Article Title: Simhachalam temple
03-10-2022
History & Art and Culture Prelims Plus
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Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Simhachalam is a Hindu temple situated on the Simhachalam Hill Range, which is 300 metres above the sea level in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
It is dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped there as Varaha Narasimha.
Simhachalam is one of the 32 Narasimha temples in Andhra Pradesh which are important pilgrimage centres.
It was regarded as an important centre of Vaishnavism in the medieval period along with Srikurmam and others.
The earliest inscription at the temple belongs to 11th-century CE recording the gift by a private individual in the era of Chola king Kulottunga I.
In the later half of the 13th century, the temple complex underwent radical physical changes during the reign of the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I.
Narahari Tirtha, a Dvaita philosopher and Eastern Ganga minister converted the Simhachalam temple into an educational establishment of renown and a religious centre for Vaishnavism.
It later received patronage from many royal families, of which Tuluva dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire is a notable one.
The temple underwent 40 years of religious inactivity from 1564 to 1604 CE.
In 1949, the temple came under the purview of the state government and is currently administered by the Simhachalam Devasthanam Board.
The architecture is a mixture of the styles of the Kalinga Architecture, Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, and the Great Cholas.
Simhachalam is the second-largest temple, after Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, in terms of income earned.
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