Divyadesam 46 - Tiruvallikeni - Triplicane - Chennai - Parthasarathy Temple

A king by name Sumathi, showered his love toward the Balaji of Thirumala. But he wished to worship Balaji as Krishna. For the sake of him, Balaji Appeared in front of the king as Krishna, at this place in the pose which he stood in the Mahabharatha war. At the end of that war he decided not to hold any weapons, so he appeared here only with a conche in his hand. hence this temple is known as parthasarathy temple.

The great seven Munis (Saptha Rishis) - Brighu, Atthiri, Mareeshi, Markandeyar, Sumathi, Jaabali and Saptharomar performed Tapas (thavam) here and as a result of this, the sthalam is also called as "Brindaranyasthalam". This sthalam is also known as "Panja Veerathalam".

Mahathyam

Seven Shrines in one Temple

1. Venkata Krishnan

The Moolavar of this sthalam is Venkata Krishnan. Along with Rukmani Piratiyar, he holds sword in one hand, Varadha Muthirai on the other hand and his brother Balaraman on his right, Sathaviki on his left, son Prathyumnan, Grand son Aniruthan are also found near the Moolavar. This is one of the Sthalam where the Perumal shows his seva along with his three generations. He is found in standing (Nindra thirukkolam) position and facing his Thirumugham towards East direction.

Moolavar : Venkatakrishnan with Rukmini
Nindra Thirukolam - Facing east
Uthsavar : Parthasarathy

2. Lord Narasimha Swamy / Thellia Singhar

There is separate entrance and flag post ( Dwajasthambam) for Lord Narasimha Swamy. Moolavar is in Veetrirundha “Yoga” thirukola,

Utsavar Thellia Singhar with Acwana hastham (Azhithu saranalikkum thirukkolam).

Moolavar : Yoga Narasimhar Vetrirundha Thirukolam - Facing west
Utsavar : Thellia singar

3. Sri Ranganathar

We can have Dharshan of Sri Ranganatha Swamy while we pass in the queue to get dharshan of Sri Venkata Krishnan. Not all but some who are basically from Thiruvalli keni would know that Sri varaha swamy and Narasimha swamy are seated and giving dharshan along with Sri Ranganatha Swamy Sannithi.

Moolavar : Ranganathan - Bhujanga sayanam - Facing east

4. Vedhavalli Thayar

We can have Dharshan of Sri Vedhavalli thayar in her separate Sannithi on the right, when you come out of Sri Venkata krishanan sannithi. Thayar ithalathilum thani utsavangalum nakshathirua purappadum kandu magizndhu nammai magizvikkindral. Every Friday evening Vedhavalli thayar will have separate purappadu inside temple along with Madal Goshti.

5. Kodhandaraman

While we pass the queue to have dharshan of Sri venkatakrishnan, on the right after crossing the Manikkadhavu we can have dharshan of Sri Kodhandaraman along with Sri Seetha Devi, Sri Lakshmanan & Hanumar (as well opposite to his Sannithi).

Moolavar : Kodhandaraman - Nindra Thirukolam - Facing south

6. Gajendra Varadahar,

Once done with Dharshan of Sri Vedhavalli thayar while stepping down on the left of Sannithi we can have dharshan of Sri gajendra varadharaja Swami, Sitting on Garuda bahavan in a ready to fly position to help jeevathama.

Moolavar : Varadharajan - Garuda vahanan - Facing east
Varadharaja Perumal in Nithya Garuda sevai.

7. Sri Andal

On the right side to Sri Narasimha Swamy sannithy is sri Andal Sannithi, Sri Andal ithalathilum Thani utsavangal Kandu magizndhu nammai Magizvikkindral. Thennacharya Sri Vaishnava Azhwar Acharyargalum ithalathillum Thani Sannidhi galai kondu ezhundharuli irukindranar.

