Anant Narsimha Temple

Here's one of the most popular stories from Indian mythology. The asura or demon king Hiranyakashipu was granted a boon by Lord Brahma. The boon fell short of immortality but close. Accordingly, Hiranyakashipu will not suffer death at the hands of any of Brahma's creations (e.g. man or animal), that he will not die during daytime or night, that he will not die inside or outside a building, neither on earth nor in space, that no god nor demon can kill him or that he will not die in a battlefield. With these powers, Hiranyakashipu became all powerful and expected everyone to consider him as the greatest. So, when the asura finds out that his son Prahlada is a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, he gets enraged. At that moment of twilight (neither daytime nor night), Lord Vishnu appears in this avatar of Narsimha with a man's (nar) body and a lion's (simha or singha) head and claws (i.e. neither man nor animal), holds the asura on his lap (neither earth nor space) while sitting on the threshold of a door (neither inside or outside a building) and kills him with his claws. Thus, Lord Vishnu completes the act of protecting his devotee Prahlada without violating the conditions of Lord Brahma's boon. This is one of the most popular avatars of Lord Vishnu.

In this temple, Narsimha is seen resting under the mighty hood of Ananta, the serpent with many heads. During the persecution of Hindus by the Portuguese, the idol was rescued from Salcete taluka and brought here in the 16th century. However, the present building is dated early 20th century.