Sholinghur Narasimhar Temple

Sholinghur (Sholingur) town shares its border with Andhra Pradesh state, is famous for Narasimha temple, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. According to the legends, Hirayana was a demon king who did penance to get many boons. He became arrogant of getting those from the Lord which eventually heaped his pride. To mitigate the situation and to save people from his devastating activities, lord Vishnu took the incarnation as lord Narasimha, a lion headed human. To get the view of the Narasimha avatharam, Saptha Rishis started their tapas here. Within one Kadigai (fraction of a second), lord Narasimha gave his darshan. So, this place is called ‘Thirukkadigai’. The length of the big hill temple is 200 feet and breadth 150 feet which comes to an acre.

The temple is at 750 feet height with around 1300 steps. There are seven mandapams in between the foot of the hill and the entrance of the temple. The presiding deity Lord Narasimha is seen here in yogic posture. Goddess Sri Amirthavalli Thayar is facing east. There is also a temple for Anjaneya on the small hill adjacent to the main hill. It is about 350 feet high and can be reached by about 400 steps. The lord is said to cure the mental disability and chronic diseases. There is a small window in the big hill temple from where it is believed that Lord Narasimha gives blessings to Lord Anjaneya of the small hill. It is believed that the eyes of Yoga Anjaneya in a small hill are fixed at the feet of Yoga Narasimha. It will take half a day for a fit person to visit both the hill temples.