Guru Narasimha Temple, Saligrama

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# Guru Narasimha Temple, Saligrama The Guru Narasimha Temple, Saligrama is a Hindu temple dedicated to Narasimha, the lion-headed form of Vishnu. Srimad Yogananda Guru Narasimha is the chief deity of the town of Saligrama, Udupi, Karnataka, India. The main image of Narashima, lion-faced and two-handed, is dated to the 8th century. The temple of Guru Narasimha is located on NH 66 at a distance of 22 km from Udupi City. The 'Sri Saligrama Kshetra Mahatmyam' of the Pushkara khanda of the Padma Purana, the Sahyadri khanda of the Skanda Purana and the Lokadityapaddati provide the details of the significance of this temple. To this day, the Brahmins of these 14 villages, known as Kota Brahmins follow Guru Narasimha as their sole Guru. Earlier, the deity of Guru Narasimha was facing east. Because of the "Ugra" nature of Narasimha, the crops facing the direction of the eyesight of the deity used to get burned to ashes. An angry Brahmin once struck the Lord with a plough, and hence a scar was formed on the deity. It is deemed that the person who struck the deity faced a lot of problems later on in his life. Several citations from the Shilpa Shastra can be used to prove that the deity was once facing east. Until 1950, it was a common practice to swear in front of the Lord after following a set of rituals. If a person wished to swear in front of the Lord in a court case, the person would be allowed to do so in the presence of the judge, who himself would come down to the temple. The person wishing to swear in front of the Lord would have to take a dip in both Teerthas, wear wet clothes, and enter the temple from the side door. Then he would be required to ring 2 pramana bells near the main entrance, stand in front of the garbha gudi, light 6 lamps, swear in front of the Lord, blow out the lamps, and repeat these 2 more times. Outside the temple, there is also an idol of Anjaneya Swami that faces Guru Narsimha's line of sight. This idol was installed there to reduce the "Ugra" nature of the Lord and hence stop the burning of crops. The idol is smeared with sindhura and butter in order to reduce the burning effect due to Guru Narasimha's sight. It is a practice for tourists travelling long distances to stop in front of the Anjaneya Swami temple and offer kanike to the deity and only then pass on in order to ensure that they reach their destination safely. Rangapuja is carried out in this shrine throughout the year in the evenings. Bhattacharya, who installed the Guru Narasimha idol, also installed the deity Mahaganapati. Legend says that Mahaganapathi appeared with ten arms in Bhattacharya's dreams and gave him instructions. As a result, the deity that Bhattacharya installed is a "dashabhuja" Ganapathi. The presence of Narasimha and Ganapathi also serves as a reminder that elephants and lions once lived in harmony in this place. Puja is carried out every day for the deity. The idol of Sri Durga Parameshwari is located to the right of the garbha griha of Guru Narasimha and exactly opposite to the shrine of Mahaganapathi. Here too puja is performed to the deity on a regular basis. It is a traditional practice for a class of Brahmins to be associated to some Matha usually established by great acharyas like Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, etc. However, the Kota Brahmins of the 14 villages surrounding the Saligrama temple do not have any human gurus. Instead Lord Vishnu himself in the form of Narasimha is their guru. The Brahmins themselves did not disconnect from any matha and adopt Narasimha as their guru. It was Ganapathi who appeared in the dreams of Bhattacharya who told him to gather the Brahmins of the 14 villages surrounding the Guru Narasimha temple and inform them that from henceforth only Guru Narasimha shall be their guru. Also, this incident took place even before the time of the 1st Brahmin guru Adi Shankara was born. Although the Brahmins of these 14 villages did not accept Adi Shankara as their guru formally when he toured this place, they completely accepted the Advaita vedanta as propagated by him. They too belong to the Smartha category of Brahmins with the exception that their guru is Guru Narasimha and not Adi Shankara. It is mandatory for them to keep aside a guru kanike before conducting rituals like Upanayana, marriage, etc. These villages surround the temple: