Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0

Palace Country · Temple

Parthasarathy Temple, Parthivapuram

பார்த்திவபுரம் பார்த்தசாரதி கோவில்

A ninth-century Vishnu temple that once ran a school

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You arrive

You arrive at a compound of about two and a half acres in the far west of the district, close to the Kerala border. Spacious courtyards open in front of you, and the main shrine stands square and compact in the middle. Few visitors make it this far. You walk in on quiet ground, knowing that copper plates preserved from the 9th century record not just the building of this temple but the school that was run beside it.

Parthasarathy Temple, Parthivapuram · Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0

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The square shrine

You walk toward the main shrine. Its plan is square from base to top, three tiers rising in a form that scholars call a tritala vimana. In front stands a Garuda namaskara mandapa. The tower is in the Chola manner while the layout follows early Kerala temple planning, so two regional traditions meet in a single building. Walk around it slowly to see the shape from each side.

Parthasarathy Temple, Parthivapuram · Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0

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The path around the sanctum

You go up into the raised mukha-mandapa that connects to the sanctum, then along the open circumambulation path, where a wall and a raised platform with rooms enclose you. Then you step back out into the courtyards with their smaller shrines. Picture the salai, the boarding school the plates describe, with 95 students learning the Vedas and other subjects on this very ground.

Being here

You see

A compact square shrine set in wide, open courtyards.

You hear

The quiet of a rarely crowded compound.

You smell

Warm stone and whatever the morning's offerings have left.

You feel

Open sun in the courtyards, shade in the circumambulation path.

Look around

The story

The Parthasarathy Temple is a 9th-century Vishnu temple spread over 2.5 acres. It is known for the unusually detailed records preserved in the Huzur Plates of Kollam, which describe how it was built along with a salai, a boarding school for 95 students who studied the Vedas and other subjects in the Taittiriya, Talavakara and Bhavishya shakhas. The main shrine is square in plan, with a three-tier vimana in Chola style and a layout that reflects early Kerala temple architecture. The Archaeological Survey of India's Thrissur circle maintains it as a protected monument.

Sources: Wikipedia: Parthasarathy temple, Parthivapuram

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ThengapattanamVerified photograph to be added

Beach

Thengapattanam

Coconut groves running down to a river estuary

Monument

Chitharal Jain Monuments

Ninth-century Jain carvings on a forested hilltop

Town

Colachel

The harbour where Travancore defeated the Dutch

Heritage

Mathur Aqueduct

A canal carried across a valley on concrete pillars

Photo: Arunnirml · CC BY-SA 4.0

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