01Arjuna’s sword
The Padma Purana tells that Arjuna came here on a tirtha yatra, thirsty, and asked Maharshi Agastya for water. The sage had none, nor was there any around. Agastya saw Krishna’s leela in it and told Arjuna to pray to him. Krishna gave Arjuna a sword; Arjuna struck the earth with it and water gushed out, the Khadga Pushkarani of the temple. Then Krishna, as Parthasarathy, taught Arjuna, and so the place is Parthan-palli, the school of Partha. Arjuna is shown in the temple holding the sword, and since 2015 Agastya has his own shrine.
02Rama and Krishna together
Thirumangai Alvar sings of Thiruparthanpalli in a decad of ten pasurams; Thamaraiyal Kelvan, the husband of the lotus lady, is his name for the Lord. The Perumal faces west and the Thayar’s shrine faces east, with a separate shrine for Arjuna. The festival images of Krishna and Rama are kept in the Perumal’s shrine, and the temple notes that they are housed together here as nowhere else. The festival Perumal has four consorts, Sridevi, Bhudevi, Niladevi and Jambavati. The Narayana Vimanam rises over the sanctum, and the tank lies to the south outside the walls.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodThirumangai Alvar sings a decad on Thiruparthanpalli.
- May 2015The temple is consecrated anew and a shrine for Agastya is added.
About 8 km east of Sirkazhi, a little apart from the Thirunangur group, on the way to Thiruvenkadu.
