Place · cave temple · India
Namakkal Narasimha Temple
The 7-century rock-cut hill temple at Namakkal in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, 55 kilometres from Salem — the Narasimhaswamy and Ranganathaswamy Vishnu temples cut into the Namakkal Rock, 65-metre monolith at the centre of the town. The temples were carved under the Adhiyaman chieftains and later Pandyas in the 7-8th centuries, with the Narasimha image carved as the man-lion avatar of Vishnu. The twin-temple arrangement (Narasimha facing south, Ranganatha facing north on the same rock) is architecturally unique in Tamil Nadu. The adjoining 17-century Namakkal Fort of the Vijayanagara-period Kongu Nadu chiefs expanded on the rock. The temple is important to the Vaishnava Divya Desam tradition. The adjoining Anjaneyar temple holds a 18-foot standing Hanuman image. ASI protection since 1927.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Tamil temple and pilgrimage traditions
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 11.230, 78.170
Connections (1)
- Site adjacencyAnjaneya, Namakkal
Namakkal's fort-rock carries an eighteen-foot open-air Anjaneya facing a Pallava cave temple cut into the base, where Narasimha is carved in one of the finest panels of its period. Hanumān stands uncovered because tradition says he is waiting on Rāma, and no roof has ever been put over him. The cave temple below carries a Varāha panel as well, and the two together are among the earliest surviving Vaishnava rock-cut sculpture in the Tamil country.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Narasimhaswamy Temple, Namakkal”. The Nālāyira Divya Prabandham and the standard Divya Desam concordances.
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