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नरसिंह
DashavataraYuga
Satya Yuga
Hiranyakashipu (brother of Hiranyaksha) gained a boon: not killable by man or beast, by day or night, indoors or outdoors, by any weapon. He persecuted his Vishnu-devotee son Prahlada. Vishnu emerged as Narasimha (man-lion = neither man nor beast) at twilight (neither day nor night) on the threshold (neither indoors nor outdoors) and killed him with his claws (no weapon).
Lion-headed man, four arms, often shown disemboweling Hiranyakashipu on his thighs; ugra (fierce) form
Unconditional protection of devotees; transcendence of all binary categories
ॐ उग्रं वीरं महाविष्णुं ज्वलन्तं सर्वतोमुखम्। नृसिंहं भीषणं भद्रं मृत्युमृत्युं नमाम्यहम्॥
Ahobilam (9 Narasimha shrines, Andhra Pradesh); Yadagirigutta; Simhachalam
Narasimha Jayanti (Vaishakha shukla chaturdashi)
Narasimha is one of 10 deities in the Dashavatara tradition. Reading Narasimha alone gives the iconographic outline; reading the full grouping reveals what kind of cosmic principle the tradition is working with. The Dashavatara as a whole describes a coherent set of relationships — between forms of the divine, between cosmic functions, or between stages of spiritual realisation.
Ten primary descents of Vishnu to restore dharma when adharma rises. The traditional list (Bhagavata Purana 1.3.24): Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki. Some traditions (especially Gaudiya) substitute Balarama for Buddha.
In daily worship, devotees may invoke Narasimha alone — through their specific mantra and iconographic form — or invoke the full Dashavatara grouping in sequence (especially during festivals like Navarātri for the Navadurgā, or daily archana for the Aṣṭalakṣmī). Both modes are traditional and authoritative; the choice depends on the family’s sampradāya and the kuldevtā tradition.