History and Art and Culture
‘Nava Narasimha’: A thematic dance production on the presiding deity of Ahobilam
- Ahobilam, or Singavezhkundram, one of the 108 divyadesams, located in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, consists of nine separate shrines for the deity that are divided into lower and upper Ahobilam, some of which are located on a hilly terrain and a few amid thick forest.
- According to the sthala purana, Lord Narasimha, who took this fierce form to protect his devotee Prahlada, came to Ahobilam to vanquish demon Hiranyakasipu. It is here that deities including Shiva, Rama, Brahma, Hanuman and Garuda have offered their prayers to this fierce avatar.
- Apart from this, Ahobilam has abundant architectural and epigraphical evidences, chronicled right from the times of the Chalukyas in the eighth century AD.
- Nalayira Divyaprabhandam, Abeethi Stavam, Narayaneeyam, Avanthika Parinayam (the Sanskrit play written by Yateendra Mahadesikan, the seventh Jeer of Ahobila Mutt, about the wedding of Narasimha (Ahobaleshwar) with Mahalakshmi (Chenchu Lakshmi)), Ashtapadi, Karavalamba Stotram, and Annamacharya kritis, are some of the hymns that highlight the different qualities of the deity.
- The Telugu folk songs, (chosen in consultation with Aparna Srikanth), which are used in the production, signifies the importance of the Chenchu tribe in Ahobilam.
Source: The Hindu
