01Prahlada’s Lord
The temple’s sthala purana says Prahlada, saved by Narasimha, built the first shrine here, and that Bhagwan showed himself in a form joining the boar who lifted the earth and the man-lion who saved his devotee. The murti is covered in a thick coat of sandal paste, so that it looks like a linga. Only on Akshaya Tritiya, at the Chandanotsavam, is the paste taken off and the nija rupa shown, and lakhs come up the hill for those few hours before the sandal is laid on again.
02Gangas and Vijayanagara
Hundreds of inscriptions in Telugu, Odia and Sanskrit cover the walls, the oldest of the late 11th century. The black stone sanctum and its mandapa, with a stone chariot drawn by horses, were built under the Eastern Ganga kings of Kalinga in the 13th century, in the Kalinga style of Konark and Puri. In 1516, after taking the Kalinga forts from the Gajapatis, Krishnadevaraya came to Simhachalam with his queens and recorded his gifts on the temple walls.
The life of this place
- late 11th centuryThe earliest dated inscriptions on the temple.
- 13th centuryThe present sanctum and mandapa are built under the Eastern Gangas.
- 1516Krishnadevaraya visits after his Kalinga campaign and records his gifts.
About 16 km from Visakhapatnam; steps and a ghat road climb the hill. Chandanotsavam on Akshaya Tritiya draws very large crowds.
