Our
family deity is Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy of Nampally Gutta. The temple is
situated on a hill at Nampally village near Vemulawada in Karimnagar district.
The temple is 145 Km from our residence at Paradise in Secunderabad. Sri
Narasimha Swamy is an Avatar of Sri Vishnu and one of Hinduism's popular
deities. He is in the form of half-man and half-lion. He has a human-like torso
and a lower body but with a lion-like face and claws. He is known as a great
protector of his devotees. The purpose of his Avatar was to kill his devotee
Prahalada's father Hiranyakashipu who was torturing his son for praying Vishnu.
Hiranyakashipu had a boon that he cannot be killed by any God, man, animal,
during day time or night, indoors or outdoors. Hence the Avatar of Sri
Narasimha, half-man & half-lion. Hiranyakashipu is killed during twilight
on the threshold of his house by placing him over his lap. Since the time of my
forefathers, all their descendants, wherever they are, have prayed and continue
to pray Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy of Nampally as their Ilavelpu/Kuladevatha
and Ishta-dhaivam.
We
sincerely pray at many temples of all Gods and Goddesses in the twin cities of
Hyderabad and Secunderabad regularly. We go on frequent pilgrimages to
Yadagirigutta, Nacharam, Chilkur, Vargal, Mangalpalli, Warangal, Vemulawada and
other nearby temples. We also visit Tirupati almost every year. We have visited almost all other important
temples in Andhra Pradesh more than once that is Bhadrachalam, Annavaram,
Srisailam, Basara, Kalahasti, Kanipakam, Vijayawada, Mangalagiri, Kotappa Konda,
Simhachalam, Kaleshwaram, Dharmapuri and many more temples in the State. We
have also gone on pilgrimage to temples in other States like Madurai,
Srirangam, Tanjore, Kanyakumari, Kancheepuram, Chidambaram, Thiruvananthapuram,
Udipi, Kolkata, Varanasi, Badrinath, Puttaparthi, Shirdi etc. And also many
other temples in places we have visited on holidays or for business. My
youngest son Srinath who is in Birmingham visits the Tividale temple every
week. All these temples in the above places are of every known Hindu God and
Goddess. We pray at all these places and fulfil our vows for receiving divine
blessings.
However,
for some auspicious occasions, we also have to compulsorily go to the shrine of
our family deity and pray. This is a custom we learnt from our parents and they
from their ancestors. In the good old days of our forefathers, they travelled
for miles and days by bullock-carts to reach Nampally and comply with this
tradition. We are very comfortable with personal transport these days but
unfortunately, we find it difficult to upkeep this tradition. Our visits to
Nampally shrine are less frequent now, but compulsorily for the Kesha-Khandana/Puttu-Ventrukalu/First
symbolic haircut Ceremony of all male children in the family. The first
five-locks of hair are cut by the child’s maternal uncle and then the head
tonsured by a barber in the temple premises. A few locks of hair are placed in
the temple Hundi. Our visits to the family deity have certainly reduced but
Nampally Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy is always in our thoughts and prayers.
A Video of us
at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Nampally:
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