Narasimha Avatar

01Prahlada and the pillar

Hiranyakashipu, brother of Hiranyaksha, won from Brahma a boon that seemed to close every door to death: not by man or beast, not by day or night, not inside or outside, not on earth or in the sky, by no weapon. His son Prahlada would not stop chanting Hari’s name, though he was thrown from cliffs, trampled by elephants and set in fire. At last the king struck a pillar and asked if Vishnu was in it. Narasimha burst out, carried him to the threshold at twilight and killed him on his lap with his claws (Bhagavata Purana 7.8).

02Calming the fury

Even after Hiranyakashipu died, Narasimha’s anger did not cool, and the devas and Lakshmi herself were afraid to come near. Brahma sent the child Prahlada, who bowed at his feet and sang the prayer of Bhagavata 7.9; the lion-faced Lord grew gentle and placed his hand on the boy’s head. Holika’s burning on the eve of Holi belongs to the same katha: she sat in the fire holding Prahlada, and burned, while he came out unharmed. Narasimha Jayanti falls on Vaishakha Shukla Chaturdashi, at dusk.

03Ahobilam, Simhachalam and the hills

Narasimha prefers hills and caves. At Ahobilam in the Nallamala forest, held to be where he appeared, nine shrines of the Nava Narasimha are scattered along the ravines. At Simhachalam near Visakhapatnam the murti stays covered in sandal paste all year and is shown in its true form only on Akshaya Tritiya. At Mangalagiri he drinks panakam, jaggery water, poured into his open mouth. Yadagirigutta in Telangana reopened in 2022 after rebuilding in stone, and the Vijayanagara monolith of Lakshmi Narasimha at Hampi, carved in 1528, still sits in its broken grandeur.

In the texts

• Bhagavata Purana 7.1–7.10
• Vishnu Purana 1.16–20
• Narasimha Purana

Utsav: festivals