Narasimha
Narasimha iconography shows him with a human torso and lower body, with a leonine face and claws, typically with the asura Hiranyakashipu being disemboweled and killed by him in his lap. The asura king was the powerful elder brother of the evil Hiranyaksha, who had been previously killed by Vishnu as Varaha, and thus hated the latter. Hiranyakashipu gained a boon from Brahma due to which he could not be killed during the day or night, inside or outside the house; neither in the sky nor on land nor in Svarga nor in Patala, by any weapon, nor by humans, deities, demons, or animals. Endowed with this boon, he began to wreak chaos and havoc, persecuting all the devotees of Vishnu, including his own son Prahlada. Vishnu, cognisant of the asura's boon, creatively assumed a hybrid form that was neither human nor animal as a lion in the name of Narasimha, and Narashima disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu and at the junction of day and night, at the threshold of his palace, which was neither inside nor the outside, upon his lap, and with his claws. Narasimha is known primarily as the 'Great Protector' who specifically defends and protects his devotees from evil. The most popular Narasimha myth is the legend of his protection of his devotee Prahlada, and the killing of Prahlada's wicked father and demon Hiranyakashipu.
Narasimha is one of the major deities in Vaishnavism, and his legends are revered in Vaikhanasas, Sri Vaishnavism, Sadha Vaishnavism, and various other Vaishnava traditions of Hinduism. He is celebrated in many regional Hindu temples, texts, performance arts, and festivals such as the Hindu festival of colours of the spring, called Holi.
One of the earliest representation of Narasimha, dating back to the 4th-century CE, is from Kondamotu in Coastal Andhra. Other older known artworks of Narasimha have been found at several sites across Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, such as at the Mathura archaeological site. These have been variously dated between the 2nd and the 4th century CE. Provided by Wikipedia
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6by Devulapalli Narasimha Swamy, Sahitya Sanivarapu, Srinivas Moogla, Vasavi KapalavaiGet full text
Published 2015-01-01
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8by Ankit Mathur, Narasimha Swamy, Samrat Thapa, Santanu Chakraborthy, Latha JagannathanGet full text
Published 2018-01-01
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10by Srinivas Moogala, Sahitya Sanivarapu, Ramanarayana Boyapati, Narasimha Swamy Devulapalli, Swarna Chakrapani, Laxmikanth KolaparthyGet full text
Published 2014-01-01
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12by Kishore Kumar Katuri, P Jaya Kumar, Chakrapani Swarna, D Narasimha Swamy, Kurumathur V ArunGet full text
Published 2013-01-01
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14by Anett Illing, Marianne Stockmann, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Leonhard Linta, Ronan Russell, Martin Müller, Thomas Seufferlein, Stefan Liebau, Alexander KlegerGet full text
Published 2013-01-01
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15by Oliver Kisker, Shinya Onizuka, Christian M. Becker, Michael Fannon, Evelyn Flynn, Robert D'Amato, Bruce Zetter, Judah Folkman, Rahul Ray, Narasimha Swamy, Steven Pirie-ShepherdGet full text
Published 2003-01-01
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