Parthasarathy Temple, Parthivapuram – The Temple
The
temple complex covers an area of about 2.50 acres. This west facing shrine has
a three tired vimana that is built on a square plan from adhishtana to sikharam.
The adhishtana is made up of granite. The pranala is in the form of a fluted
shaft with a curved lotus bud end that appears out of the Simha mukha. One can
find the Bhootha Ganas seated below the pranala. The temple walls are made
of granite blocks with few portions of it plastered with lime. Floral design is
also carved on the temple walls with a Simha mala at the top.
The
niche in the walls is literally non-functional and doesn’t hold any deity. A
square shaped sanctum sanctorum (garbha griha) is found at the centre of the
temple complex with Pradikshina Patha (path for circumambulation) all around
it. There is a mukha mandapa with an attached portico made of granite and has a
tiled roof. A Namaskara Mandapa seems to have been built later in front of the
portico and has four granite pillars on all the four corners. In between them
on the four sides are wooden arches supported on wooden pillars.
The
Namaskara mandapa has no ceiling as such, but the wooden rafts converge on the
roof top, covering the Mandapa from top. The mukha mandapa has three
entrances from the west, north and south directions. The southern entrance
leads to the thitappally (temple kitchen). The portion above the entablature in
the main vimana is constructed of brick. The second tala has deities placed at
four cardinal nooks; Brahma on the north, Indra on the east, Dhakshinamoorthy
on the south and Narasimha on the west. These images are made of stucco.
The
stupi crowning the edifice is of metal. There are four small turrets on the
four corners of the vimana. The temple encompasses six sub shrines with
the Krishna shrine being the oldest. This shine in located in south-west corner
of the temple complex, built in the Dravidian style. It is also an example of
sama-chaturashra vimana, with square griva (neck) and shikhara (roof above
griva), the latter as usual pinnacled by a stupi (finial). A small mukha
mandapa extends out from the Lord’s sanctum to the east.
The
vimana over Krishna’s shrine has a well-crafted Mriga mala (animal chain) at
its lower and the subsequent upper level. This temple is believed to be from
the 9th century AD and stands as the finest examples of such Mriga mala
exposition. The sub shrines of Varaha Perumal and Vadakkum Perumal
(Vishnu) is found on the north side, while Karakandiswaram Siva shrine is found
on front of Krishna temple in the south side. Sastha and Dhakshinamoorthy grace
from their respective shrines located in the west side of this temple complex.
