Editing Narasimha (section)

==Significance==
[[File:Narasimha Musée Guimet 2697.jpg|thumbnail|right|Narasimha, [[Chola]] period, 12th - 13th century CE, [[Tamil Nadu]]. from [[Guimet Museum]], Paris.]]
Narasimha is a significant iconic symbol of creative resistance, hope against odds, victory over persecution, and destruction of evil. He is the destructor of not only external evil, but also one's own inner evil of "body, speech, and mind" states Pratapaditya Pal.<ref>{{cite book|author= Pratapaditya Pal|title=Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700|url= https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa |url-access= registration|year=1986|publisher= University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05991-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/42 42]–43}}</ref>

In Indian Subcontinental art – sculptures, bronzes and paintings – Vishnu's incarnation as Narasimha is one of the most chosen incarnations in Dashavatara of Vishnu and amongst all [[Dashavatara]] of Vishnu, Narasimha is popular.

Narasimha is worshipped across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States in numerous forms.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vemsani|first1=Lavanya|title=Narasimha, The Supreme Deity of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and Innovation in Hinduism- An Examination of the Temple Myths, Folk Stories, and Popular Culture|journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion|date=2009|volume=24|issue=1|pages=35–52|url=https://www.academia.edu/231458|doi=10.1080/13537900802630489|s2cid=143495199}}</ref> Although, it is common that each of the temples contain depictions of Narasimha in more than one form, Ahobilam contains nine temples of Narasimha dedicated to the nine forms of Narasimha. Statues of Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu are common, and this image of Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu is commonly worshipped in temples, and it is drawn.

===Coins, inscriptions and terracotta===
Narasimha is influential in the 5th-century CE, when various Gupta Empire rulers minted coins with his images or sponsored inscriptions that associated the powers of Narasimha with their own. The rulers thus showed their rule as someone like Narasimha who killed and destroyed evil.<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel E Bassuk|title=Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity: The Myth of the God-Man|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=k3iwCwAAQBAJ |year=1987|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-349-08642-9|pages=27–28}}</ref> Some of the coins of the Kushan era show Narasimha, showing his influence.<ref>Emilia Smagur 92015), Vaishnavite Influences in the Kushan Coinage, ''Notae Numismaticae. Zapiski numizmatyczne'', Issue 10, pages 63-85</ref>

Some of the oldest Narasimha terracotta artworks have been dated to about the 2nd century CE, such as those discovered in Kaushambi.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Los Angeles County Museum of Art|author2=Pratapaditya Pal|title=Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa |url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05991-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/192 192]}}</ref> A nearly complete, exquisitely carved standing Narasimha statue, wearing a ''pancha'', with personified attributes near him has been found at the Mathura archeological site and is dated to the 6th century CE.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Los Angeles County Museum of Art|author2=Pratapaditya Pal|title=Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa |url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05991-7|pages= [https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/252 252]–253}}</ref>

===Performance arts===
The story of Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu is a part of various [[Indian classical dance]] repertoire. For example, [[Kathakali]] theatre has included the story of Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu in battle, and performances of ''Prahlada Charitam'' with Narasimha has been one of the popular performances in [[Kerala]].<ref>{{cite book|author= Philip Zarrilly|title=The Kathakali Complex: Performance & Structure|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CjwYysH2ZQIC |year=1984 |publisher= Abhinav Publications|isbn= 978-81-7017-187-4|pages=160–161, 202–212, xxxvi (Figure 12)}}</ref> Similarly, the [[Bhagavata Mela]] dance-drama performance arts of Tamil Nadu traditionally celebrate the annual Narasimha Jayanti festival by performing the story within regional Narasimha temples.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Farley P. Richmond|author2=Darius L. Swann|author3=Phillip B. Zarrilli|title=Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OroCOEqkVg4C |year=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0981-9|pages=140, 172–173}}</ref>