It was so a month back when we went to Rasipuram near Salem to attend marriage of my classmates .
We had reached by morning and had the day before us as reception was only in evening .
My wife told me Nammakal a few km away had two famous temples Narasimhaswamy temple and Anjaneyar or Hanuman temple so we took a cab and went there .
The story behind our temples are rich and intresting .of course its the fashion to dismiss all such temple stories as myths these days and many find it politically correct and intellectual to take that position .
Its also the habit of some these days to label one as fundamentalist if one has a special intrest in temples !!
But i am fair in that respect that my intrests go beyond religions when it comes to history
I love exploring old churches and mosques too and love thier legends and stories too
Having said that lets get back to our temples in Namakkal .
In Krutha yuga there lived Hiranya kasapu who a demon by his hard penance pleased devas and got the boon of being invincible and not being killed by a himsn being in day or night or in ground air or water
Armed with this fool proof boon he showed his arrogance on earth and on fervent prayers by his victims lord Vishnu first gave him a son Prahalada an ardent Vishnu devotee who angered his father by continuing to pray to Narayana and not Hiranyanana .
The fathers fury extended in trying to kill his son by poison or snake bite or trampling by elephant but all in vain .
Hiranyakasapu finally challenged his son to tell where this blessed narayana wasfor which prahalada replied in pillars or walls or anywhere.
At that time a pillar broke and Vishnu in his fierce avatar as Narasimha half man and half lion sprung forth and laid Hiranyakasapu in his lap and ripped open his entrails with his claws thus killing him .
The boons Hiranyakasapu had couldnt save him for Narasimha wasnt a human he was a human animal
It was neither day ir night when he was killed it was dusk or twilight
It was not in air or water or earth he was killed but in his lap .
Lesson never try to be smart with your boons 😁
And now all were afraid to approach the fierce Narasimha expect Prahalada who prayed to him.
Lord Narasimha took the form of a saligrama stone and was prayed by Prahalada .
During Thretha yuga Hanuman found it as he was travelling to Lanka in his mission for Sree Rama .
He took care of it
On his way he kept it for some time on bank of a pond where he went for his dusk prayers
When he came back he found the saligramam had grounded itself there and couldnt be lifted from there .
On his prayers Narasimha told him to finish his work in Lanka and on way back be with him .
Thus we have Namakkal Hanuman near Naramiswamy temple there.
Godess Lakshmi too was given place on her pleas there and called Lakshmi narsimha or thaayar .
The Narasimhaswamy temple was on side of a rocky hill with ancient carvings while Hanuman temple had an 18 foot Hsnuman statue made of a single stone
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