Velachery Yoga Narasimhar Temple, Chennai

Address

Velachery Yoga Narasimhar Temple, Velachery Rd, Ram Nagar, Murugapakkam, Velachery, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600042

Diety

Yoga Narasimhar Amman: Amirtha Bala Valli Thaayar

Introduction

Yoga Narasimhar Temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu located at Velachery, well-known locality of Chennai City in Tamil Nadu. Presiding Deity is called as Yoga Narasimhar and Mother is called as Amirtha Bala Valli Thaayar. The Temple is considered as an Abhimana Sthalam. This temple is located very near to Dandeeswarar Temple.

Puranic Significance

The temple is believed to be of 1500 years old. The temple is believed to have been constructed during the same period of Dandeeswarar and Chelliamman temples during the Chola Era. Stone inscriptions mentioning the contributions of Rajaraja Chola, Pallava King Dhandi Varma have been found here. A bronze idol of Veda Narayana from the Pallava period predates the recorded times of this ancient temple Vedasreni: During Tretha Yuga, the Four Vedas were snatched away from Lord Brahmma by the demon Somasura. Lord Vishnu recovered them from the demon. As the Vedas remained with the demon for some time, their sanctity was lost as they had acquired an asura Dosha. They prayed to Lord Shiva at this place to become pure and holy again. Lord Shiva purified the Vedas here and restored them to their original glory. The place where the four Vedas prayed was known as Vedasreni, which got changed in the later yugas and now called as Velachery. Veda Narayanar: The presence of Veda Narayanar here is also connected to the story of retrieval of the lost Vedas mentioned in the Dandeeswarar Temple. Velvichery: As per another version, a lot of yagnas were conducted in this village. Yagna is called as Velvi in Tamil language. The place was called as Velvichery, which later became Velachery. Lord Narasimha darshan to Prahaladha: Lord Narasimha is believed to have given Darshan to Prahaladha here. References in Periya Thirumozhi: The temple is a very ancient temple and finds itself in the Periya Thirumozhi song sung, praising the Lord Narasimhar of this temple. Dhandeeswaram: According to the Sthala Puranam, the temple was constructed by King Dandi Varma and he donated huge portions of land as alms to the Brahmins. Hence the place is called as Dhandeeswaram Shaivite and Vaishnavite Groups: The Velachery Main Road of today was the earlier years ago division of the Shaivite and Vaishnavite communities who resided in the area. Today too the agraharam which is located in the area around Sri Dandeeswarar Kovil houses the Iyer community and the agraharam around Sri Yoga Narasimha Swamy Kovil houses the Iyengar and Telugu Brahmin community who are Vaishnavites by origin.

Special Features

This is a small temple with entrances from east and west. The temple and the main deity face west and the Rajagopuram on the western entrance is 3 tiered. Palipeedam and Dwajasthambam are immediately after the Rajagopuram. The original temple had been damaged vastly and the renovation work had been going on for several years which were completed in 2016. Presiding Deity is called as Yoga Narasimhar and is facing west. The shrine consists of the Sanctum, Arthamandapam, and Mahamandapam. The main deity Yoga Narasimhar is a large idol and is in sitting posture facing west. The moolavar is large at about 4 ft. in height. The Lord has four hands – two carrying the Shangu and Chakra and two placed on his knees in a yogic posture. There are several depictions of Narasimha around the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum. Prahaladha (upon whose prayers the lord took Narasimha Avatar to kill his Asura father Hiranyakasipu) is seen in front of the main deity instead of the usual Garuda. In the newly constructed outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum, nine forms of Narasimha (Ahobila, Jwala, Malola, Krodha, Kaaranja, Bhargava, Yoga, Chatravada and Paavana Narasimhas) can be seen. In the outer niches of the sanctum sanctorum are Matsya Avatar, Lakshmi Narasimha, Lakshmi Varaha and Lakshmi Narayana. Vimana over the sanctum is called as Vedapuri Vimanam. The Utsavar (processional deity) is Bhaktavatsala Perumal flanked by Sridevi and Bhoodevi. But the place gets its name from Lord Vedanarayana Perumal, who is enshrined in the Manimandapam of the temple. He is seen standing, facing west with the Prayoga Chakra (the holy disc) ready to leave his hand to slay the evil-doer. This is also a rare position. It is Pallava period bronze, which is older than the original temple. Lord Devanatha in Chettypunnyam at Singaperumalkoil, near Chengalpattu is also in a similar position. Velachery was also known as Vedanarayanapuram in Tamil and Vedasreni in Sanskrit after this Lord. Mother is called as Amirtha Bala Valli Thaayar and is facing east. She is housed in a separate shrine in the main prakaram (precinct). There are shrines for Andal, Chakrathazhwar, Kothandaramar, Anjaneya, Naagar, Bhaktavatsala Perumal with Sridevi and Bhoodevi (processional deities), Ramanuja, Manavala Mamunigal and Azhwars in the Temple premises. A banyan tree is found with Nagars on the right side of the Dwajasthambam. The temple was rebuilt recently by the Prahaladha Kainkarya trust through public money and Kumbabishekam was performed in 2016. The temple was rebuilt completely with granite stone. This Yoga Narasimha Temple had inscriptions right from the period of Raja Raja Chola. It is believed to have been built during the Chola period. The original temple’s base – Kumudham- is installed separately, which has inscriptions.