ONE OF LORD NARASIMHAs Abodes that I Visited some Years Back is SIMHACHALAM Where The Amazing Vahara Narasimha Deity Resides On top of the mountain... Njoy Historically it can be seen that various religious systems and sanathana dharma in specific have thrived in and around holy places. In fact all the religious systems have their own dedicated holy places which spot the entire world. In times of calamities and repressions they had been the only source of refuge for many religious men. A holy place is also called a shrine, for it is a place of worship that has been rendered holy by association of a sacred person or the Lord Himself. As these shrines are associated with various pastimes of the Lord and His devotees, a visit to a holy place can easily imbibe in the mundane mind the transcendental pastimes of the Lord and His devotees. One such important shrine lies down in south eastern India located in the Eastern Ghats. It represents the transcendental pastime of the Lord, wherein He comes immediately for the rescue of His beloved devotees, for whom, He is the only refuge. The worship in this temple, as with many temples in India, predates the recorded history of modern man. As per the sthala purana, the worship of this deity dates back to Sri Prahlada Maharaja’s time. The holy place we are Simhachalam or Simhadri. Simhachalam – Sri Varahalaxmi Narasimha Swamy Temple Simha means “lion” and chalam means “hill”. So this is lion’s hill, the hill of Lord Narasimhadeva. The Deity here, Varaha Laxmi Narasimha Swami, is popularly known in Sanskrit as Simhadrinatha or in Telugu as Simhadri Appanna (“the Lord of the Lion Hill”) Simhachalam Temple of Varaha Laxmi Narasimha Swami Pastimes / Local History The Sthala Purana of Simhachalam recounts the history of the great devotee Prahlada Maharaja and his demonic father, Hiranyakashipu. After many unsuccessful attempts to kill Sri Prahlada, Hiranyakashipu orders, as a last resort, to hurl Sri Prahlada into the sea and place a huge mountain over him. The servants chose to do this at Simhachalam. But before they could finish, Narayana rescued Prahlada by jumping over the hill and lifting him from the sea. Simhachalam, therefore, is the place where the Lord rescued Prahlada. It is also said that since the Lord jumped at once to rescue Prahlada, the Lord’s lotus feet went into Patala. The local Sthala Purana says that the Darshana of Lord’s lotus feet is available only to inhabitants of Patala Loka. At Prahlada’s request, the Lord then assumed the form of the Varaha-Narasimha Deity, so that Prahlada could see both aspects of the Lord—the one by which He had already killed Hiranyaksha and the one by which He would soon kill Hiranyakashipu. After the death of Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada built a temple around the Deity. It is said that after Prahlada handed over the kingdom to his son, he worshipped the deity personally. However at the end of Satya Yuga, owing to neglect perhaps, a huge anthill gathered around the Deity. But at the beginning of another yuga the Deity was rediscovered by Pururava, the king of the lunar dynasty, who is mentioned in the Ninth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Riding with his wife, Urvashi, in an aerial chariot over the hills of the South, Pururava was drawn by a mysterious power to Simhachalam. Some say that Narasimhadeva had appeared in Pururava’s dream and then he went to Simhachalam and he discovered the deity in a Garden of Malati trees. Nonetheless, he discovered the Deity and cleared the earth around Him. Pururava then heard a voice from the sky which told him to cover the Deity with sandal paste, worship the Lord in this form, and expose Him only once a year, on the day of Chandana-yatra. Following this instruction, Pururava covered the Deity with sandal pulp equal to the earth he had removed, worshiped the Deity, and rebuilt the temple, which has flourished ever since. More facts on the temple The Simhachalam Temple faces west unlike others which face east, it is said that a west facing temple brings in victory. It is said that when the Muslims during one of their invasions were about to destroy and plunder the temple, a poet by name Kurmanatha implored Lord Varaha Narasimha to save his temple and the Hindus. In response to his fervent prayers, a huge swarm of copper hornets suddenly appeared and attacked the invading army and drove them out of the city. The swarm disappeared behind a hillock after driving out the Muslim armies. That hillock is now known as Tummedala Metta (Tummedala=of hornet, Metta=hillock). The Deity of the temple Sri Varaha Narasimha Swamy is worshiped always in the form of a shila, except for on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. On the day of Akshaya Tritiya, the Lord’s original form of Varaha Narasimha Swamy is unveiled. This festival is known as Chandanotsvam. On that day the temple would be immensely crowded and it’s definitely a very good opportunity for book distributors!!! But definitely it’s a once a life time opportunity to see the Lord in His original form. The original form of the Lord (nija roopam) is open for darshan on that day for 12 hours only. On the night before the Akshaya Tritiya, the old Chandanam (sandal) paste is removed and in the early hours of Akshaya Tritiya the Lord is offered Sahasra Ghatabhiskekam (Abhishekam / Bathing of the Lord with thousand sacred pots) and followed by special items like incense and lamps. After that the devotees are allowed to view the nija roopam of the Lord. After the 12 hours darshan Sandal would be again applied to the Lord immediately. On every Thursday the deity is adorned in the alankara of Narasimha Deva and everyday in the morning there is Suprabhata seva, followed by Aradhana and pallakki utsava of the utsava murtis of the Lord. Someone who can reach early in the morning at 3:30 A.M., can definitely feast their eyes in witnessing all these daily festivities of the Lord.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:15:08 +0000
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