01Five forms for Yada
The temple’s katha says that Yada, son of the sage Rishyasringa, did tapas on this hill with Hanuman’s blessing, and Narasimha appeared to him first as Jwala Narasimha, the flaming one, then as Yogananda, Gandabherunda, Ugra and Lakshmi Narasimha. The forms are seen in the cave sanctum as shapes in the rock, and pilgrims bend under the low stone to see them. Since the hill was Yada’s it is Yadagiri, and gutta is a hill in Telugu. Narasimha here is prayed to as a healer, and families once stayed for a mandala of forty days in the hope of a cure.
02Rebuilt in stone
From 2016 the Telangana government rebuilt the hilltop on the pattern of the old Agamas, keeping the cave sanctum untouched: seven gopurams, mandapas and enclosures, all of black granite carved by sculptors from across the south. Worship continued meanwhile in a temporary balalayam. The Maha Kumbha Samprokshanam was held on 28 March 2022 and darshan in the new temple opened that afternoon. The town at the foot was renamed Yadadri.
The life of this place
- 2016Rebuilding of the hilltop temple begins; worship moves to a balalayam.
- 28 March 2022Maha Kumbha Samprokshanam; the rebuilt temple opens.
About 60 km north-east of Hyderabad; Raigir station is 6 km away and TSRTC buses run from Hyderabad.
