Narasimha Temple ( Odia: ''Narasinha Deuḷa'') is situated in

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, India, to the western side of

Gundicha Temple Gundicha Temple (), is a Hindu temple, situated in the temple town of Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is significant for being the destination of the celebrated annual Rath Yatra of Puri. While it remains vacant most of the year, the te ...

and to the east of the Indradyumna tank.

Architecture

The temple is facing towards west and the height of the temple is about 60 ft. Local people also called this temple as Nrusingha Temple and Nrusimha Temple. The presiding deity is Lord Narasimha. There are two images of Lord Narasimha inside the temple, one behind the other. The image in front is called Shanta Narasimha. In local language 'Shanta' means 'Calm' or 'Sober'. Anyone who sees this image of Lord Narasimha will have his anger, frustration, and anxiety will vanish. The Deity in the back is called Ugra Narasimha. In local language 'Ugra' means 'Angry'. He is the internal mood of Narasimha.

Legend

As depicted in 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 ...

once King Indradyumna stayed near Nilakantheswar temple to make arrangements to perform

Ashwamedha The Ashvamedha () was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accompanied by the king's warriors would be released to wander ...

Yajna for one thousand years. On the advice of Sage Narada, King Indradyumna made a Nrusimha image out of black stone and placed the image under black sandal wood tree and worshipped Him. It is believed that in front of this temple the Ashwamedha Yajna took place and hence He is known as 'Yajna Narasimha'. Devotees will earn more punya if they make a darsana of Sri Nilakantheswar, Yajna Narasimha and Panchamukhi Hanuman (Lord Hanuman image with five faced) after the sacred bath in Indradyumna Tank. Festivals like Narasimha Janma, Satapuri Amavasya etc. are observed in Nrusingha temple with great devotion.

History

When

Kalapahad Kala Pahaṛ or Kalapahada (in Odia language) was a Bengali Muslim General of the Bengal Sultanate under the reigning Karrani Dynasty. According to traditional narratives pieced together since late 18th century, Kalapahaṛ was a Bengali Brahmin ...

attacked Puri and was smashing Deities of various temples, he saw Shaanta Narasimha image and his anger subsided; hence he could not break the Deity as he had planned. Santa Narasimha’s features are human-like. He has a sharp human nose, a large curly mustache, and an outstretched tongue. Non-Hindus are not permitted in the temple, but the Deities are visible from the door.

Parshwadevatas

As per

Pancharatra ''Pancharatra'' (IAST: ''Pāñcarātra'') was a religious movement in Hinduism that originated in late 3rd-century BCE around the ideas of Narayana and the various avatar and forms of Vishnu as their central deities.

and

Vaikhanasa Vaikhanasa () or Vaikhanasagama () is a tradition of Hinduism that primarily worships Vishnu (and his associated avatars) as the Supreme God. The tradition draws its name from the philosophy propounded by its founder, Sage Vikhanasa. Vaikhana ...

the central idol of

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 ( ...

should be surrounded by four side icons, whether be it Purusha, Satya, Achyuta, Aniruddha (Vaikhanasa) or Vasudeva, Samkarshana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha (Pancharatra). Here also similar pattern is followed where the main deity

Nrisimha 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 ...

faces west direction, and other deities are surrounded as follows. The three sides central niches of the side of Vimana house the images of Varaha, Trivikrama(Vamana) and Vishnu as the Parsvadevatas of the main presiding deity. The image of

Varaha Varaha (, , "boar") is the avatar of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar, boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. In legend, when the demon Hiranyaksha steals ...

is the Parsvadevata of the southern side. He holds Chakra in his uplifted back right upper hand while his lower left hand holds a conch above Goddess Prithvi. The Parsvadevata on the northern side niche is

Trivikrama Vamana (, ) also known as Trivikrama (), Urukrama (), Upendra (), Dadhivamana (, ), and Balibandhana (), is an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. He is the fifth avatar of Vishnu and the first Dashavatara in the Treta Yuga, after Narasimha. ...

. The four handed image of Trivikrama has been installed on the double petalled lotus pedestal. He holds gada in right upper hand, lotus flower in right lower hand, chakra in left upper hand and conch in left lower hand respectively. Figures of Sridevi and Bhudevi are flanked on either side of deity. The right leg of deity is set firmly on the ground and another uplifted left foot touches the image of

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

. Beneath his uplifted leg is a scene of Bali who is presenting the gift to Vamana while Shukracharya lifts his hands up in dismay. The image of four handed

is the Parsvadevata of the eastern or backside central niche of the main deity. The central deity is the Ugra Nrisimha inside the

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 ...

and Shanta

facing west is the first expansion of the Ugra Nrisimha. Finally the five images equate as per the traditional Vaishnava Agama shastra.

References

the protector of Purithe worship of Nrusimha in Puri
{{coord , 19.817503, 85.840000, display=title Hindu temples in Puri Narasimha temples