"Thiru- alli- kaeni" also called as tiruvallikaeni is a wonderful and renowned place in Chennai.It is well known for "Sri parthasarathy perumal"temple. It is also called "triplicane" by chennai people. I had been planning this trip long since i resided chennai.It all worked out on this fine Sunday. I started from home by 1:30 PM with my Mom and Grandma wishing them a Happy mother's day:). The trip had the extra credit to my grandma as it was "Ekadasi". she always fast on ekadasi and she was so happy once I said we shall go to triplicane to have the darshan of the Lord Parthasarathy Perumal.
Starting by 1:30 PM, we reached Velachery railway station by bus by 2 PM. I bought 3 tickets to triplicane(train fare so fair Rs.6/head:)), enjoyed the train travel peeping through the window naming places to my mom and grandma. The stations perungudi/taramani/ mylapore/mandaveli..passed on fast.. I had stories to tell my mom & grandma.. I had never travelled in that train before,the speciality of it "flying" through the city. It was good travelling looking at the slow/sleepy Sunday noon for the train was not much crowded.
We reached Triplicane by 2:30 sharp and took a walk to the temple. I had planned the trip surfing Internet that the temple will be open for darshan from 3PM.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplicane and http://southindiatourism.info/Templesinchennai.asp) Walking through the street straight, we could see the pond and the temple tower.We bought flowers and holy tulsi for the Lord and entered temple. But to our disappointment there was a board displayed "12:30 to 4PM- No seva for devotees". So, we sat in the temple premises with other devotees who were awaiting the darshan. We could see that the chariot darshan had been over in the recent days. The chariot was colorful with beautiful decorations. Not to waste time, Me and mom started chanting bhagavan nama and soon few ladies joined us with smiles in their places. I chanted geetha (bhakthi yogam) in the gates of Parthasarathy. We could see prohithas enter and leave the gates (via the small door). Sharp by 4 PM, the doors of the temple were opened and we entered the temple. The temple was beautiful. Had the deepa darshan of the parthasarathy perumal and vedhavalli thayar.
The temple has the history of about 2000 years and has been preserved by 3 dynasties Pallava, vijayanagara and the other( whom I am not sure about. you can refer wikipedia for the same). The pillars behind the vedhavalli amman's sanctum have the dasavatharam depicted in each pillar. Its a wonderful sight and i especially loved the "aalilai Krishnar"- a rare image carved on the stone. Also, the Andal sannadhi was splendid with a huge mirror opposite to the sannadhi. In the left hand side were beautiful pictures depicting all the 30 thiruppavai composed by andal.There are 30 distinct pictures.A splendid work Following this is the historical significance of the temple and images of the perumal taking vishwa-rupam. The uthsava perumal has scars on his face (vadu). People say those were because the lord has taken the pain of the arrows piercing bhisma- who was laid on the arrow bed during the mahabaratha war. Here the lord stands with his family. He has the Sangu but No chakram. He shows the other hand to his feet. He stands as sarathy (the charioteer)of Partha(arjuna).
Could still see few "Ondikuduthanam" in the agraharam of the temple,many have been now built big. I heard 3 languages spoken - Kannadam, telugu and tamil. The temple also had telugu versions of poems in the walls. Behind the parthasaradhi sannadhi is the yoganarasimmar sannadhi. His sannadhi faces the Back gate(Western gate) of the temple. There are photographs of perumal in different alangarams during the utsava season. coming out of the temple, With the tulasi prasadam, I did not miss OUR RENGANATHAR lying beside parthasarathy perumal. He lies left of andal. WOW. My mom read my Mind, saying" Namma rengar mari varuma de".This is the feeling of the hometown or the lord of my land. All gods are same still the happiness that our hometown imparts is always special. Coming out, in the utsava perumal mandam,we were lucky to watch the thirumanjanam of perumal. I had no words when the pattar wiped perumal's wet body with a new towel. "May the lord of the universe bless us all" was the only thought.
Being uthsava season, I found the information on the board of katcheries being organised by the temple .
