Yadadri Temple, lit through a sun pipe, awarded ‘Green Place of Worship’

Hyderabad, Oct 21: Telangana's Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple has been awarded the 'Green Place of Worship' award by the Indian Green Building Council for the years 2022 to 2025.

The temple has been awarded for having compiled with 11 norms. Among these 11 norms were the preservation of the 13th Century Swayambhu Temple (self-manifested) deity untouched in the cave; rock preservation outside the temple premises; and innovative air-conditioning design that had 100 per cent centralised air-conditioning and ducting designed without affecting the temple walls, G Kishan Rao, vice-chairman and CEO of the temple authority said, as quoted by Telangana Today.

Yadagirigutta temple is located at a distance of about 60 KM from Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana. The flow of devotees visiting the temple for worship is high since it is situated near the capital city.

The temple has some unique features as day lighting access into the main temple is through a sun pipe. Also, the temple has supply of fresh air ventilation and exhaust systems, all windows across four orientations enabling cross ventilation.

The temple was constructed without cement, concrete or bricks, but only with Krishnashila (black granite).

The temple is century old and the renovation work of the 14.5-acre temple started in 2016. The cost of the project was over 1800 crore. The reconstruction work involved nearly 4,000 workers.

'Sudarshana Chakra that cannot be rotated and yet rotates on its own'

"In Treta yugam, there lived a sage by the name of Yadarishi, son of the great sage Rishyasrunga and Santa Devi who did penance inside a cave with the blessings of Anjaneya (Hanuman) on this hill between Bhongir (Bhuvanagiri) and Raigiri (Now in Nalgonda district of Telangana, India)," according to Yadagirigutta Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy Temple.

Pleased with his deep devotion, Lord Narasimha, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu appeared before him in five different forms as Sri Jwala Narasimha, Sri Yogananda, Sri Gandabherunda, Sri Ugra and Sri Lakshminarasimha. All these five forms (roopas) are presently worshipped within the temple.

"They later manifested themselves into finely sculpted forms that later came to be worshipped as Pancha Narasimha Kshetram."

There are Purana and traditional accounts of this Shrine, which are widely popular among the devotees. There is mention of the origin of this temple in the Skanda Purana, one of the famous 18 Puranas.

Glowing bright atop the sikharam of garbha griha (Sanctum Sanctorum) of this cave temple is the golden Sudarshana Chakra (about 3 ft x 3ft) of Lord Vishnu (whose reincarnation is Lord Narasimha), the adornment as well as the weapon is a symbol this temple is identified by from as far away as 6 km.

"It is said that many years ago the chakra moved in the direction from which the devotees came as if like a compass guiding them towards the temple.The Chakra considered to posses mystic power and value, at times turns on its own ; no human hand is capable of turning it," according to it.

The Indian Green Building Council

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was formed in the year 2001. The vision of the council is to enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025.

Reacting to the award, the president of TRS and minister for municipal administration and urban development minister K T Rama Rao expressed happiness.

He took to Twitter and wrote, "Super proud that Spiritual Green Shrine & Telangana's Pride #Yadadri is awarded with platinum rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)."