सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

Simhachalam, the lion's hill above Visakhapatnam, houses one of the most unusual deities in South India: Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, uniting Vishnu's boar and man-lion descents in a single form. Through the whole year the moolavar is kept covered in a thick layer of cooling sandalwood paste, so that what devotees ordinarily see is a smooth, linga-like mound of chandana. The sthala purana ties the shrine to Prahlada, the boy devotee for whose sake Narasimha appeared, and tradition holds that the ugra — fierce — heat of Narasimha after slaying Hiranyakashipu is soothed by the perpetual sandalwood covering. Only once a year is the paste removed. On that single day the true form, the nija roopa, stands revealed, and the year's chief pilgrimage converges on the hill for a darshan that cannot be had on any other day.

Chandanotsavam falls on Akshaya Tritiya, Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya (April–May). In the small hours the old sandalwood is ceremonially removed and the deity bathed in an elaborate abhishekam with sanctified waters. From early morning until night, pilgrims in vast queues climb the hill for nijaroopa darshanam — a glimpse of the actual stone form of Varaha Narasimha, available only on this day. Through the day and the following ceremonies, fresh sandalwood paste, prepared in large measures by traditional grinding and mixed with camphor and other prescribed substances, is applied in stages until the deity is fully covered again for the next year; portions of the removed chandana are distributed to devotees as deeply prized prasadam. The temple town fills with kalyanotsavam-style festivity, and Telugu households treat the day, already auspicious as Akshaya Tritiya, as doubly sacred.

The nija roopa darshanam happens only on the hill at Simhachalam, and diaspora devotees honour the day from afar. The festival is widely covered by live streams and Telugu television, and many families in Canada rise early — the time difference means the pre-dawn rituals in India fall in the Ottawa evening of the previous day — to watch the darshan as it happens. At home, the day itself is Akshaya Tritiya: a fine occasion for Lakshmi–Narayana pooja, Vishnu Sahasranama or Narasimha stotras such as the Narasimha Kavacham, charity, and beginning worthy undertakings. Families with Andhra roots sometimes keep a small vigraha or picture of Simhachalam Appanna, offer sandalwood paste to it on this day, and plan April–May trips home around the festival.