‘Mesai Perumal’ is how Lord Vishnu is colloquially known at this 8th century Krishna Temple located in the busy lanes of Triplicane, Chennai. . . otherwise this temple is known as ‘Venkatakrishna Parthasarthy Perumal Temple’ of Triplicane, Chennai. Krishna is another avatar of Lord Vishnu.
‘Parthasarthy’ means – ‘Charioteer of Arjuna’ in Sanskrit. At the battle of Mahabharata Lord Krishna takes side with the 5 Pandava brothers against the mighty 101 Kaurava brothers with a vow that he will not touch a weapon during the battle. He relinquishes his ‘Sudarshana Chakra’ and takes a Conch (Shanka) as his adornment. He grows a ‘mustache’ like a common charioteer and becomes a driver of Arjuna’s battle chariot! – A ‘Sarathi’! – a driver, a guide, a philosopher and a confidant! All rolled in at this epic battle – Mahabharata! The ‘Utsav Murthy’ here of Parthasarthy or idol apart from adorning a mustache also has battle mark scars on it’s body and face. These scars were from arrows shot by Kaurava’s Bhishma to Arjuna where Lord Krishna as Sarathi took upon himself to save Arjuna.
The area where this temple was built was earlier known as ‘Brindaranya’ later known as ‘Tiruvallikkeri… the Colonial British couldn’t pronounce it and simply changed it to – ‘Triplicane’ and the name sticks even to this day! The name…was derived because of a ‘Lily Pond in front of the temple around a forest of ‘Basil -(‘Tusli’) trees’.
This Venkatakrishna Parthasarthy Perumal Temple at Triplicane, Chennai is a Vaishnavite temple… one of the 61st Vaishna temple among the country’s 108 hirechy. This beautiful Dravidian style architecture was built by the Pallavas (King Narasimhavarman)
expanded by the Cholas and further developed and expanded by the Vijayanagar Kings in the 15th Century. . . the temple tower or the ‘gopuram’ was built by the Pallava King, Thondaiman Chakravarthy. This temple complex has a lot of scriptures . . . inscriptions carved in Tamil and Telugu from the 8th Century.
Chola King Sumati Raja Chola an ardent devotee of Sri Venkateshwara of Tirupati built this Venkatakrishna Temple. Pallava King Nandi Varma supported this temple. Vijayanagar Kings Sadasiva Raya, Sriranga Raya and Venkatapati Raya II patronized this 8th century Chola – Pallava Vaishnavite temple. The temple was restored totally in 1564 and a new shrine was built too. Even to this day the temple of Parthasarthy stands becoming a major landmark at Triplicane in Chennai.
This temple was a resting place for pilgrims who had come down from their ardous tiring Tirupati pilgrimage. It also supported resting pilgrims of Thiruthani and Tiruvallur too! These places of pilgrimage was in direct line away from the then swamp lands of Chennai. The close-by sea of Bay of Bengal was used for an auspicious bath during eclipses!
Briefly the factional religious sects and groups were in conflict as to who will run the temple during the Colonial British rule and the East India Co. administered the temple for a brief period. Today this beautiful temple is administered by the Hindu Religious Endowment Board of Government of Tamilnadu. The temple is open to it’s devotees from 6 am to 12 noon & again from 4 to 9 pm. The temple priests come in much early to prepare for the daily rituals and poojas. Photography is not allowed inside this beautiful temple.
The uniqueness of this temple is that you see the 5 forms of Vishnu here – Narasimha, Rama, Gajendra Varadharaja, Ranganatha and Krishna. Another unique feature is Lord Krishna is seen here with his full family – wife as consort Rukmini, brother Balarama, younger brother Satyaki, son Pradyumma and grandson Anitudha. The 9 feet beautiful Lord Parthasarthy is adorned with a mustache and a beautiful tilak set in diamonds & sapphire!
This Aranmula Parthasarthy Temple has two Bhramotsavas, celebrations in a year. Vaikunta Ekadasi and Karthika Deepotsavam are a sight to watch where devotees participate in full gusto! Theppotsavam where the idol is on a float in the temple pushkani is the most sought after festival by all pilgrims… A picursque sight. This Pushkarini sits on 5 sacred wells and was supposed to be birth place of Goddess Lakshmi as Vedavalli.
This temple is constantly busy with poojas and festivity on a seasonal and daily basis following the Vaishnavite traditions. Old saints have conducted pooja and rituals in the yester years making this temple a divine place of positive energy from the 8th century! Praying at this temple is believed to solve your requests of education, wisdom, wedding and sickness. The abhishekem ghee heals wounds. Bharathiar the legendary Tamil poet and freedom fighter was an ardent devotee of this temple, he resided at Triplicane and came to the temple each day.
Please do visit this unique Lord Krishna temple. A famous avatar of Lord Vishnu as Parthasarthy which is 1200 years old. A divine experience at Triplicane in the heart of Chennai city. It takes an hour of your busy schedule. A early morning vist is recommended.
-Jagdeesh Laxman Singh
aka Jugie Singh
Text & Photography
