Rare photo series 4:Parthasarathy Temple, Madras

Photograph of the Parthasarathi Temple, at Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, taken by Frederick Fiebig in c.1851. The photograph is one of a series of hand-coloured salt prints by Fiebig. The temple is one of two large temple complexes in Madras and is situated in Triplicane. It dates from the 17th century and is a celebrated sanctuary dedicated to the worship of Vishnu as Parthasarathi, the principal Hindu deity. The temple has two enclosures, which are entered through gopuras on the east and west sides. A gopura is a gateway surmounted by an elaborately carved tower and is found in south Indian temple architecture. This is a view of the west gopura. Little seems to be known about Frederick Fiebig. He was probably born in Germany and became a lithographer (and possibly was also a piano teacher

This is a general view looking across the temple tank towards the east entrance, which takes the form of a gopura, a gateway surmounted by an elaborately carved tower. This is a characteristic structure of south Indian temple architecture.