The Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple or Yadadri or Yadagiri Gutta Devasthanam (YGD), or Pancha Narasimha Kshetram or Rishi Aradhana Kshetram is a

Hindu Temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

situated on a

hillock A hillock or knoll is a small hill,The Free Dictionary
"hillock" entry, retrieved December 18, 2007 ...

in the small town of Yadagirigutta in the

Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The administrative headquarters is located at Bhuvanagiri which is also known as Bhongiri. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Nalgonda, Jangaon, Siddipe ...

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. Yadadri Temple is touted as Telangana's own Tirupati. The Temple is dedicated to the god

Narasimha Narasimha (, , or , ), is the fourth avatara of the Hindu god Vishnu in the Satya Yuga. He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed Hiranyakashipu, ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma. Narasimha has th ...

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

. The temple was expanded and rebuilt between 2016 and March 2022. It is 65 km from

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Temple Legend

According to the

Skanda Purana The ''Skanda Purana'' ( IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest '' Mukhyapurāṇa'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Shaivite literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parv ...

, Yada, the son of the sage performed penance here to the god

. Being pleased with his penance, Narasimha manifested himself in five forms: Jvala Narasimha, Gandabherunda Narasimha, Yogananda Narasimha, Ugra Narasimha, and

Lakshmi Narasimha Lakshmi Narasimha () is an iconographical depiction of Narasimha, the fourth avatar of Vishnu, with his consort Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. It is one of the forms of Nava Narasimha. Legend In an alternate iteration of the legend of Na ...

. Yada requested Narasimha to remain on the hill in these forms. For this reason, the temple has deities of Narasimha in all five forms enshrined in stone in the main cave. Historically, the temple has followed the Tenkalai tradition of the

Vaishnava Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, '' Mahavishnu''. It is one of the major Hindu denominations along wit ...

Agama Shastras as followed in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

Deities in the Temple

The temple is in a cave about high by long, located in back of the temple hall, by the rear pillar. There is a stairway down into the chamber and then towards the back. Jvala Narasimha is in the shape of a serpent, while Yogananda Narasimha appears sitting in meditation in yoga pose. The silver icon of Lakshmi-Narasimha is installed in the main shrine. To the right of the temple main door is a Hanuman temple. There is a long horizontal gap in the rock just below Hanuman. This is said to be where Gandaberunda Narasimha manifested. It is said that any wish of a sincere devotee visiting this temple will be fulfilled. The sanctum sanctorum or

garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' () is the innermost sanctuary of Hindu and Jain temples, often referred to as the "holy of holies" or " sanctum sanctorum". The term ''garbhagriha'' (literally, "womb chamber") comes from the Sanskrit words ''garbha'' for ...

is located in a cave, under a huge slating rock, which covers half the temple.

New Yadadri Temple

A new temple was built at the old temple site. A temporary temple, Balalayam, was built till the renovation was on. The temple was rebuilt in the Krishna Sila (Black stone). The new temple was inaugurated on 28 March 2022 by Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Donations and Renovations

The then Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekhar Rao initiated the renovation of the temple, and approved a final layout. A major renovation of the temple was completed with a budget of ₹1800 crores. The work started in 2016 and was completed in March 2022 by the Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA). The temple owned 39 kilos of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and 1,753 tonnes of silver for lining the gopurams and walls in the temple. The centuries-old practice of using

lime mortar Lime mortar or torching is a masonry mortar (masonry), mortar composed of lime (material), lime and an construction aggregate, aggregate such as sand, mixed with water. It is one of the oldest known types of mortar, used in ancient Rome and anci ...

to join different stone parts is being used. The YTDA acquired around by spending ₹300 crores. The YTDA also constructed houses near the Vishnu Gundam (a bathhouse). The Seventh Nizam of

, Mir Osman Ali Khan during his rule, had passed a grant of Rs.82,825 to this temple. In Feb 2023, on behalf of the Nizam family, Princess Esra, wife of the 8th Nizam, gifted jewellery worth 8 Lakh Rupees to the temple.

Sections

The sections of the temple include the main temple, Mukha Mandapam, seven gopurams (domes) with wooden roofs, vratha peetham, Swamy Vari Udyana Vanam, kalyana mandapam, satram etc. The pillars of 12

Alvars The Alvars () are the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused '' bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and service. They are venerated in Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the ...

(the poet-saints of Sri Vaishnavism) in the main temple is a significant feature. The temple entrance arch will depict

Mahābhūta ''Mahābhūta'' is Sanskrit for "great element". However, very few scholars define the five mahābhūtas in a broader sense as the five fundamental aspects of physical reality. Hinduism In Hinduism's sacred literature, the "great" elements ...

(the five elements). there is vishnu gundam. It is also proved that when we bath, all bad things are washed away from us.

Temple architecture

The architecture of the temple is based on Agama Shastra. The temple is built entirely in stone. The temple was earlier built on . After demolishing all structures on the temple hillock, the base for the temple is now .

Design

The principal film set designer is Anand Sai and lead architect P Madhusudhan, chosen for their understanding of the ancient designs based on silpa and Agama principles. The entire temple is built in stone. The stone designs in Yadadri were provided by the chief sthapathi of the temple, Sundararajan Srinivasan.

Sculptures

Three types of stones are being used for the temple like ''Krishna Sila'' (also known as ''Purusha Sila'') for presiding deities in the sanctum sanctorum; ''Sthri Sila'' for deities of Goddesses; and ''Napunsaka Sila'' used for flooring, walls etc. Black granite stone is also used, based on the temple architecture of the

Kakatiya dynasty The Kakatiya dynasty (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kākatīya) was a Andhras, Telugu dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan Plateau, Deccan region in present-day India between 12th and 14th centuries. Their ter ...

in Telangana. The black granite stone has tiny pores, and it becomes strong and hard when milk, curd, oil and other liquids get into those pores, according to learned (sculpture experts).

Transport

Yadagirigutta is well connected by both rail and road. It is about 55 km from Uppal, a major suburb of

and 65 km from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station at Hyderabad. A new bus stand is built on a , as a part of new temple development. The proposed Hyderabad Regional Ring Road passes through Yadagirigutta. The nearest railway stations are Raigiri about 5 km away and Bhongiri, a major town of Hyderabad Metropolitan Region about 13 km away. Raigir railway station has been renamed as Yadadri(YADD) by South Central Railway in line with the new nomenclature of the temple town. The Hyderabad MMTS - Phase II is planned, to be extended from Ghatkesar to Raigir station, which is 5 km from Yadagirigutta. A metro train is proposed between Uppal and Yadagirigutta.

References

External links

- Temple Official site

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