Narasimha नरसिंह, meaning ’man-lion’. He is the fourth avatara of Vishnu in the Satya Yuga. He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed the demon king Hiranyakashipu and ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma.
Narasimha is the God of Yoga, as Yoga-Narasimha.
This is also Lord Vishnu’s 1st incarnation on land – his other 3 avataras Matsya, Kurma and Varaha were in the sea. Andhra is truely a blessed land!
Narasimha has a human torso and lower body, with a lion face and claws, with the asura Hiranyakashipu being disemboweled and killed by Him in His lap. Hiranyakashipu was the elder brother of the evil Hiranyaksha – who had been previously killed by Vishnu’s Varaha avatar. Consequently he harboured profound hatred for Vishnu’s devotees. Hiranyakashipu gained a boon from Brahma due to which he could not be killed during the day or night, inside or outside the house; neither in the sky nor on land nor in Svarga nor in Patala, by any weapon or hand, nor by humans, deities, demons, or animals.[9] Endowed with this boon, he began to wreak chaos and havoc, persecuting all the devotees of Vishnu, including his own son Prahlada. Vishnu creatively assumed a mixed form that was neither human nor animal as a lion in the name of Narasimha, and Narashima disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu and at evening, which is neither day nor night, at the threshold of his palace, which was neither inside nor outside, upon his lap, which is neither sky nor land, and with his claws, which are neither weapons nor hands.
There are several temples of Narasimha but only 4 are mentioned in the scriptures. The others were built by various kings and devotees built during different times.
The 4 ancient Narasimha temples are:
| # | Name | Place | Deity |
| 1. | Ahobilam Narasimha | Ahobilam, Andhra Pradesh | Narasimha & Amrutavalli |
| 2. | Lakshmi Narasimha | Simhachalam Andhra Pradesh | Narasimha & Chenchulakshmi |
| 3. | Lakshmi Narasimha Yadagirigutta | Hyderabad Telangana | Lakshmi Narasimha |
| 4. | Lakshmi Narasimha | Kadiri Andhra Pradesh | Lakshmi Narasimha |
