Among the ten Avataras (incarnations) of God Vishnu still worshiped in Indian temples, that of Rama and Krishna are very popular and is followed by Narasimha. While the avataras of Rama and Krishna were in human form, that of Narasimha was in therianthropic form (half-lion and half-man). Unlike Rama and Krishna, the images of Narasimha are also found in Shaiva temples. Compared to Rama and Krishna who were historical figures, Narasimha though considered by some scholars as a historical person, has lots of mythological elements woven around his personality. As an avatara of Vishnu the development of the legend of Narasimha has passed through various stages and was also influenced by folk and tantric elements. Once upon a time Narasimha was worshiped all over India, but now his worship is confined to south India and the state of Odisha.
Hiranyakashipu was the son of Kashyapa by his wife Diti, while Narasimha was the son of Vivasvan who was also the son of Kashyapa by his other wife Aditi. The quarrel between them was for the share in yajna, i.e., a share in the revenue of the kingdom. The fight between them was the first Devasurasangrama in which Hiranyakashipu was killed by Narasimha. It is very likely that Narasimha was a human being like Rama and Krishna who was later deified. In the view of D.R.Mankad, the Daityas (children of Diti) to which Hiranyakashipu belonged were straight forward, simple and trustworthy in character whereas the Devas (children of Aditi) to which Narasimha belonged were dishonourable and deceitful in nature. The Daityas were rash but not dishonest. But the Devas like Narasimha, Varaha and Vamana concealed their identity and took other forms to deceive the Daityas.1
According to Mohan Singh, a king named Kashipu was called Hiranyakashipu for he had amassed much wealth and conquered very large territories. Hiranyakashipu probably was not a follower of Vedic cult and had antagonized the followers of that cult. When in a fight between a lion, Hiranyakashipu was killed, it was interpreted by the followers of the Vedic cult as being accomplished by the god, Hari which also means lion in Sanskrit.2
Genesis of Narasimha’s legend
A Vedic legend has reference to Indra having cut off the head of Namuci (a demon) with the foam of water. It is said that Indra had agreed with Namuci that he would not slay him by day or by night, with the dry or moist or with the palm or with the fist or with staff or bow.3 Somewhat similar to the above episode, Hiranyakashipu had obtained a boon from Brahma that he was not to be killed by a human or beast, nor die either in the day or night and no weapon of any kind should injure him. Hence we find Vishnu assuming the form of Narasimha (half-lion, half-man) who tore Hiranyakashipu with his claws at the time of lingering twilight forming the junction between day and night.4 Hence P.V.Kane is of the view that the story of killing Hiranyakashipu by Narasimha in the man-lion form was inspired by the story of the slaughter of the demon, Namuci by Indra at dawn with the foam of water.
Attributes of Indra transferred to Vishnu
According to M.V.Vaidya, the Puranas represent a state of thought-transition when the Vedic deities are receding into background and the great triad of high-gods is emerging to dominate the whole field of religious expression. In this transition, it is natural that those attributes which once qualified the erstwhile important god are pressed in the service of another who replaces him in authority. Thus in the new order Indra yields his place to Vishnu. The legend of Hiranyakashipu belongs to this category as it presents, in essentials, the myth of killing of Namuci by Indra transferred to the credit of Vishnu but with a change in environment and a shift in emphasis. The legend being popular, passed in the hands of the poets of Puranas, who worked on it and eventually it deteriorate into a sectarian story in glorification of the avataras of Vishnu.5
Development of Narasimha’s legend in the Puranas
The Vedic literature contains no reference to a deity having the form of lion or half-man and half-lion. Reference to Narasimha in the Taittriya Aranyaka is a later composition written sometimes in the early centuries of the Christian era.6
It is interesting to know how the legend of Narasimha developed in the Puranas in various stages. Puranas like Agni Purana, Vayu Purana, Brahma Purana, Skanda Purana and Vishnudharmottara Purana which contain the legend of Narasimha have no reference to Prahlada at all.7 In the second stage of the development of Narasimha legend, we have Puranas like Padma Purana (5th kanda), Matsya Purana Saura Purana and Kurma Purana which have depicted Prahlada as a grown up person who even fought against Vishnu, but later realizes his divinity and asks his father Hiranyakashipu to surrender to him (Narasimha).8 Finally in the third stage, we have Puranas like Vishnu Purana, Narasimha Purana, Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana (6th kanda) where Prahlada is depicted as a child and a devotee of Vishnu from the beginning and for that reason his father, Hiranyakashipu tortures him and to save Prahlada, Vishnu emerges from a pillar in the form of Narasimha and slays Hiranyakashipu.9 Hence while we find the reason for killing Hiranyakashipu as given in the Mahabharatha (Shanti parva) was because he was destroying the sacrifices meant for the deities,10 while in Puranas like Vishnu Purana, Narasimha Purana, Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana (6th kanda) the reason for his killing by Narasimha was because he was torturing Prahlada a devotee of Vishnu.
