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Temples of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry #82: Parthasarathy Perumal Temple, Triplicane, Chennai

Updated: Oct 6

பார்த்தசாரதி பெருமாள் திருக்கோயில், திருவள்ளிக்கேணி


One of the oldest temples within the city of Chennai, this ancient Vishnu temple celebrates Lord Vishnu and his avatar Lord Krishna as the divine charioteer of Arjuna in the Mahabharatha. Partha is another name for Arjuna and Sarathy means driver or charioteer in this case. It is a Divya Desam Temple praised by the Alwaars in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the Tamil Vaishnavite collection of verses in praise of Lord Vishnu composed during the Bakthi Movement, towards the end of the first millennium. As such it has been in existence for more than 1200 years. There are clues that the temple is much older and was initially built in the 6th century. It is the only Divya Desam temple within the city limits of Chennai.


The initial construction is attributed to the Pallavas. The Chola kings contributed much to the later additions and renovations. The Pandian, Vijayanagar and Nayakkan kings continued their contributions for centuries after. The earliest inscriptions are from the 8th century and belong to the Pallava kings Nandivarman and Dantivarman. Dantivarman has been responsible for the initial major expansion it seems. There are inscriptions from Raja Raja Cholan I, Kulothungan III and Maravarman Kulasekara Pandian I, who have all contributed to the renovation of this ancient temple during their reigns. There are also many inscriptions in Tamil and Telugu from Vijayanagar kings. It underwent a major renovation in 1564 during the Nayakkan period.


The temple celebrates three other avatars of Lord Vishnu including his Narasimha, Varaha and Rama avatars besides Krishna with dedicated shrines to each. It is one of very few temples dedicated to Lord Krishna as Parthasarathy. Here Lord Krishna is the Uthsavamoorthy and is peculiarly depicted with a moustache.


The temple was the scene of intense struggles between the Vadakalai and Thenkalai traditions of Sri Vaishnavism for control of the rituals in the 18h century leading to the take over of the temple by the British East India Company. The Thenkalai prevailed and is still practiced. Today it is controlled by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR and CE) of the Government of Tamil Nadu.


The well known Tamil poet and independence activist Subramanya Bharathy was fond of this temple and was a frequent visitor here . He was struck by an elephant here and later died possibly due to injuries sustained during that incident. Swamy Vivekanada during his famous trip to Chicago in 1893 recalled this temple and wrote a letter in tribute to it.


We visited in August 2017 and August 2024. We were based in Chennai. Unfortunately, due to the strict rules forbidding photography which we respected, we could not take many photos especially of the interior which is very beautiful.


Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni
Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni
Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni
Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni
Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni
Parthasarathy Thiruvallikkeni

Credits: Google Maps




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