Saturday 2 July 2011

The abode of Nine Narasimhars

The abode of Nine Narasimhars

by Mantra & shlokas on Saturday, December 4, 2010 at 11:55am


ava Narasimha khshetras


Lord Narasimha appeared as “swayambus”in nine forms in nine places around ahobilam. This is the only place in the world as Lord Narasimha appeared in nine forms in nine places in ahobilam and famoused as NAVA NARASIMHA KSHETRAM.
“Jwala Ahobila Malola Kroda Karanja Bhargava Yogananda Kshatravata Pavana Nava Moorthayaha”

Nava Narasimha khshetras

Lord Narasimha appeared as “swayambus”in nine forms in nine places around ahobilam. This is the only place in the world as Lord Narasimha appeared in nine forms in nine places in ahobilam and famoused as NAVA NARASIMHA KSHETRAM. And all these nine shines of Narasimhas are Nine Navagrahadhipathis as per the legend.

“Jwala Ahobila Malola Kroda Karanja Bhargava Yogananda Kshatravata Pavana Nava Moorthayaha”
Nava Narasimha khshetras

1. Jwala Narasimha 2. Ahobila Narasimha 3. Malola Narasimha 4. Krodha Narasimha 5. Karanja Narasimha 6. Bhargava Narasimha 7. Yogananda Narasimha 8. Chatravata Narasimha 9. Pavana Narasimha

Nava Narasimha swamis are Nava Grahadhipathis
Those who visit navanarasimhas can avoid navagraha dosham as all nava narasimha syayamus are the leaders of all navagrhas. Each Narasimha swamy is leader of each navagrahas as fallows.

1. Jwala Narasimha Angaraka Grahadhipati
2. Ahobila Narasimha  Guru Grahadhipati
3. Malola Narasimha Sukra Grahadhipati
4. Krodha Narasimha Rahu Grahadhipati
5. Karanja Narasimha Chandra Grahadhipati
6. Bhargava Narasimha Surya Grahadhipati
7. Yogananda Narasimha Shani Grahadhipati
8. Kshatravata Narasimha Kethu Grahadhipati
9. Paavan or holy Narasimha Budha Grahadhipati

Now to the legends of Ahobilam. According to Hindu Mythology Western Ghats is considered to be the celestial thousand hooded serpent Adi Seshan ( Sesh Nag) in which Lord Vishnu sleeps in milk ocean. Tirumala being the head portion, Ahobilam the middle and Sri Sailam being the tail portion. Maha Vishnu took Narasimha Avatar at that instant when Prahalada wanted ie in a hurry so other servants of the Lord did not accompany Him. So Garuda the mount of the Lord wanted to have darshan (holy vision) of Lord as Narasimha and did severe penance in these hills . Pleased with the penance Lord appeared in the form of Narasimha and gave darshan <span>to Garuda and manifested himself in these hills. Even today one of the mountain known as Garudatri resembles the shape of eagle with folded hands and beak in the middle and two wings on either side. The Pavava Narasimhar shrine is situated on the Garudatri hills and we trek for about 7 Kms to reach this shrine.</span>

The other importance of this place is the Lord is swayam vaktha ( self formed not man made) here. He gives darshan as Nava Narasimhar (Nine forms) ranging from Jwala Narasimhar ( the ferocious)  Santha Narasimhar ( the peaceful ).

The nine forms in which Lord Narasimha has manifested here are as follows

Jwala Narasimhar Jwala means flame , the Lord is at His most ferocious form here. There are three idols in this shrine in the first one He is depicted as He emerges out of the pillar to kill Hiranya. In the second one the Lord is depicted with eight hands, with two hands He is tearing open the stomach of Hiranya and with other two hands He is garlanding himself with the intestine with two hands he is holding the legs and head firmly in place on His thigh in the other two hands He is wielding His divine weapons of Conch and discus. The third idol depicts the fight between the Lord and the demon. To visit this shrine we have to cross a beautiful water fall, falling from the top of the Vedatri mountains. We cannot miss the conjunction that the shrine of the Jwala Narashimhar is situated just below the Ugra sthamb ( The ferocious pillar) the peak of this mountain resembles a split pillar on one side it is full there is a gap and the other one is half.

Ugra Narasimhar ( Ahobila Narasimhar) : Ugra means ferocious . This temple is at upper Ahobilam and the Lord is self formed inside a cave to give darshan to Garuda here he is depicted with Hiranya on His lap. The idol of Prahalada is in front of the Lord. Adi Sankara and , Thirumangai Alwar has sanctified the Lord with their  hymns. There is a shrine for Senju Lakshmi also in this temple. 

Malola Narasimhar : Maa means Maha lakshmi and Lola means Lover. In this form the Lord give dharshan along with His consort Mahalakshmi seated in His left thigh. He is depicted as Santha ( peaceful) Narasimha showering His blessings to the devotees.

Kroda Narasimhar : Kroda means the extruded teeth, the Lord is depicted as the Varaha Narasimhar ( boar) . indicating his previous incarnaton. He is holding mother earth in His teeth.

Karanja Narasimhar : Karanja is a tree . Hanuman did penance to see Lord Rama ( Another incarnation of Vishnu) here as the Lord appeared as Narasimha Hanuman requested him to give darshan as Rama. So the Lord gave darshan along with bow and arrow with the celestial serpent as umbrella to hanuman hereunder the Karanja tree. So he is called as Karanja Narasimhar.


Bargava Narasimhar : Bargava is Parasurama, who did penance to see Lord in his Narasimha form Vishnu . Lord Vishnu appeared as Ugra Narasimha to and also showed all His Dasavatharam ( ten incarnations ) to Parasurama. 

Yogananda Narasimhar : Here the Lord is depicted in a yogic posture with His legs crossed and the hands in yogic posture. The legend is that He taught the nuances of yoga to prahalada here.

Chatra vad Narasimhar : Chatra means umbrella and Vad means banyan tree the Lord is here depicted in His jolly mood enjoying the music of Ahaa and Uuhu two divine singers unser the banyan tree.

Pavana Narasimhar : Here again the Lord gives darshan along with His consort Senju Lakshmi. Senju are the tribals of this mountains the legend is that the Lord married Senju Lakshmi to grace the tribals.

Ahobilam has been sanctified by the hymns of Thirumangai Alwar and is one of the 108 Divya Desams of Lord Maha Vishnu. The Adi Guru ( preceptor) Sankaracharya regained his cut hand after visiting this place so he is installed a Shivaling( symbol of Lord Shiva) and has also written a hymn on Lakshmi Narasimaha. This place is the seat of the Ahobilam Mutt on the four mutts of Vaishnavism which is supposed to be formed by the Lord himself.

Lower Ahobilam is about 400 Kms from Chennai and 350 Km from Hyderabad and can be reached by road . The nearest town is Allagadda. We a group of about 16 started from Chennai by van to Ahobilam in the night. Through Renikunta, and Kadappah we reached Mahanandi a sleepy temple town early in the morning and completed morning rituals in that temple. The holy bath in the ponds of the temple was really refreshing unlike other temple ponds these ponds had flowing water the origin is not exactly known. Also had the darshan of Maha Nandi ( big Nandi) the mount of Lord Shiva and worshipped Shiva as Mahanandeeswarar and Mother Parvati as Kameswari and proceeded to Ahobilam.

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