Parthasarathy Temple, Chennai

As per Hindu legend, the Saptarishis, the seven sages worshipped five deities Panchaveeras, namely, Venkata Krishnaswamy, Rukmini, Satyaki, Balarama, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. As per the Mahabharata, Vishnu, in his avatar as Krishna was acting as charioteer for Arjuna, the Pandava prince during the war with Kauravas. Krishna did not take any weapons during the war. During the fight between Arjuna and Bhishma, Krishna was injured by the arrow from Bhishma. The mark in the image in the temple is believed to follow the legend. The place is called Allikeni, meaning a pond of lily as it is believed that historically the place was full of lily ponds. The place is the only place where the presiding deity is sported with a moustache. As per another legend, the place was once a tulasi forest. A Chola king named Sumati wanted to see Vishnu in the form of Parthasarathy and prayed at Srinivasa temple in Tirupati. Srinivasa directed the king to visit the temple here built by sage Atreya and worshipped with another sage called Sumati. ==History==

The temple was originally built by the Pallavas Between the 6th and 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 The temple also has inscriptions about the Pallava king, Nandivarman of the 8th Century. One of the earliest Alvars Pey Alvar (who lived between 5th and 6th Century) has mentioned this temple which makes the temple the oldest structure in Chennai. The temple was extensively built during the Chola period and a lot of inscriptions dating back to the same period are found here. The outer most mandapam is replete with sculptures of various forms of Vishnu, especially the avatars. One can also see inscriptions of Dantivarma Pallava of the 8th century, Chola and Vijayanagara in the temple. The first architectural expansion of the temple took place during the reign of the Pallavas (Tondaiyar Kon) as vividly described by Tirumangai Alvar. Reminiscent of this is the inscription of the Pallava King Dantivarman (796–847 CE), which is preserved in the temple. The temple witnessed a major expansion during the rule of the Vijayanagara kings like Sadasiva Raya, Sriranga Raya and Venkatapati Raya II (16th century). Many subshrines and pillared pavilions (mandapas) like the Tiruvaymoli Mandapa were added. A Pallava king built the present temple in the eighth century. The gopuram was also built by a Pallava king - Tondaiman Chakravarthy. There are inscriptions that record the contributions of the Chola kings Raja Raja and Kulottunga III, Pandya King Maravarman and many rulers of the Vijayanagara dynasty including Ramaraja Venkatapathiraja and Vira Venkatapathy. For a while the East India Company administered the temple. The pushkarani is called Kairavani and five sacred teerthams are believed to surround the tank – Indra, Soma, Agni, Meena and Vishnu. Seven rishis – Bhrigu, Atri, Marichi, Markandeya, Sumati, Saptaroma and Jabali – performed penance here. All five deities in the temple have been extolled by Tirumangai Alvar. There is also a separate shrine for Andal, one of the 12 Alvars who is also considered as a consort to the presiding deity. It is one of the very few shrines in the country dedicated to Krishna as Parthasarathy, charioteer of Arjuna and to contains idols of three avatars of Vishnu: Narasimha, Rama, and Krishna. He also mentioned about the Telliya Singar shrine within the temple. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. ==Religious traditions==

The temple is administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. in the year. It is a religious practise to carry the different gods of the temple through the mada veethis of triplicane during some of these festivals. The Gods will move in different religiously built temple vehicles (vaghanams, as these are termed in Tamil), like Elephant, Garuda, Horse, Yali (a mythical animal), Hamsa (Swan), Hanuman, temple Rath (ther in Tamil, chariot or Ratham, alternative terms), etc. The temple is administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. During festival days the place is given a new look and accompanied by various traditional rites. The most important among these festivals are the Vaikunda Ekadesi – as huge crowds from not only chennai, but also various parts of Tamil Nadu and India come to the temple on this day; Theppam or Thepotsavam – the colourful float festival, and the utsavam for the main deity Parthasarathy. Theppam (Float) festival Also known Teppothsavam (= Theppam + Utsavam), this pictorial and colourful festival takes place on 7 days in the Tamil month of masi, 3 days for Parthasarathy, one each for Sri Narasimhar, Sri Ranganathar, Sri Ramar and Sri Gajendra Varadhar. The seven-day event attracts a large number of devotees and onlookers from different parts of Chennai and Tamil Nadu. 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 Neerazhi Mandapam (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 Neerazhi Mandapam. After this, the deities were taken in a procession around the four Mada Streets. Devotees in hundreds would converge and sit on the steps of the temple tank to have Darshan of the Lord on Theppam. The specialty of the third day function is the 'Thirumanjanam', performed to the deity inside the float. Other than the bhattachariars (temple priests), no one is allowed inside the float. A Rescue team of about 10 swimmers is usually provided by the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services. This theppam festival exhibits one of the aspects of the richest cultural heritage aspects of Triplicane which one can see nowhere else in Chennai, other than Mylapore. ==Incidents==

The temple had internal conflict from the 1750s till the end of the century between the two subsects of Sri Vaishnavism, namely Tenkalai and Vadakalai. The two sects were grounded over the right of reciting each of their own version of concluding verses in the temple. Muthuswami Dikshitar, composer of Indian classical music, who is considered one of the musical Trinity of Carnatic music composed the song "Shri Parthasarathina pAlitOsmyaham" on this Kshethram. Bharathiar, the Tamil poet and independence activist was struck by an elephant at the temple, whom he used to feed regularly. Although he survived the incident, a few months later his health deteriorated and he died. Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk was a devotee of Parthasarathy. In one of his letters in the year 1893 to his disciple Alasinga, he writes 'Take a bow before Parthasarathy of Thiruvallikeni and give an undertaking before Him of a great sacrifice, one of a whole life for the poor, the lowly and the oppressed – for whom Parthasarathy comes from time to time and whom he loves above all.' You can find this letter to his disciple inscribed in one of the walls at temple corridor. ==See also==