• DOI:10.1080/13537900802630489
• Corpus ID: 143495199

Narasiṃha, the Supreme Deity of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and Innovation in Hinduism—An Examination of the Temple Myths, Folk Stories, and Popular Culture

@article{Vemsani2009NarasihaTS,
  title={Narasiṃha, the Supreme Deity of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and Innovation in Hinduism—An Examination of the Temple Myths, Folk Stories, and Popular Culture},
  author={Lavanya Vemsani},
  journal={Journal of Contemporary Religion},
  year={2009},
  volume={24},
  pages={35 - 52}
}

• Lavanya Vemsani
• Published 1 January 2009
• Biology
• Journal of Contemporary Religion

Narasiṃha is the most popular Vaiṣṇava deity of Andhra Pradesh, with numerous temples found across Andhra Pradesh. Narasiṃha is the only theriomorphic deity to achieve this status, most commonly ascribed to anthropomorphic deities, such as Krishna (Gujarat), Rāma (North India), Murugan (Tamilnadu), and Kāli (Bengal). In order to understand the overall image of Narasiṃha and his rise to supreme status in Andhra Pradesh, I will examine the sthalapurāṇas and folk traditions of Narasiṃha and include a demonstration of how the local traditions inform and interact in the religious experience and practice of society. The article is divided into two sections. The first section examines the sthalapurāṇas (local temple myths) and ritual practices of selected Narasiṃha temples. The discrepancies are highlighted between the classical purāṇa representation of Narasiṃha and the actual cultic praxis in contemporary Andhra Pradesh. The second section analyzes the folk mythology of Narasiṃha to understand the features which establish him as the most popular Vaiṣṇava deity/avatāra of choice in Andhra Pradesh. Considered also are themes of Narasiṃha from popular culture. Apart from shedding light on the Vaiṣṇavism and Narasiṃha, this study contributes to the understanding of popular Hinduism in India.