Triplicane Parthasarathy Temple - B&W

After quite a long time tried my hand at black and white photography -- not the digital version but good `old' black and white film photography (stress on old because what got me going was a roll of neopan that had been in the refrigerator for several years and was well past its best-by date) followed up with processing at home with D76 chemicals.
Digital came in handy for scanning and getting the image on to CD.
The topic is ofcourse an old favourite -- the festival at the Parthasarathy Temple Triplicane. Last month when the festival was on I decided to use the film just on a whim and rediscovered the joy of b&w processing.

Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane.

Repeating an old topic. Posted a few pics of the Parthasarathy Temple festival celebrated earlier this year. The temple chariot is being taken out and the kids follow with their models, as is the practise here. (See related pics and caption in May 2005 folder.)

Back to a familiar topic - the Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane. The temple chariot is the high point of most festivals.  

A mini procession about to begin. 

The kids with their own chariot. 

Parthasarathy Temple Festival, again. This time the deity is on a different `vahanam' vehicle - the `Suryaprabha vahanam.' Surya, the sun god is his vehicle here. Check out more pics of the Parthasarathy Temple posted earlier this month and last month. 

Sprucing and decorating the streets before Parthasarathy Swamy starts on the procession. Women decorate the streets with `Kolam.' 

The `Sadari' - seeking the lord's blessing. A variation of falling at the lord's feet. If you cannot go near his feet, his feet come to you. 

The `sadari' again. 

Here they are at it again - kids carrying on a parallel show of the festivities. This, like I have mentioned earlier is a unique feature of this temple. Children mimic the entire temple festival with models they create. 

Parthasarathy Swamy on his favourite vehicle, the Garudan. The Parthasarathy Temple festival at Triplicane. The festival goes on for about a week when the deity is taken around in a procession on various vehicles, including the temple chariot. Here are a series of pics taken last month. 

A high point of the procession is the `aesal' when the palanquin bearers cover a section of of the route running while carrying the deity. (I must find out the significance.) 

The `Goshti,' the team of devotees chanting verses from the `Naalaayira Divya Prabandam' the collection of songs in praise of vishnu. They are led by the `Jeer' the religious head and walk ahead of the deity. Here you can see fans being distributed among them -- very useful as the festival happens in April, when Chennai summer starts in earnest.  

A high point of the procession that I like is the photo opportunity as devotees prostrate before the deity and the `goshti' as it vends its way around the temple. 

A devotee seeks blessings. 

A unique feature of the festival at the Parthasarathy temple is the involvement of the kids. Several teams create a replica of the deity and carry it around in a procession behind the original. A lot of care goes into the miniature version and some even follow the rituals meticulously. 

They may be miniature versions but they are as revered and attract as much attention as the original. 

Not all are elaborate replicas, some are more modest efforts but done with great involvement. 

FLOAT FESTIVALS

The last one month has been a season of float (theppam) festivals at the temples. Guess we can all thank the plentiful rains last year-end that ensured full tanks in the temples across the State. Here is a sampling of the festival at the Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane. The earlier post was from the Kapaliswarar float festival, Mylapore.

The float festival celebrated last Sunday at the Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane. The temple tower (gopuram), lit with serial lights, can be seen in the background.