ramanuja (April–May) and Sri Manavalamamunigal (Oct-Nov) besides festivals for Alwar and Acharyas. Vaikunta Ekadesi and during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December–January) draws lot of pilgrims.

Theppam (Float) festival

A floating structure made up of drums, timber would be constructed and would be beautifully decorated with lights, flowers, religious paintings, silken buntings, etc. which serves as a visual delight. For better ambience, lights were also installed in the garden around the tank and additionally, focus lights were placed on the corners of the neerazhimandapam (the mandapam (structure) in the center of the temple tank). Perumal (God) would come to the temple tank in purappadu (departure) and be placed majestically inside the float. On all the days, the float completed five rounds around the neerazhimandapam. After this, the deities were taken in a procession around the four Mada Streets. Devotees in hundreds would converge and sit everywhere on the steps of the temple tank to have darshan of the Lord on theppam. The speciality of the third day function ‘Thirumanjanam’ was performed to the deity inside the float. Other than the bhattachariars (temple priests), no one was allowed inside the float. A Rescue team of about 10 swimmers is usually provided by the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services.

 

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Sudhir Kumar

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