Narasimha’s association with Shaivism
In the Shatarudra Samhita of the Shiva Purana an attempt to establish the supremacy of Shaivism over Vaishnavism can be observed. According to this Purana even after the killing of Hiranyakashipu, the anger of Narasimha did not subside and hence the gods requested Lord Shiva to pacify the fury of Narasimha. Shiva orders Virabhadra to go and pacify Narasimha with soothing words. When his attempt fails, on Shiva’s advice, Virabhadra assumed the form of Sharabha, caught hold of Narasimha and cut off his head and peeled his skin and offered it to Shiva who wore it. Shiva then tells the gods that as Narasimha has merged within himself like water in water and milk in milk, devotees who worship Narasimha by praising him will please Shiva and devotees who praise Shiva will please Narasimha. The Linga Purana also contains the above story of Sharabha killing Narasimha. However in the end both the Puranas tried to maintain a balance between Shaivism and Vaishnavism by the ordain given by Shiva that Vishnu is to be worshipped in the form of Narasimha by devotees who wish to obtain prosperity.11
Narasimha- Originally a Lion deity
Narasimha originally was a lion deity. This is also indicated by such a Puranic statement which tells us that in the battle against Hiranyakashipu, lions born out of the body of Narasimha devoured the Danava. For instance in the Matsya Purana, it is not the lion-man but lion itself that arrives at Hiranyakashipu’s court hall and kills him. This view is further confirmed by the evidence of a sculptured panel discovered at a site called Kondamotu on the outskirts of Piduguralla village in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The panel shows in base relief six standing figures who are identified as Pradyumna, Visnu, Narasimha, Krishna, Samkarsanda and Aniruddha. Narasimha is depicted as a couchant lion with the only difference that two hands are added to the figure at the neck level and with these he holds gada and chakra, the Vaishnava attributes. This panel is dated late 3rd or 4th century A.D. and the earliest iconographic representation of Narasimha.12 One of the most important temples of Narasimha in Odisha, Narasimhanatha in Padampur (Sambalpur) is a theriomorphic deity. The image worshipped there is supposed to represent Narasimha in the shape of a cat. Also in places like Mangalagiri and Akkirapalli in Andhra Pradesh, the head of a lion and tiger are worshipped as Narasimha.13 It was only in the later Gupta sculptures of the north and at Badami and Ellora that the deity is shown with the lion’s head and a human body.14
Influence of Tantric ideas
Tantrism professes the worship of the female principle (shakti) and the erotic practices connected with it and also the worship of the furious and the formidable aspect of the divine. For instance the worship of deities like Kali and Bhairava, etc., are undertaken mainly with a view to counteract the unpleasant events like disease and misfortune, to keep off dangers, to ward off evil, to destroy the enemies and also to achieve material benefits which these deities are believed to bestow upon the worshipper immediately. The strong influence of the Tantric ideas led Vishnuism to develop the concept of Narasimha- originally only an incarnation of Vishnu to an independent and important deity with furious character who destroys the evils and the dangers befalling his worshippers and grants him immediately worldly benefits. Narasimha in other words, is a Vishnite version of the tantric practice of the worship of the furious deities.15
Popular cult absorbed into Vaishnavism
Narasimha was originally a dreadful god like the Vinayakas; to be propitiated for his wrath. The Vishnudharmottara Purana describes his worship for effects of evil stars, planets and other supernatural agencies and for avoiding the dangers of thieves, enemies and wild animals in the dark. The Narasimha stotra and Narasimha mantra are deemed to be efficacious for curing diseases and preventing calamities.16
The Vishnudharmottara Purana places the Man-Lion incarnation of the god in the Madra country. The Madrakas were a people living in central Punjab with their capital at Sialkot. To this day, the worship of Narasimha is very popular in Punjab especially in the Kangra district and men and women worship this god in the form of a sacred coconut on every sunday. The worshippers of Narasimha also wear on the arm, an amulet containing the picture of the god in the form of a man and it is considered highly sacred. It is very probable that the god Narasimha was the centre of a popular cult flourishing in some part of Punjab and in the early centuries of the Christian era, his worship was absorbed into Vaishnavism by recognizing him as an incarnation of Vishnu.17
Influence of Folk religion
In eastern Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Brahmanism assimilated, transformed and even supplanted many tribal cults and the story of Narasimha’s emergence from a pillar reflects the influence of an aboriginal worship of some pillar deity (Goddess Stambheshvari) on Vaishnavism through the cult of Narasimha.18
