Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple - Yadadri, Telangana, India

Yadadri (earlier Yadagirigutta), is a unique, beautiful, and pleasant hillock situated 60 Km from the city of Hyderabad. It has moderate climate throughout the year, and it is visited by thousands of pilgrims due to its proximity to the capital city. The congregation of devotees is high during Saturdays, Sundays, and other public holidays; who visit the temple for performing Saswata Poojas, Saswata Kalyanam, Laksha Tulasi Poojas, Abhishekam etc.

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy Temple is a popular Hindu temple of Narasimha Swamy, a 4th incarnation of Shri Mahavishnu. It is situated on a hillock in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana, which is 6 Km from Raigir railway station, 13 Km from Bhongir town, and 60 Km from the city of Hyderabad.

History of the Temple

In Tretayugam, a revered sage named Rishi Yadarishi, who was the son of great sage Rishi Rishyasrunga and Shanta Devi; did penance inside a cave with the blessings of Anjaneya (Hanuman) on this hill between Bhongir and Raigir. Pleased with his devotion Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy appeared before him in five different forms as Sri Jwala Narasimha, Sri Yogananda, Sri Gandabherunda, Sri Ugra, and Sri Lakshmi Narasimha. All these five forms are presently worshipped within the temple. Later they manifested into a single form which was finely sculpted and came to be worshipped as Pancha Narasimha Kshetram. There is a mention of this shrine, in Skanda Purana, which is one of the 18 puranas of Sanatana Dharma.

Glowing atop of the sikharam of garbha griha of this cave temple is the golden Sudarshana Chakra of Shri Mahavishnu, which adorns this temple making it identifiable from as far as 6 Km. This chakra acted as a compass guiding the devotees in the direction of the temple. It is considered that the chakra has mystic power and value, due to which it turns on its own without any human intervention.

Another legend says that Sriman Narayana, pleased with Yadarshi's penance sent Anjaneya to direct the rishi to the holy spot, where the Swamy appeared before him in the form of Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. This spot is market by a temple at the foot of the Yadagiri hillock, and is located 5 Km from the present temple, and there the sage worshipped the swamy for many years.

Once the sage Rishi Yadarshi attained moksha, a number of tribals, hearing the presence of the Swamy, came to worship him while performing daily rituals at the temple. Since they were not learned scholars, they began to engage in improper worship due to their lack of knowledge in performing daily rituals to the Swamy. Due to this, Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy moved into the hills and was no where to be seen by the tribals.

After many years passed, Swamy appeared in the dreams of a devout lady among the tribe; directing her to a large cavern wherein he revealed himself to all as Pancha Narasimha Swamy. Hence this place is also called as Pancha Narasimha Kshetram, with Anjaneya as its Kshetra Palaka.

The Aradhanam and Puja in this temple are performed according to Pancharatra Agamam. The Puja Vidhanam was designed by Late Sri Vangeepuram Narasimhacharyulu, who composed Yadagiri Suprabhatham, Prapatti, Stotram, Managalashasanam, and served as Sthanacharya of this temple.

History of Sage Yadarshi

Rishi Yadarshi, was the son of Sage Vibhandaka and Menaka. During the heavy penance of Sage Vibhandaka, who was the son of Sage Vashishtha; Lord Indra sent Menaka (heavenly damsel) to disturb and deviate him from that penance. Lord Indra feared that Sage Vibhandaka could be dangerous, if he attains yogic powers; for devas and the heaven. Ultimately, Sage Vibhandaka fell in love with Menaka, who gave birth to Sage Rishyasringa.

Rishyasringa had protruding forehead, hence the name. Immediately after his birth, Menaka left Sage Vibhandaka towards heaven having achieved her task delegated to her by Lord Indra. With this incident, Sage Vibhandaka grew anger against the women; and this has led him to bring-up Sage Rishyasringa under his guardianship in an aloof ashram in the forest near the Kingdom of Anga. Sage Rishyasringa used to perform penance at his father's ashram while helping his father in daily rituals, and chores at the ashram. Sage Rishyasringa was not aware of the existence of humans other than his father.

In those times, the Kingdom of Anga was ruled by King Romapada, a friend of King Dasartha of Ayodhya. King Romapada adopted the only daughter of King Dasaratha and Queen Kausalya; whose name was Shanta Devi. Shanta Devi grew up in the kingdom of Anga with the love of her foster father King Romapada. After few years there was huge famine in the Anga kingdom due to which one of the ministers of Anga suggested to bring Sage Rishyasringa to the city of Anga such that rains will pour from heaven. Sage Rishyasringa was so pure that he was not in contact with any humans or worldly possessions, and due to his daily penance and yagnas possessed an enormous yogic powers.

