Lakshmi Narasimha Temple is a

Vaishnavite Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as th ...

temple and one of the eight sacred places of

Lord Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It is also known for being one of the eight ''mahakshetras''

Narasimha Narasimha ( sa, नरसिंह, lit=man-lion, ), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is regarded to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to slay Hiranyakashipu, to end rel ...

in India. It is situated at the foot of the ''Auspicious Hill'' in

Mangalagiri Mangalagiri is a South Suburb of Vijayawada in Guntur district of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town is a part of Mangalagiri Tadepalle Municipal Corporation and part of Tenali revenue division. It is a major sub urban of Vijayawada and ...

which is part of the

Mangalagiri Tadepalle Municipal Corporation Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation is the civic body that governs Mangalagiri and Tadepalle city's and villages in the corresponding mandals of the Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. It is the seco ...

part of

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a po ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. It is one of the temples in the series of three temples located on and at the bottom of the hill, the other two being Panakala Narasimha Temple on the hill and Gandala Narasimha Temple at the top of the hill. It has one of the highest gopurams in South India and only one of its type in this part of India. It is in height and wide and has eleven storeys.

History

Sri lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple - Diguva Sannidhi

The Lakshmi Narasimha Temple is popularly believed to have been founded by

Yudhishthira ''Yudhishthira'' ( Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his fir ...

, the eldest

Pandava The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

brother. The temple's history is said to be recorded in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, one of the old Hindu religious scriptures. This temple was patronized by the

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bell ...

rulers. There is an inscription from the time of

Krishnadevaraya Krishnadevaraya (17 January 1471 – 17 October 1529) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Empire, reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the ...

, who had visited the temple, at the temple site. The temple's tall eleven story ''gali gopuram'' was built by

Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu () was a hereditary zamindar of Chintapalli, later Amaravathi, in the Guntur district of India, under the Nizam of Hyderabad and the British East India Company. He had under his control 552 villages and towns locat ...

, a zamindari patron and devotee of Narasimha.

References

External links

Mangalagiri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple Tour Guide
* {{Hinduism footer small Hindu temples in Guntur district Narasimha temples