
Blazing Nrsimhadev
In district Sangli in southwestern Maharashtra lies a little known village by the name of Nrsimhapur, and an even lesser known form of Lord Nrsimhadeva. Known to the locals as “Jwala [flaming] Nrsimha”, this impressive sixteenhanded form of the Lord standing on one foot has been the protector and benefactor of his reverential devotees for thousands of years. The local tradition related to this deity has been compiled in a book known as Kṛṣṇa-māhātmya. A verse reads as follows: yadā punas-tadā bhaktyā tapaḥ kartuṁ parāśaraḥ nārasiṁhaṁ tadā dhyāyan kṛṣṇā-tīre muneśvaraḥ
The foremost amongst the sages, Parashar, performed austerities on the bank of the river Krishna with a heart full of devotion, meditating on Lord Nrsimhadev. According to the local tradition, Lord Nrsimhadev was pleased with the devotion of Parashar Muni and hence appeared in a wonderful sixteen-handed form. This was the same blazing form that the Lord had assumed while killing Hiranyakashipu. Seeing that it was not possible for anyone to establish this ferociously blazing form on earth, the Lord ordered Parashar Muni to immerse him in the river Krishna. With a heavy heart, the sage immersed the deity in the water. Centuries later, around the year 178 A.D., a brahmin couple staying at a village named Anjana had been cursed to become blind and dumb by a sage.
On begging forgiveness, they were advised by the sage to perform austerities for the pleasure of Lord Nrsimha to absolve themselves of the curse. After twelve years of rigorous austerities, the Lord appeared in their dreams and told them that he now wished to establish himself on earth as a deity and asked them to approach the local king named Bhimadev to get him out of the river. When asked how they would find the exact location where he was under the water, the Lord told them to place some dry kuśa grass in the stream and that they would find him exactly under the place where the grass caught fire. After that darśana of the Lord, the couple immediately regained their sight and speech and set off to inform the king. On hearing the request of the couple, the king sent his entourage to discover the deity. While searching in the river according to the procedure specified by the Lord, one of the blades of grass caught fire and the wonderful sixteen-handed form of the Lord was discovered from the depths of the river. On examining the deity, the devotees could see that the Lord was positioned with his left leg raised and bent in order to place the demon Hiranyakashipu upon it, and also to hold the left arm of the demon to prevent him from escaping. His other foot was placed firmly on the doorstep of Hiranyakashipu. On the left side of the Lord were small deities of Lakshmi-devi and Prahlad Maharaja. On the right side were deities of Bhudevi (the earth goddess) and Garuda. All around the form of Lord Nrsimha were wonderful carvings of the famous daśāvatāras, ten incarnations of Lord Krishna.