Sree Ugra Narasimha Swamy Temple – Maddur

 

Sree Ugra Narasimha Swamy Temple is located in Maddur town in the Mandya district of Karnataka State.

This deity is one of the most ferocious forms of Lord Narasimha (with eight hands and three eyes) on earth. With two hands he tears Hiranyakashipu apart, with the other two he is holding the intestines of Hiranyakashipu which appear like a garland on the transcendental body, and with the other four he holds the weapons of the Lord – Sudarshana (chakra/disc), Panchajanya (shankha / conch-shell), Pasha and Ankusha. The deity of Prahalad is to his right and to the left is the deity of Garuda who stands humbly praying to Lord Narasimha. While killing Hiranyakashipu his third eye was manifested.

 

Arjuna once asked Lord Krishna to appear in his most ferocious form- Narasimha to which Krishna replied that he couldn't show that ferocious form. Lord Brahma got a Murthy carved out of the Narasimha avatar and placed it in Maddur. 

 

The temple is facing east with a 5 tier Rajagopuram. Except dwarapalakas in each tier, there are no mages on the Rajagopuram. A Garuda gamba is in front and a 4-pillared mandapam with Dwajasthambam is immediately after the Rajagopuram.

 

The sanctum sanctorum consists of Sanctum, antarala, Navrang / Ardha mandapa and a maha mandapa. The temple including the outside structure was renovated in recent years and only a few structures speak the glory of the past. 

 

A nagara Vimana and vesara giriva are on the top of the sanctum without any images or stucco statues. The koshtam protruding outside the wall of the sanctum are built in recent years. Vishnu’s various avatar reliefs with cement and mortar are made on the prakara walls, which include Vishnu taking the incarnation of Narasimha for his devotee Bhakta Prahlada, who comes out of a pillar. In addition to this, there are sannadhis for Srinivasa, Yashoda with Krishna, the Consort of Narasimha Sri Sowmya Nayaki and Narasimha Nayaki, Sita, Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman, The garbhagriha, Sukhanasi and navrang which were built during the Hoysala period with soapstone, while the prakara patadalakana and the gopura are of the granite.

 

The plinth of the temple which consisted of several horizontal moldings has been completely covered by buttresses of brick and mortar of the later period. There are two Prakaras of which the outer wall is built like the wall of a fort; has a store room, kitchen, and a place to store the Vahanas while the inner prakara has other small temples. Maddur for the devotees is a Divya Narasimha Kshetra. Other deities worshipped in the temple are Sri Srinivasa, Yashoda, and Krishna, the consorts of Lord Narasimha – Srimati Sowmya Nayaki and Srimati Narasimha Nayaki, Sri Sita Rama Lakshmana and Hanuman. Hanumana stands to the left of Lord Rama which is observed in very few temples.

Temple Timings

7.00 am to 12.00 noon

5.00 pm to 8.00 pm

How to reach the Temple

63 km from Mysore

19 km from  Mandya