On the left side of the Lord, ther are decorated three Namams (Thirumann), and two eyes, which are considered as the form of Prahlada, the ardent devotee of the Lord. He has kept His lower left hand on His left knee, and His lower right hand is not visible. Seated in Padmasana, He holds a Chakra in His upper right hand and Sankha in His upper left hand. Another rock is spread like the hood of Sesha over it. The Lord manifested Himself on a rock, which is on the backside of the Garbhagriha. The roof of the Garbhagriha is a big rock. On it is the sculptured motif of Gaja Lakshmi with two elephants raising their trunks upwards on either side. There is a rock above the door to the sanctum sanctorum. Temple Architecture Garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) However, there is no historic recorded information to support this. Their attempt to capture this temple proved a futile exercise. Then the Lord created countless bees which attacked and drove the Mughal soldiers away. When Mughal forces were to attack the temple, she prayed to the Lord to dispell the danger. She lived during the period of the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb. However, the fort of Thangeda is now in ruins.Ĭhennuri Sri Narasimha Rao, Chairman of the temple committee, said that one “Chennuri Giramma”, belonging to his great-grand-forefathers was an ardent devotee of Sri Mattapalli Narasimha. The name and fame of Machireddi has lived down to this day and we still see his benevolence and benefaction inscribed in the golden kalasams in the Siva temple of Srisailam, and others like Kasi Visheswara, Lord Gopala in Thangeda etc. Overjoyed, the ruler revealed the Maha Kshetram to the general public and constructed a Mukhaalaya. Waking up, the ruler found the cave and the image of the Lord in a seated posture, with the wellspread hood of Sesha over his head, fully adorned with Shankha Chakra Gadha and as if the Lord was being worshipped regularly, with flowers, sacred leaves, fruits etc. Again the Lord appeared in his dream and ordained him to search further, in a designated area near an “Aare” tree hidden behind the foliage in a cave. Sad and depressed, he fell asleep in the forest. The ruler accompanied by his pandits, searched all the caves on the banks of river Krishna, as ordained by the Lord, but could not trace the location of the deity. The Lord wished Machireddi to reveal his image for the good of the mankind during Kali Yuga. The deity was revealed in a dream to the devotee Sri Anumala Machireddi, the ruler of Thangeda which is 3 km off Mattapalli on the opposite bank of river Krishna. An auspicious time for this came in during the Kali Yuga. The sages who had the welfare of this world at their heart decided to throw open this holy place to the common man. In those unknown times, only sages and gods could worship the self revealed images of Narasimha in the cave. Legend had it that Sri Bharadwaaja Maharshi worshipped this deity everyday accompanied by several other sages. In one of the caves adjoining the pilgrim town, the image of the Lord has been radiating glory from times immemorial. Sthala Puranam (Temple in the legends) The Maha Kshetram is in the midst of a dense and lovely forest, which instills awe and inspiration in the minds of the visiting pilgrims.
The presiding deities of this temple are: Sri Yogananda Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, Sri Raajyalakshmi Thaayar, and Sri Chenchu Lakshmi Thaayar. Mattapalli is situated on the banks of river Krishna, in Huzurnagar taluq of Nalgonda District in Andhra Pradesh, India. Rishi aradhana Kshetram: Sri Bharadwaja Maharishi worshiped in this place.Moolavar: Shree Yoganandha Lakshmi Narasihmar.Thayar thirunamam: Rajya Lakshmi Thayar.
This Mahakshetram is situated on the banks of river Krinaveni & is 140km from Vijayawada.Sri Mukkoor Lakshmi Narasimhacharaiyar has done many swathi yagnas in this kethram.(Vedadri, Vadapalli, Mattapalli, Mangalagiri, and Ketavaram).