Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple is located on the banks of the sacred river Krishna in the Suryapet district of Telangana (India). The temple is part of the Pancha Narasimha kshetras in Dravida Desha (Andhra & Telangana). Telangana is well known for its cave temples and so, Mattapalli is one of them. The temple used to be in the middle of a beautiful forest.
There is a belief that those who stay in Mattapalli for 11 days and worship the Lord by circumambulating Him wet 32 times twice a day directly after a holy dip in the Krishna river will get relief from their problems. There is a popular verse about Mattapalli:
ekameva kshetram, mattapalli kshetram, na anyat kshetram, mattapalli tulyam
ekameva tatvam, mattapalli naatham, na anyat tatvam, palli simha tulyam
“There is only one such kshetra as Mattapalli. There is no other kshetra like Mattapalli. There is only one Lord in Mattapalli and He is the Lord of Mattapalli. There is no other tattva whosoever comparable to Him.”
Though not verified, there is a talk amongst devotees about the Lord sending bees to drive away the invading Mughal army centuries ago on the plea of a devotee.
History of Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple
Sage Bharadwaja used to worship the swayambhu (self-manifested) Deity of Lord Yogananda Narasimha along with other sages exclusively. As per the desires of the sages and the Lord Himself, the Deity of Lord Yogananda Narasimha was revealed for the benefit of the common people at an appropriate time in Kali yuga. This happened through a King called Anumala Machireddy, the ruler of Thangeda which is three kilometers away from Mattapalli on the opposite banks of river Krishna.
Lord Narasimha appeared in the dream of King Anumala desiring that His Deity be found and established for the benefit of everyone. The King set out with his men to the forest of Mattapalli and searched everywhere on the banks of river Krishna. Being unable to find the Deity, the King became morose and fell asleep in the forest. Lord Narasimha appeared in the King’s dream again telling him to search for the Deity in a cave near an ‘Aare’ tree behind some foliage.
The King woke up excitedly from his dream and set out to search for the Deity as instructed. He found the Deity of Sri Yogananda Narasimha in a seated posture with conch and disc, covered by the hood of Sheshanaga. He was surprised at this sight and the fact that the Lord was placed as if He was being worshiped regularly with flowers, fruits, incense and other articles.
Following this, King Anumala established the worship of Sri Yogananda Narasimha and opened up the place to everyone. From then, the Lord has been giving His merciful darshan to anyone who visits Him.
Deities of Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha
The Mattapalli temple houses three main Deities i.e. Sri Yogananda Narasimha, Sri Rajyalakshmi Devi and Sri Chenchulakshmi Devi.
Lord Yogananda Narasimha is a swayambhu Deity holding the Shankha and Chakra in His upper left lotus hand and upper right lotus hand respectively. He rests His lower left lotus hand on His knee while His lower right lotus hand is not to be seen clearly. He wears a silver kavacham i.e. body armor around His neck and sports a moustache.
The Deity is one feet in height and is seated in the padmasana posture. He had self-manifested from a rock. On His left side, there are two eyes and three namams considered as Prahlada, the top-most devotee of Lord Narasimha.
At the lotus feet of Sri Yogananda Narasimha sits a one foot long rectangular rock called ‘Chakri’, the ardent devotee of the Lord. Chakri requested the boon of liberation but was denied the same by the Lord. Rather, the Lord didn’t want to remain separated from Chakri. Hence, Chakri was converted into a rock by the Lord and placed at His lotus feet. Abhishekam is done to Chakri too along with Sri Yogananda Narasimha Swamy.
To the left of Sri Yogananda Narasimha Swamy sits Sri Rajyalakshmi Devi on a lotus flower. Her Deity is 1.5 feet high holding lotus flowers in Her upper hands. Her lower right hand is in the abhaya mudra while Her lower left hand depicts the suchi mudra. This Deity was consecrated in 1975 to give darshan to devotees as the original rock carved Deity beneath this Deity isn’t visible.
Below the Deity of Sri Yogananda Narasimha sits the utsavar i.e. festival Deities. Deities of Sri Sudarshana, Nammazhwar and another Azhwar can be seen too. To the right of the sanctum sits 11 Deities of the Azhwars, of which four face the east and seven face the west.
Architecture of Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple
Even though the Lord resides in a cave temple, there are enough architectural elements supporting the temple.
The sanctum has a big rock as its roof while the entrance to the sanctum has a sculptured rock as its roof. Sri Gaja Lakshmi has been carved on the entrance roof with two elephants raising their trunks. The sanctum faces the west.
Before the sanctum lies the mukhamantapa 20 feet in height and comprising of 21 pillars beneath a cement roof. There is a door to the north called as Vaikuntha Dwara before which lies a mantapa with five pillars and cement roof. Another entrance lies to the south.
The Ramanuja Kutam i.e. temple kitchen or Madapalli lies to the north of the temple. As there is no place to do pradakshina i.e. circumambulation of the Deity, devotees perform the same around the dhwajastambha i.e. flag-pole or around the Deity of Lord Hanuman facing Lord Yogananda Narasimha.
Festivals of Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple
The temple celebrates a good number of festivals. Narasimha Jayanthi, Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Mukkoti Ekadashi, Ugadi, Krishna Janmashtami, Rama Navami, Dhanurmasa Aradhana and Sankranthi are celebrated here.
The annual festival of the temple called as Brahmotsava is celebrated over six days in the month of Chaitra (April/May) from the Suddha Trayodashi to Bahula Tadiya. The festival is preceded by three days of Adhyayana Utsavas from Suddha Dashami to Suddha Dwadashi.
On certain festivals, more than 5000 devotees gather at the temple to participate in the festival. Prasadam is served to all the devotees on these days.
Temple timings of Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple
The temple is open for darshan at the following times:
Morning: 05.00 AM to 12.00 PM
Evening: 04.00 PM to 07.30 PM
Beginning from Suprabhatam at 5 AM in the morning to the Kavaatabandhanam at 7.30 PM, the temple is teeming with devotees and services to Sri Yogananda Narasimha Swamy.
You can offer multiple sevas on the spot or book them on a long-term basis during the opening hours.
How to reach Mattapalli Yogananda Narasimha Temple
Visit Mattapalli Temple in the company of like-minded devotees with no hassles on Tirtha Yatra’s Bhadrachalam Yatra. The temple is 140 kms away from the city of Vijayawada. At a distance of 25 kms, Huzurnagar is the nearest and major center.
You may use any of these or combination of transportation means to reach Mattapalli:
By Road: State buses are available from major cities of Telangana to Huzurnagar. From Huzurnagar and Nalgonda, many buses and private taxis are available to the temple.
By Rail: Nadikude Junction is the nearest railway station 21.4 kms away. You can alight at Nadikude Junction and board a bus or hire a taxi to Mattapalli.
By Air: Vijayawada airport is the nearest at a distance of 157 kms. The airport at Hyderabad is the next nearest one 217 kms away from Mattapalli. You can fly into these airports and board a bus to Huzurnagar. You will get connecting buses and private taxis further on to Mattapalli.
Mattapalli: The land blessed by the Sages
The lilas of Mattapalli Sri Yogananda Narasimha Swamy are very relishing to the devotees. The worship of the Lord by the sages in the beginning set the standards for His worship later when He decided to reveal Himself to the commoners.
From our knowledge of the uncommon lilas of the Lord, there is no doubt that the Lord of Mattapalli blesses any devotee who sincerely seeks His shelter. The blessings of the sages too are undoubtedly there on those who revere the Lord of Mattapalli, for they desire the welfare of all beings. Jaya Yogananda Narasimha Swamy.
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