Most of the temples dedicated to Narasimha in the Deccan are situated on the hill tops and the aboriginal tribes of these areas are known to worship mountain deities. For instance the hill tribes of the Chenchus worship the god Narasimhasvami enshrined at Ahobalam in Kurnool and call him Obalesudu.19
Reference to Narasimha in inscriptions
Prakrit inscriptions of the 1st and 2nd century A.D. from Sanchi, Mathura and other places have name like Simhadatta (dedicated to the man-lion form of Vishnu) and Simharakshita (protected by Narasimha incarnation) which shows that Narasimha incarnation of Vishnu became popular in the early centuries of the Christian era. The Alina copper plate record of the Maitraka dynasty of Vallabhi in Gujarat state issued in the year 766 A.D. has reference to the Narasimha avatara.20 Some of the texts belonging to Narasimha cult are the Narasimha Purva Tapaniya Upanishad and Narasimha Uttara Tapaniya Upanishad and the Narasimha Samhita and the Narasimha Upapurana composed between 500-900 A.D.21
Narasimha in Art
According to the Vihagendra Samhita, there are 74 forms of Narasimha icon of which nine are fairly popular. They are Yoga-Narasimha (in meditative pose), Bhoga-Narasimha (seated along with Lakshmi and also known as Lakshmi-Narasimha), Ugra-Narasimha (tearing open the breast of Hiranyakashipu), Jwala-Narasimha (ferocious and flaming), Varada-Narasimha (granting a boon to and blessing Prahlada), Sthanu-Narasimha (coming out the pillar), Sthanaka-Narasimha (standing), Nitya-Narasimha (dancing) and Kevala-Narasimha (seated alone in a special yogic posture with one leg raised above the other).22
The earliest representation of god Narasimha is on a clay seal discovered at Basarh in Bihar and assigned to the early Gupta or just the pre-Gupta period. The seal shows Narasimha in the Lalitasana pose seated on a high pedestal, his right arm raised and the left arm resting on his hips.23
Early images of Narasimha together with the boar and dwarf forms of Vishnu are found in the rock-cut temples at Udayagiri, Badami and Mamallapuram belonging respectively to the Gupta, early Chalukya and Pallava periods.24
In the southern corner of the Dashaavatara temple at Deogadh in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh, a figure of Narasimha is seen in a caitya window seated on a lotus holding the discus, the club and the conch. At Sindursi in the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, rock-cut sculpture depict the god Vishnu in various forms, standing, sleeping on his serpent bed and in his Narasimha form. An image of Narasimha found at Besnagar and ascribed to 6th century A.D. is now kept in the Gwalior Museum.25
Popularity of Narasimha worship
Names like Simhavarman, Narasimhavarman and Simhavishnu were popular in the family belonging to the Pallava dynasty of south India. The earliest such name in the family of the Pallava kings is that of Simhavarman of the Manchikallu inscription assigned to the 4th century A.D. The Narasimha form of Vishnu thus seems to have been a favourite deity with the Pallava dynasty. Sewell’s Historical Inscriptions of South India enumerates no less than 40 kings of the early and medieval periods who bore the name Narasimha. Most of the rulers flourished in south India. Among the Gupta rulers we have Narasimha Gupta Baladitya who bore the name Narasimha. In Bengal king Lakshmanasena of the Sena dynasty was devoted to Narasimha as evidenced from a record which describes him as Parama Narasimha.26
Narasimha cult is non-sectarian
The Narasimha cult is not sectarian. According to the traditional biographies of Adi Shankaracharya, a mere hunter in a forest was able to have a darshan of Narasimha after a search lasting for a few hours, which he undertook at the instance of Padmapada, one of the disciples of Adi Shankaracharya. Padmapada was a devotee of Narasimha and invoked his assistance for saving Shankaracharya from a Kapalika, who was about to kill Shankaracharya. As Narasimha is regarded as having the amsa or power of Rudra, Narasimha’s icons are therefore found in Shiva temples. Sankaracharya on one occasion recited the Lakshminarasimha Stotra for saving his body from the scorching fire.27
Narasimha temple of yore
Most of the ancient and popular temples belonging to Narasimha are found in south India. The famous of these are Ahobalam and Simhachalam in Andhra Pradesh. Ahobalam located in Kurnool district of A.P. is one of the 108 divyadesam ( (holy places) for the Sri Vaishnavas. As this place contains all the nine forms of Narasimha within a radius of ten miles, this place is called Navanarasimhakshetra.28 In Simhachalam located in Vishakapattanam district, the presiding deity is called Varahanarasimhaswamy. The deity has two hands with the head of a lion and a human torso. The image is covered with sandal paste and made to appear like a Linga. Only once in a year on the day of Akshayatritiya, the original image of Varahanarasimha is shown to the public by removing the sandal paste.