Theertham : Kairavini saras (Allikeni)
Vimanam : Anandha Vimanam, Pranava Vimanam,
Pushpaga Vimanam, Sesha Vimanam &
Daiviga Vimanam
Prathyaksham : Rukminiprati, Thondaiman, Sumathirajan,
Arjunan, Bhrugumaharishi, Markandeyar,
Madhuman Maharishi, Saptharoma,
Athrimaharishi, Jajalimaharishi, Anirudhdhan,
Pradhyumnan & Balaraman.
Mangalasasanam : Thirumangai Alwar, Peiyazhalwar &
Thirumazhisai alwar (12 pasurams)

Namavalli Thayar, Narasimha Swamy and Anjeneya Temples - Namakkal

This was an unplanned trip. I hardly had the time to do any research on the place nor did I get any driving directions.

Last week I decided to visit the Narasimha Swamy and Namavalli Thayar shrine in Namakkal a small town near Salem (Tamilnadu, India). I wanted to buy Vastrams for the presiding deities and went to Mani Sunker's near the erstwhile Flower Bazaar with a colleague. (He's now a co-blogger on this site, we'll see some posts from him soon). I picked up a saree for Namavalli Thayar, A 10X6 Veshti for Narasimha Swamy and 24x12 Veshti for Anjeneya Swamy. I had doubts if the length of the Veshti would be sufficient for Narasimha Swamy and asked a few people who were familiar to check but then every answer was evasive. Nevertheless I went ahead with the 10x6.

Saturday (30tH jan 2010) morning we left home by 8am filled Diesel and hit the NH 4 at Maduravoil at 9:05. Though the distance is a bit more, I choose to go via Krishnagiri - Salem instead of Dindivanam - Ulundurpet because after you take a detour at Ulundurpet towards Attur the road is being laid and there are trenches on either side of the road and heavy vehicles plying from the opposite direction force you off the road, On the other hand the Krishnagiri route is a NH till Namakkal. The roads are so good that we overshot the Namakkal exit!

At about 10:00 am we stopped by the roadside and had the breakfast that we had packed from a local hotel in Kilpauk. We then hit the road and by 2:35 pm we were at the Golden Palace Hotel in Namakkal. The hotel is on the Namakkal Tiruchy road and is decent. I had made reservations the day before and so check-in was quick. There is a Nala Hotel right opposite to this property but I am not sure about the ambiance inside though I should say the exterior facade is impressive Victorian style strutted columns.

We had a late light lunch (extremely spicy) and some tea, freshened up and left the for the temples. The temples is about 2kms from the hotel and right opposite each other. We first visited Namavalli Thayar shrine and after Archana and Deepa Aarathi visited Narasimha Swamy Shrine. Narasimha Swamy here has a red tint on his right ring finger and as legend has it is the blood stain from slaying Hiranyakashipu. As is my practice I read the Shri Suktam and the Vishnusahasranamam before leaving to see Anjeneya.

One thing disappointing about the place is that there are no good garlands available at any of the shops in the vicinity of the temple the Thulasi garlands that sell for Rs. 20 hardly have an Thulasi leaves, only the stalks and stems are prominent. So I bought a betel leaf garland for Anjeneya Swamy. That costed me about Rs. 60 after hard bargaining.

The Anjeneya Swamy shrine is right opposite the Narasimha Swamy shrine. The belief is that the idol is still growing in height hence though there is a proper building around Anjeneya Swamy there is no roof over his head! We had to wait for an hour since there was a Sandanam Kaapu that day for Anjeneya Swamy. So I handed over the Veshti to the chief priest, had darshan and deepa aarathi, prasadam (puliogare) and returned to the hotel by 8pm. As I write this I have just realised that my visits to all Narasimha Swamy temples were on Pournami (Full Moon) day. were tired and so had a quick dinner and called it a day.

The next morning we had the complimentary breakfast and hit the road for Chennai. We stopped for lunch at 1:00 pm at Vellore and reached home by 3:45 pm. My regret is that I couldn't click any snaps since my Sony Cybershot is misbehaving while the camera on my Palm Treo is just a VGA camera. I am still not on cutting edge! Maybe when I am in Namakkal in April 10 I'll use my better half's Nikon Coolpix to capture some snaps. My Grand Punto has now clocked 7695 kms in 4 months!