Yadagirigutta Temple, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India

Legend has it that a sage named Yadavarishi, the son of the great sage Rishyasrunga, did penance and meditation in a cave and asked for the blessings of Lord Narasimha, an incarnation of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu. So pleased was Lord Narasimha to Yadavarishi that he appeared to him in five different forms: Jwala, Yogananda, Lakshminarasimha, Gandabherunda, and Ugra. The legend goes that the first form was too intense and fiery (it was Lord Narasimha as a fire) that it was too much for the yogi, so Narasimha adopted the second, more peaceful, form (Lord Narasimha in a Yoga posture with open palms on the knees). This still didn’t satisfy the yogi though and wanted to see him with his counterpart, the goddess Lakshmi, so Narasimha appeared with the goddess on his lap. The place where all this was supposed to have taken place was a natural cavern atop a hill. The temple was then built in the same area.

Legends aside, the Yadagirigutta Temple is situated at a height of about 300 feet on a hillock in the Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh, some 69 kilometers away from Hyderabad. It is near Warangal. The temple is a famous tourist spot as well as a devotee site, attracting a huge number of both on a regular basis. From the legend, the five forms of Narasimha have been finely sculpted into idols and these are placed within the temple. They have since come to be worshipped and are known as Pancha Narasimha Kshetram.