Lord Narasimha is the fourth incarnation of Lord Maha
Vishnu who incarnated to kill Demon Hiranyakashyap and to save his devotee
Prahlada. He is said to have more than 74 forms on the basis of his different
postures or weapons. Out of this 9 forms are the most popular. These depictions
are made based on the Famous Ahobilam Nava Narasimha temples.
Following is my coin collection with different forms
of Lord Narasimha:
1. Shantha
Narasimha:
The lord is depicted standing in peaceful mood.
2. Bhargava Narasimha:
Bargava is Parasurama, he did penance to see Lord in
his Ugra Narasimha form. Lord Vishnu appeared as Ugra Narasimha to and also
showed all His Dasavatharam (ten incarnations) to Parasurama.
3. Karanja Narasimha:
Karanja is a tree. Hanuman did penance to see Lord
Rama (Another incarnation of Vishnu) in Ahobilam as the Lord appeared as
Narasimha Hanuman requested him to give darshan as Rama. So the Lord gave
darshan along with bow and arrow with the celestial serpent as umbrella (to
show that he is Maha Vishnu) to Hanuman here under the Karanja tree (Punga tree
in Tamil)
4. Narasimha
with Garuda:
In the upper Ahobilam temple the Lord is self-formed
inside a cave to give darshan to Garuda. The lord is shown in a ferocious forms.
5. Ugra
Narasimha:
Ugra means ferocious. In this
form Lord Narasimha is depicted with Hiranya on His lap.
6. Yoga Narasimha:
Here the Lord is depicted in a yogic posture with His
legs crossed and the hands in yogic posture. The legend is that He taught the
nuances of yoga to prahalada here.
7.
Lakshmi Narasimha:
The Lord is depicted along with his
consort Lakshmi.
According to Bhagavata Purana Lord Maha Vishnu in his
avatar as Varaha killed Demon Hiranyaksha. The Demon Hiranyakshas brother
Hiranyakashipu angered by this gained mystical powers from Brahma by undergoing
many years of austerity and penance so that he could take revenge on Vishnu.
Pleased by this Lord Brahma gives him the boon that Hiranyakashipu could not be
killed by human, God or animal or during the day or night or on the threshold
of a courtyard or on the earth or space or using any weapon. So after
getting a boon Hiranyakashyap returned to his kingdom and began to trouble the
Gods. He also declared himself as God and ordered all to worship him. When his
son Prahlada told him that Vishnu is the only God and cannot accept his father
as God he tried to kill Prahlada. The servants threw Prahlada from top of
mountains and in to the sea but could not kill him. Snakes and fire also could
not harm him.
The Demon asked Prahlada that is
Vishnu present in this pillar and took his mace to hit the pillar. Lord Vishnu
emerged from the pillar in his incarnation as Lord Narasimha with the head of a
Lion and body of the man. The Demon King hit Narasimha with his mace but
Narasimha brushed it aside swiftly. It was twilight and Narasimha caught hold
of the demon Hiranyakashipu. He sat on the threshold of the court room, placed
the body of the demon on his thighs, and pierced his nails into the body of the
demon and broke open his stomach killing him.