In Tamilnadu the Narasimha temple at Sholinghur or Ghadikachalam is praised by the Tamil saint Tirumangai Alvar in his Periya Tirumozhi as one of the 108 divyadesams of Sri Vaishnavas. Other saints like Peyalvar and Nammalvar also have praised this lord of Sholinghur.30 About 50 kms from the city of Salem is located Nammakal which is famous for the rock-cut sculptures of Narasimha.31 In Karnataka a gigantic monolith of Ugranarasimha carved out of a single boulder, 6.7 meters in height is found at Hampi. This work was executed in 1526 during the rule of Krishnadevaraya.32 Another Narasimha temple of antiquity in India is located at Joshi Mutt in Uttaranchal which is about 1200 years old. The image of the deity here is said to be installed by Sri Shankaracharya himself.33
Narasimha is the guardian deity of the Jagannatha temple at Puri and all the performances beginning from cooking to puja are preceded by offerings to Narasimha first.34 The Narasimha temple located in the Jagannatha temple complex is dated about 10th century A.D. and probably was constructed prior to Jagannatha temple. Due to the association of Narasimha with the Jagannatha cult, Narasimha enjoys much reverence in Odisha. There are more than 100 Narasimha temples with rich endowments in this state.35 In modern times pratishtha of new images of Narasimha is rare due to a belief that Narasimha being an ugra-murti, if not properly worshipped in due form, will burn down villages or otherwise cause harm to the people.36
Reference
D.R.Mankad – The Twelve Devasurasangramas, Journal of the Oriental Institute, M.S.University of Baroda, Baroda, vol xii, No.3, March, 1963, pp: 220-229
Mohan Singh – The Legend of Prahlada, QJMS, vol-31 (2), 1940, p.104
P.V.Kane – History of Dharmasastra, vol II, part 2, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poone, 1941, pp: 718,719
T.A.Gopinath Rao – Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol- 1, part 1, Madras, 1914, p.149
M.V.Vaidya – The Palace of Hiranyakashipu, ABORI, vol-xxii, 1942, pp: 609, 610
Suvira Jaiswal - Evolution of the Narasimha Legend and its possible sources, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-34, 1973, p.140
K.Venkata Krishna – A Study of Narasimha Cult in Sanskrit Literature, PhD thesis, Department of Sanskrit, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, 2010, pp: 3,6
Ibid, pp: 7,9,10
Ibid, pp: 17-29
Ibid, p.2
Ibid, pp, 13-16
Suvira Jaiswal, Op.Cit, p.143
Anncharlott Eschmann, Hermann Kulke, Gaya Charan Tripathi, Edited – The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa, Manohar Publication, New Delhi, 1986, pp: 107,108
Suvira Jaiswal, Op.Cit, p.144
Anncharlott Eschmann, Hermann Kulke, Gaya Charan Tripathi, Edited – Op.Cit, pp: 43,44
Suvira Jaiswal- The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism (from 200 B.C. to A.D.500), Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1967, pp: 122,123
Ibid
Suvira Jaiswal - Evolution of the Narasimha Legend and its possible sources, Op.Cit, p. 145
Ibid, p. 148
D.C.Sircar- Studies in the Religious life of Ancient and Medieval India, Motilal Banarsidas, p. 266
Indira S Aiyar – Lord Narasimha: Iconography and Literature, Tattvaloka, vol- xv, No.2, June/July, 1992, p.26
R.K.Sheshadri – The Concept and Image of Narasimha, Tattvaloka, Op.Cit, p.29
Indira S Aiyar, Op.Cit, p.24
D.C.Sircar – Op.Cit, p.268
Suvira Jaiswal- The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism, Op.Cit, pp:185,202
D.C.Sircar – Op.Cit, p.267
R.K. Sheshadri, Op.Cit, p.28
K.Venkata Krishna, Op.Cit, p.75
Ibid, pp: 80,81
Ibid, p. 107
Ibid, p. 109
Ibid, p. 124
Ibid, p. 145
Anncharlott Eschmann, Hermann Kulke, Gaya Charan Tripathi, Edited – Op.Cit, p. 112
K.Venkata Krishna, Op.Cit, pp: 139,140
T.A.Gopinath Rao, Op.Cit, p.40
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