Simhachalam Temple

Simhachalam is one of the great Vaishnava kshetras of the east coast, associated with the legend of Prahlada, the boy-devotee saved by Narasimha, who is said to have first built a shrine here. The unique sandalwood covering symbolises the cooling of the fierce Narasimha's anger. The Chandanotsavam, when the deity is revealed, is one of the most anticipated temple events in Andhra Pradesh.

The Simhachalam ('lion's hill') temple, dating in its present form to the 11th–13th centuries under the Eastern Ganga and later dynasties, is a superb example of Kalinga and Dravidian architecture set amid forested hills above Visakhapatnam. Its deity, Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha, unites the Varaha (boar) and Narasimha (man-lion) avatars of Vishnu. For all but one day of the year the idol is entirely covered in a thick layer of sandalwood paste (chandanam) in a lingam-like form; only on Akshaya Tritiya, during the Chandanotsavam, is the true image revealed for a few hours to throngs of devotees.