The sacred lily tank

Most people in Chennai would be baffled to know that there is a famous locality in the city whose name translates to "Sacred Lily Tank". This one can attribute partly to the classicism of the name, and partly to the anglicism of the same.

Triplicane, a name which which actually can pass of as a borough in some English county, is the anglicised form of Thiruvallikkeni, whose Tamilised form is thiru alli keni, and hence sacred lily tank. I consider the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane different, rather unique because it is probably the only temple where one can find Lord Vishnu sporting a moustache. The explanation I got was that the Lord (Partha + sarathy = charioteer to Arjuna, the fabled bowman) was taking part in the Mahabharata war, and hence he was depicted as being bellicose.

The pushkarini or the temple tank (from which the area derives its name) is generally dry around the year owing the lack of rains in Chennai. This time, however, thanks to the more-than-copious rainfall, the tank is a visitor's delight.

Here are a couple of pictures I received in the mail. The pictures were taken on the 1st of January, and show the tank full of water. Nice ones, I thought. For those who know the place, the sender wishes to add that the photos were taken from east to west, in front of the Yadhugiri Mantap.