English: The Sri Ahobila Narasimha Swamy temple, also known as the Ugra Narasimha temple, is located in the Upper Ahobilam, Nallamala hills, Andhra Pradesh (the Eastern Ghats). It is about 10 kilometers uphill from Lower Ahobilam village, 70 kilometers southeast of Nandyal town (NH 40), 110 kilometers northeast from Tadipatri, and 140 kilometers southeast from the city of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.

Background:

• It is one of the temples in Ahobilam, Andhra Pradesh – a major historic South Indian pilgrimage site consisting of 9 Narasimha temples in the Upper Ahobilam hills. These are mentioned in the Vaishnavism-related Sanskrit Puranas and the Tamil texts such as the Kancimahatyma as the Navanarasimha-kshetra pilgrimage site. The site is particularly important to Tamils and Telugu speaking Hindus, as the tradition links this site to Kanchipuram mathas and education centers.
• All the temples here are dedicated to the Narasimha avatar of Vishnu in the context of Prahlada–Hiranyakasipu mythology, one of the legends behind the Hindu festival of Holi. Per the regional legends, the entire story of man-lion avatar plays out between sites in Tamil Nadu and Ahobilam in Andhra Pradesh. The Vishnu avatar kills the demon-king hiding in Ahobilam, and thereby Vishnu protects and saves Prahlada from religious persecution.
• The man-lion Narasimha avatar of Vishnu is ancient, and is found in the Brahmana layer of the Vedas (c. 900 BCE).
• The temples in Ahobilam and Nallamala hills have roots in 10th to 12th-century Kakatiya period, with the oldest layer attributed to the Reddis, whose inscriptions over three centuries describe their lineage linking them to the Sudra caste and their being devout Hindus. As regional governors of a prosperous region under the Kakatiya kings, they built major spectacular temples in their own territory in Telangana and also sponsored minor temples and mathas (monasteries) outside of their territory such as those in Ahobilam in what is now Andhra Pradesh.
• The temples in Ahobilam were damaged in the Deccan wars between newly forming Muslim Sultanates and older Hindu kingdoms by the early 16th-century. Ahobilam came under Vijayanagara Empire control after the 14th- century, and the temples underwent major reconstruction (The Lower Ahobilam temple is from the Tuluva period, 16th-century). After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, the temples were again vandalized.
• Ahobilam remained in ruins and decaying during the Nizam rule, with no state support. During the colonial era, the 19th-century British scholars and archaeologists rediscovered them in a state of ruin and neglect with the forest overgrowing over the Ahobilam temples. They recognized their significance and the first photographs and field reports were published in the second half of the 19th-century. After 1947, and particularly after the mid 1990s, the temples have been cleaned, restored and developed as a tourism and pilgrimage site with the state government protection.

This temple:

• Much of this temple as it survives now is from the 14th-century, attributed to the Sangamas (1336–1404 CE) of the early Vijayanagara Empire. The inscription evidence suggests that the Tuluvas of later Vijayanagara Empire period added a large mandapa west of the temple in the 16th-century as a facility for pilgrims resting place (choultery).
• The temple is located near the top of a hill at the end of a hilly road. It is the primary and contains the oldest cave temple that likely is from the 8th to 10th-century. The cave has a rock formation that looks like Narasimha emerging from a rock pillar (svayambhu). This temple was a part of an much older Hindu pilgrimage site for the Vaishnavas (Vishnu-based tradition). This natural cavern is the principal site for darshana. There is a small mandapa to the north of this cavern, with six columns, four set in a circle in the rangabhumi format. This has three entrances, the fourth facing the cavern.
• The temple complex has many major mandapas and structures. These are reliefs and sculptures celebrating the Ramayana and lilas of Krishna (Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana). Along with avatars of Vishnu, images of Sita, Hanuman are depicted, as are scenes with musicians, dancers, festivals, artha, kama and dharma. Two large free standing dvarapalas with daggers are near the north doorway.
• Sections of the rangamandapa of this temple were likely added during the later Sangamas period (around 1400 CE) because of the differences in design and architecture than the rest of the temple, while the outermost row of columns were added in the Tuluva era of Vijayanagara Empire. The temple complex was important to different Hindu rulers of Vijayanagara era over a 250 year period.
• The Tuluvas added a colorful gopura to this temple complex, as well as mandapas along the way from Lower Ahobilam with water tanks, as resting stages (choultry) for the pilgrims walking uphill. The hike passes through several seasonable waterfalls midst Deccan forest of the Eastern Ghats. They also added many mandapas inside the temple area. These are fully sculptured with fluted colonettes, vyalas, intricate moldings. The gopura too has ornate upapitha, with gala and capping salas. The figures and reliefs depicts Vaishnava deities as well as a galaxy of secular celebratory symbols, motifs such as dancers, soldiers, wrestlers, sportsmen, farmers, horses, elephants along with a few scenes from Ramayana. In total, the complex has six major mandapas, several pillared halls around the natural cavern of greater antiquity.