The Beauty and the Beast.
Not that one can tell which one of them is which. The half-lion form surely surprises Chenchita but the unsaid attachment she has to him troubles her. The far she wishes to go, the closer she seems to getting.
"He is Srim...
Lakshmi softly touched the large black nose and then moved to the whiskers. His moved his head a bit and then sneezed. That made her laugh.
"No touching my whiskers. They're sensitive. Just like-"
"A cat's..."
"Wonderful. Yes. Reduce this huge lion head to that of a cat."
She laughed, "You claw like a cat, you growl like a cat, you're excessively protective about your area like a cat, you sneeze like a cat..."
Oh, no. Narasimha knew it. She purposely tried to poke him and see how far she could take it. But he was smarter than that.
He opened the large jaws, displaying the large canines that were as tall as her palm. Almost half the gandharvas that even dared to arrive around in the sky to see him ran away scared.
"Seems like a cat?"
She pressed the edge of his paw like fingers and the large ivory claws came out with tshnggg sound. As if they were nothing short of a sword.
Narasimha smiled at her.
The idol that Prahlada had established was long gone along with Prahlada himself. After all, Prahlada had merged in with the Lord he was deeply devoted to. Nothing else made him happier.
While Lakshmi and Narasimha still resided in the hills, people hardly ever found the idol or came there.
Lakshmi sat up on his lap, his large paw like hands rested on his waist.
The ekaantha was good too. He didn't complain about it. She was there and he couldn't be bothered by the lack of a divine temple or anything. As times changes, it was bound to break down and disappear. Nothing was permanent. There were caves and it was enough for him.
Their playing had been continuing for a long time. Time moved away and they were still embraced in the pleasing presence of each other.
Narasimha shook his mane to get rid of the leaves she playfully threw on him. The mane hit a vimana flying in the air and it came crashing down.
Garuda quickly flew over to see if anyone got hurt. He instantly recognised Urvashi, the apsara from heaven.
"Did no one tell you two? Prabhu and Mata are currently sporting on the hill. It is advised that no one disturbs their ekaantha." Garuda answered.
"This earth is a domain for humans, Garuda. Don't expect me to get lost. Doesn't he have Vaikuntha and several hills there for his sporting?"
Garuda clenched his fist tightly, "Swami will be wherever he pleases. You're just the King of Chandravanshis. Don't get ahead of yourself." Garuda warned him, "Leave..."
The quarrel between Garuda and Pururavas, disturbed the peaceful resting of Lakshmi and she stood up.
"I assume we should go and see. Is Garuda alright?"
Narasimha chuckled, "It is Garuda. Why do you worry? He can deal with it."
But a mother's heart is a mother's. She cannot just simply take that for an answer.
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Today, Chandanotsava is celebrated in Simhachala. On Akshay Tritiya, the whole lump of Chandana is removed from Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy's idol and the main idol can be seen. From this day again, they will apply one layer of chandana every day.
Hence, Akshay Tritiya is the hottest day in Visakhapatnam.
Here's the idol. You too feast your eyes with him.
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That is how the original idol looks like. Then after chandana is applied every single day, the idol ends up looking like this:-
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