Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple – Legends
Hiranyakasipu
was troubling the Devas as he got a boon from Brahma that no human can kill him, neither could he be
killed in morning, noon or night nor in air, water or ground. His son Prahalada was an ardent devotee of Vishnu against the wishes
of his father. He also tried to slay Prahalada at various times, just to be
saved by the divine grace of Vishnu. During a heated argument with Prahalada,
Hiranyakasipu was asking if Vishnu is present everywhere and went on to break a
pillar with his weapon. Vishnu took the avatar of Narasimha and appeared from the pillar.
Narasimha
was a human with lion face and slayed Hiranyakasipu on an evening time in a
doorway, which was neither land nor air. Ages passed by, While Sri Anjaneya was
bathing in River Kandaki in Nepal; He got a stone named Salagrama in the
shape of Lord Vishnu. He was carrying it through the sky and passed
through this place. He had to take a bath but could not as the Salagrama should
not be placed on Earth. He then just found Sri Mahalakshmi performing
penance and enquired the reason for her penance.
Mother
told him that she wanted to see the Lord in Narasimha form and hence her
penance. Hanuman entrusted the saligrama to her and asked her to hold it until
he returns. Lakshmi placed the image at this place, which grew into a mount
before Hanuman could return. Narasimha appeared before both of them and set his
abode at this place. The Narasimhaswamy temple, located right at the foot hills is also associated
with this legend and Hanuman is believed to have worshipped him in standing
posture form a distance axial to the temple. Anjaneya also stayed back in
this place.
Many
attempts have been made to build a shelter over Anjaneya/Hanuman. The legend
says that Hanuman rejected a roof and appeared in the dreams of devotees and
said, “My supreme master Lord Sri Narasimha lives inside a cave. There is no
roof for him as the hill is the natural roof. So I too do not want a roof and
would like to be under the open sky and offer my devotions to Lord Narasimha
forever.” The Kings of the Pallava dynasty improved the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple
by building many mandapams (halls) and adding compound walls and stone
sculptures. They failed to build a roof for Sri Hanuman.