Legend of Yadagiri Gutta

[Guest guest]

Hello Bhagavathas,

The following describes the legend of the temple of

Swami LakshmiNarasimha at Yadagiri Gutta which is

situated close to Hyderabad.

-Venkatesh Vankipuram

 

*******************************************************

 

 

In the Tretayuga, there was a Rishi by name

Vibhandaka. His son was the famous Rishyasringa, who

had a son by name Yadavas. From the childhood onwards,

Yadavas was devoted to Lord Vishnu and was'hungering

to have a darshan of the 'sakshatkara' of Lord Vishnu,

in his Swarupa of Lord Narasimha. In order to achieve

and realize his heart's desire, he selected this

secluded hill for doing his penance. There is a

tradition in our country, that secluded spots

unvisited by men are particularly susceptible of

inducing great peace and concentration since there

will not be the impact of the vibrations of the human

mind in these lonely and sacred places. Yadagiri-gutta

is one such secluded place and Yadavas was carrying on

his penance or Tapascharya with one-pointedness of

mind, and with complete Ekagrata with a desire to have

darshan of Lord Vishnu as Narasimha. Lord Vishnu was

pleased with the intensity, patience and perfectness

of his penance, and appeared before Yadavas to confer

boons on him.

Yadavas then begged the Lord to show him the three

supernal forms of the Lord, which had captivated his

heart viz., the Swarup-is of Lord Vishnu as Jwala

Narasimha, Gandabheranda Narasimha and Yogananda

Narasimha. Accordingly, Lord Vishnu granted the boon,

and gave darshan of the above three forms of the

Narasimha Avatara to Yadavas. But Yadavas was still

not fully satisfied with this fleeting view of the

Lord, and the hunger in his soul required that he

should constantly remain in the presence of the Lord

himself. He, therefore, begged of the Lord to remain

permanently in the hill in those three forms. The

Lord, who was well pleased with the devotion of

Yadavas, acceded to his request, and began to live

there permanently on the hill in the above three forms

of Lord Narasimha. Thus, the hill got its name as

Yadavagiri, the corrupted form of which is

Yadagiri.The three forms of Lord Narasimha are to be

seen at three plots in the premises of the present

temple provided one searches for them with devotion

and sincerity.

These places in course of time were deserted and were

covered by dense forest. The Lord appeared in a dream

one night to a village officer of that place and

revealed to him his presence at the top of the hill

and ordained that arrangements for regular worship of

the idol should be made. Accordingly, the village

officer went with some people in search of the Lord on

the top of the hill. There, under a huge rock, they

found the images of the God, which they resuscitated

and cons.-crated for worship, and also appointed a

priest to conduct the daily Puja.

There is also another legend, which has also got wide

circulation, about this temple. According to this, at

first the Lord manifested himself at a place two miles

distant from this hill. That place is now called as

the Old Narasimhaswamy temple site. After the above

dream incident etc., which are common to this legend

also, the God deserted that place and came to the

present hill spot since the present spot was more

conducive to concentration and meditation.

The temple is situated at the top of the hill, which

is about 300 ft. in height. At the foot of the hill,

there is a gateway with Gopuram, which is called

popularly as "Vaikunta Dwaram". As one gets up half

the way above one will find a number of choultry

buildings, which have formed themselves into a hill

town. There are about 150 such choultries constructed

by many devotees of the Lord for the convenience of

the pilgrims who visit the temple.

After entering the Simhadwaram of the temple, there is

a Hanuman Temple on the right side. Exactly beneath

the Hanuman image, there is a horizontal rock gap of

about 10 inches width and about 60-sq. ft. in area.

This horizontal narrow cave is said to be the spot

where the Lord manifested himself in his Swarupa of

Lord Narasimha as Gandhabherunda, one of the three

Narasimhas who appeared before Yadavas. The oil lamp

always kept here is still burning. Indicating the

importance of the site.

Then, turning to the left, we enter a big hall where

generally all devotees sit. Again, on the left side,

there is the temple proper. The front pillar of the

temple is a constructed sculpture whereas the rear

pillars where the actual shrine of the God is

situated, viz., the Garbha Gudi, is a natural cave of

about 30 ft. length and 12 ft. width cut into a hill.

The cave is formed under a huge rock, which forms a

sloping roof into a height of just 5-ft in the middle

for the passage inside. While going through this

constricted passage one has necessarily to lower his

head slightly. Thus the very natural formation of the

cave itself makes one bow involuntarily to the Lord.

On the left of the passage, there is a Peetha where

special Pujas are performed. At the end of the cave,

there are the actual images of the Lord. We see their

two rocks fastened to each other and forming a

vertical cup of about one -foot between them. On the

other side of the rock, we can see the image in the

shape of a serpent head and ending like its tail. This

is said to be the aspect of God known as Jwala

Narasimha, the second of the manifestations of Lord

Vishnu to Yadavas. Popular tradition has it that a

divine serpent still moves about the image.

On the opposite rock, there is another image of a

figure seated in meditation and this is said to be the

image of Yogananda Narasimha, the third of the

manifestations of Lord Vishnu to Yadavas.

These rocks form an integral part of the cave, and so

there is no possibility of having any modern structure

in between them, without dismantling the natural

structure. As these two images of the Lord are not

clearly visible to the worshippers, the icons of

Goddess Laxmi and Narasimha are made in silver and

kept near the original Vigraha for darshan and

worship. The superstructure of the temple is based on

the huge rock, which forms the cave. There is at

Yadagiri a temple to the left of the front pillar,

dedicated to the Goddess, known as Andalamma temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get personalized email addresses from Mail

http://personal.mail./

[Guest guest]

Sri Mattapalli NaaTam PranathOsmi Nithyam Namaha

 

bhakti-list, Venkatesh Vankipuram <venkat@u...> wrote:

> The cave is formed under a huge rock, which forms a

> sloping roof into a height of just 5-ft in the middle

> for the passage inside. While going through this

> constricted passage one has necessarily to lower his

> head slightly.

> As these two images of the Lord are not

> clearly visible to the worshippers, the icons of

> Goddess Laxmi and Narasimha are made in silver and

> kept near the original Vigraha for darshan and

> worship.

 

The Nrusimha Vigraham in this temple is a delight to watch.

Especially the tirumugamandalam. Our perumAL's head is tilted

sideways and pitched forward as if to enthusiastically welcome

HIS child who has just entered the small passageway. The tilting

seems to have naturally occured to the stapathi's delight.