Place · monolithic Narasimha sculpture · India
Lakshmi Narasimha (Ugra Narasimha), Hampi
Also known as Ugra Narasimha Hampi, Narasimha monolith
The Lakshmi Narasimha monolith at Hampi — a 6.7-metre figure carved from a single granite boulder in 1528, commissioned by a Brahmin named Krishna Bhatta during the reign of Krishnadevaraya. The deity sits in yogic lotus posture on the coils of the serpent Adishesha, whose seven hoods canopy the head. The small figure of Lakshmi seated on Narasimha's left thigh was destroyed in the 1565 sack of Hampi (one of her arms, embracing Narasimha, still remains on his back). The eyes of Narasimha are deliberately widened in the ugra ('fierce') aspect; the inscription on the base records the sculptor's name.
- Date
- 1528
- Periods
- Vijayanagara
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Patron dynasty
- Vijayanagara
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 15.335, 76.457
Connections (2)
- Site withinHampi / Vijayanagara
The 6.7-metre Lakshmi Narasimha monolith stands on the sacred axis between Hemakuta Hill and the Virupaksha Temple inside the central Hampi urban grid. Carved from a single granite boulder in 1528 during the reign of Krishnadevaraya and partly damaged in the 1565 sack of the city — the broken Lakshmi figure on his left thigh is the clearest surviving trace of that damage.
- PatronageKrishnadevaraya
The 6.7-metre Lakshmi Narasimha monolith at Hampi was commissioned in 1528 during the reign of Krishnadevaraya by a Brahmin named Krishna Bhatta; the inscription on the base names the sculptor and the king under whose patronage the work was done. Narasimha's small Lakshmi figure, on his left thigh in embrace, was deliberately destroyed in the 1565 sack of Hampi.