Jan 25th was an interesting day ! We had to visit a couple of schools as part of ShikshaDaan’s work and so started early from our serviced apartment in Anna Nagar. Dropped off Amma at Radha Athai’s place and visited the schools in Urappakkam. We hadn’t planned on visiting any Kovil but Parthasarathy had other plans for us :).
After visiting the schools we came back to Athai’s place, ate some lunch (at our strange time) and then decided to visit my younger Athai at Thiruvallikeni. Kannamma Athai and Athimber live in Kanchipuram and we had plans of visiting them the next day but realised they were at my cousin’s place in Thiruvallikeni (aka Triplicane).
As the driver parked the car in front of Parthasarathy Perumal Kovil I wondered if we would be lucky to get HIS darshan that day …. Strangely, despite being in Chennai for many years, I had never visited this Divya Desam.
We spent some time with Kannamma Athai, Athimber and my cousin’s family and as we started to get back to our serviced apartment, I took a couple of pictures of the temple Gopuram which was lit up. It was nearly 8 pm …
Our taxi driver was the one who pushed us to go visit the temple. He said having come all the way, it would just take a few minutes to visit and get Bhagwan’s darshan. We left our footwear in the car and went in.
Sthala Puranam – Parthasarathy Perumal Kovil
This temple was built by the Pallavas in the 8th century. Later Cholas and the Vijayanagara Kings added more Sannidhis and expanded the temple.
Venkatakrishna or Parthasarathy is the main deity. Bhagwan Krishna steered Arjuna’s chariot during the Mahabharata war – so he is called “Partha (Arjun)” “Sarathy – Charioteer”. This is the only temple where Mahavishnu’s Vigraham has a moustache – just like a great charioteer for a great warrior. Krishna as Parthasarathy is surrounded by his family, his chief consort Rukmini, his brother Balarama, his Narayani Sena’s commander Satyaki, his son Pradyumna, and his grandson Anirudha.
Interestingly Bhagwan Krishna is without his weapon the Sudarshana Chakra. He only holds the conch, Panchajanya in his right hand, while his left hand is pointing to his Thiruvadi (feet). This is because, Krishna had said he would not take up arms during the Mahabharata war. So he only has his conch. The murti is 9 feet tall and apparently one of Krishna’s toes doesn’t have the nail as Krishna was hit by Bhishma’s arrow at that spot.
It’s difficult to look away once you are in Parthasarathy’s presence … if just his murti is so mesmerising, how mesmerising would he have been in person 🙏🏿.
The utsavar murti (the mobile or travelling murti) has pockmarks all over the face because Krishna as Arjuna’s charioteer was hit by several arrows. The Prasadam at this temple has dollops of extra ghee in order to help the battle wounds to heal.
Vedavalli meeting Vedavalli Thayar
Lakshmi is in the form of Vedavalli Thayar in this temple. She has a separate Sannidhi. The Saptarishis were meditating on the Vedas at this spot and found a baby girl under a Sandalwood tree. They adopted her and named her Vedavalli.
Krishnan and I are privileged to have our mothers named as Vedavalli.
On Jan 25th, it was my mother Vedavalli getting Vedavalli Thayar’s darshan !!
There are other Sannidhis – Bhagwan Rama is here with all his brothers, Maa Sita and Hanuman. There is also a Narasimha swamy Sannidhi. As we did one pradakshina, the main temple’s doors were closed…. Parthasarathy ensured that he gave us his darshan. I am still able to see those piercing eyes and the grand moustache of his …
Do read my earlier post – 108 Divya Desams for context.
The Parthasarathy Perumal Kovil is the only Divya Desam within Chennai city limits. Do visit and get Krishna’s darshan as Arjuna’s charioteer. May HE steer our lives towards Dharma just like he did for Arjuna.
And we need HIM to keep HIS promise from Chapter 4 of the Bhagwad Gita –
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४-७॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥
Jai Sri Krishna
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