In order to do away with the famine struck in his kingdom, King Romapada instructed his women courtesans to bring Sage Rishyasringa to the city of Anga. Under the guidance and delegation of Shanta Devi, this task of bringing him to the king's palace was achieved in a period of one month, which angered Sage Vibhandaka. While Sage Rishysringa came to Kingdom of Anga on his wish along with the courtesans, heavy rains started pouring from heavens due to his immense yogic powers. Upon reaching the palace, King Romapada proposed to marry his daughter Shanta Devi to Sage Rishyasringa, who accepted her as his wife. Sage Vibhandaka in anger visited this kingdom to bring his son back, however seeing the respect and treatment of the King Romapada, and marrying his daughter to Sage Rishyasringa; he lost his anger and blessed them.

Contemporarily, in the Kingdom of Ayodhya, King Dasaratha was sad and grief stricken since he had no children from his three wives till then - Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. Having given his only daughter to King Romapada, he was sorrowful by the thought that " Who would take over his kingdom after his death?" Upon the advice of his minister Sumantra, King Dasaratha decided to perform "Putra Kameshti Yagna" with the help of Sage Rishyasringa and Shanta Devi. At once he sent Sumantra to request Sage Rishyasringa and Shanta Devi to visit Ayodhya for performing this yagna. They agreed and came to Ayodhya. Sage Rishyasringa performed the yagna, followed by which Agni deva came with a pot of payasam (Pudding) and handed over to King Dasaratha instructing him to distribute it to his wives and disappeared. Upon having that payasam, wives were gifted with four children - Shri Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. Thus thinking that his duty of coming to the Kingdoms of Anga and Ayodhya were over, Sage Rishysringa went back to forest for continuing his penance along with his wife Shanta Devi. They later together bore a child named Sage Yadarshi, who is the main reason for the emergence of Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Yadadri and renowned to be known as Pancha Narasimha Kshetram.

Beliefs of Devotees

As the belief goes, Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy; has taken the role of a doctor known as "Vaidya Narasimha" by his devotees at this shrine to cure many chronic diseases and the role of a "do-gooder" to those who are under the influence of bad planets, witch craft, and black magic. Many instances are cited of the Swamy appearing in the dreams of the devotees, and administering medicines, operating the patients, and blessed them with good health. Many devotees tell of vivid number of dreams in which Swamy comes to heal them from chronic or terminal illnesses, and even mental or emotional problems. A mandala (40 day) pradakshina is very popularly made by many devotees to get cured of a long standing ailment or chronic disease. Often, the Swamy himself has imparted mantropadesham to selective devotees in their dreams. Thus, Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple always saves the devotees, who worship him with pure love and devotion.

Visitors Antiquity

There is an ancient inscription at Kolanupaka Jagadevvuni Narayana Swamy temple saying that in 1148 A.D., King Tribhuvana Malludu who won the battle in Telangana, had established a fort on Ekashila hillock at Bhongir town in respect of his victory. At the same-time, he visited Swamy Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy several times. In the 15th century, King Krishna Devaraya of Vijayanagara empire, written in his autobiography that he visited Swamy Shri Lakshmi Narasimha temple on his way to the battle for the Swamy's blessings and was blessed to win the battle; and later was blessed with the son by the grace of Swamy Shri Lakshmi Narasimha.

Modern Temple of Yadadri

In the year 2014, after the formation of the new state of Telangana; its new Chief Minister Shri K.Chandrashekar Rao garu, had vowed to rebuild the Yadadri temple at par with Shri Tirupathi Balaji temple. The state government with its Endowment ministry had allocated separate funds to rebuild the temple of Yadadri in a magnificient way.

The modern Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple looks as shown below:

As a result of its magnificence, the temple has been awarded a platinum rating by the Indian Green Building Council. A platinum rating is the highest rating as a sustainable building. The temple complex, which has been rebuilt over the past few years, has incorporated some of the most modern building technologies to get the recognition.

"We aimed for building a sustainable model of temple. Environment is very important nowadays and we kept that in mind while the temple complex was being developed. Accordingly, we have made optimal use of greenery, natural light and air." informed G.Kishan Rao, CEO of Yadagirigutta Temple Development Authority when asked about the green certification.

The temple complex has an innovative centralised air-conditioning without the ducting affecting the temple walls. In the inner portion of the temple where the devotees wait before entering the garbha griha, the space is lit up by a sun pipe that draws natural light inside.

The temple complex has a continuous supply of fresh air ventilation and exhaust systems as it has jali windows in all four directions to ensure cross ventilation.

Such a magnificient modern art of building temple is one of its first kind in India, envisioned by Shri KCR garu, who is also called as Modern Sri Krishna Devaraya.