Time: 7 to 9 PMfrom 8th to 14th may
Some of the people performing are:
T.M Krishna(may 8th)
Veenai Gayathri( may 9th)
Kadhri gopalnath accompanied by Kanyakumari madam on violin
mambalam sisters
T.N sehagopalan sir( may 14th)
Missing all these katcheries,,
We spent time in the beach besides the tsunami warning which was given to us by the women in the beach.( the funny part was that she was busy arranging the mango stall for the evening earning along the beach.I could understand the meaning of one of the woman's words. She had 3 little children assisting her in her work.) Crossing the road was a bit tedious job and with all happiness, we reached home after a good coffee at Krishna hotel adjacent to the temple.:)
Krishnarapanam:)
Starting by 1:30 PM, we reached Velachery railway station by bus by 2 PM. I bought 3 tickets to triplicane(train fare so fair Rs.6/head:)), enjoyed the train travel peeping through the window naming places to my mom and grandma. The stations perungudi/taramani/ mylapore/mandaveli..passed on fast.. I had stories to tell my mom & grandma.. I had never travelled in that train before,the speciality of it "flying" through the city. It was good travelling looking at the slow/sleepy Sunday noon for the train was not much crowded.
We reached Triplicane by 2:30 sharp and took a walk to the temple. I had planned the trip surfing Internet that the temple will be open for darshan from 3PM.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplicane and http://southindiatourism.info/Templesinchennai.asp) Walking through the street straight, we could see the pond and the temple tower.We bought flowers and holy tulsi for the Lord and entered temple. But to our disappointment there was a board displayed "12:30 to 4PM- No seva for devotees". So, we sat in the temple premises with other devotees who were awaiting the darshan. We could see that the chariot darshan had been over in the recent days. The chariot was colorful with beautiful decorations. Not to waste time, Me and mom started chanting bhagavan nama and soon few ladies joined us with smiles in their places. I chanted geetha (bhakthi yogam) in the gates of Parthasarathy. We could see prohithas enter and leave the gates (via the small door). Sharp by 4 PM, the doors of the temple were opened and we entered the temple. The temple was beautiful. Had the deepa darshan of the parthasarathy perumal and vedhavalli thayar.
The temple has the history of about 2000 years and has been preserved by 3 dynasties Pallava, vijayanagara and the other( whom I am not sure about. you can refer wikipedia for the same). The pillars behind the vedhavalli amman's sanctum have the dasavatharam depicted in each pillar. Its a wonderful sight and i especially loved the "aalilai Krishnar"- a rare image carved on the stone. Also, the Andal sannadhi was splendid with a huge mirror opposite to the sannadhi. In the left hand side were beautiful pictures depicting all the 30 thiruppavai composed by andal.There are 30 distinct pictures.A splendid work Following this is the historical significance of the temple and images of the perumal taking vishwa-rupam. The uthsava perumal has scars on his face (vadu). People say those were because the lord has taken the pain of the arrows piercing bhisma- who was laid on the arrow bed during the mahabaratha war. Here the lord stands with his family. He has the Sangu but No chakram. He shows the other hand to his feet. He stands as sarathy (the charioteer)of Partha(arjuna).
Could still see few "Ondikuduthanam" in the agraharam of the temple,many have been now built big. I heard 3 languages spoken - Kannadam, telugu and tamil. The temple also had telugu versions of poems in the walls. Behind the parthasaradhi sannadhi is the yoganarasimmar sannadhi. His sannadhi faces the Back gate(Western gate) of the temple. There are photographs of perumal in different alangarams during the utsava season. coming out of the temple, With the tulasi prasadam, I did not miss OUR RENGANATHAR lying beside parthasarathy perumal. He lies left of andal. WOW. My mom read my Mind, saying" Namma rengar mari varuma de".This is the feeling of the hometown or the lord of my land. All gods are same still the happiness that our hometown imparts is always special. Coming out, in the utsava perumal mandam,we were lucky to watch the thirumanjanam of perumal. I had no words when the pattar wiped perumal's wet body with a new towel. "May the lord of the universe bless us all" was the only thought.
Being uthsava season, I found the information on the board of katcheries being organised by the temple .
Time: 7 to 9 PMfrom 8th to 14th may
Some of the people performing are:
T.M Krishna(may 8th)
Veenai Gayathri( may 9th)
Kadhri gopalnath accompanied by Kanyakumari madam on violin
mambalam sisters
T.N sehagopalan sir( may 14th)
Missing all these katcheries,,
We spent time in the beach besides the tsunami warning which was given to us by the women in the beach.( the funny part was that she was busy arranging the mango stall for the evening earning along the beach.I could understand the meaning of one of the woman's words. She had 3 little children assisting her in her work.) Crossing the road was a bit tedious job and with all happiness, we reached home after a good coffee at Krishna hotel adjacent to the temple.:)
Krishnarapanam:)
