[2] He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed Hiranyakashipu, ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma.

[6][7] Narasimha has a human torso and lower body, with a lion face and claws, with the asura Hiranyakashipu being disemboweled and killed by him in his lap.

[8] Hiranyakashipu gained a boon from Brahma due to which he could not be killed during the day or night, inside or outside the house; neither in the sky nor on land nor in Svarga nor in Patala, by any weapon or hand, nor by humans, deities, demons, or animals.

[9] Endowed with this boon, he began to wreak chaos and havoc, persecuting all the devotees of Vishnu, including his own son Prahlada.

[3][9][10] Vishnu, cognisant of the asura's boon, creatively assumed a mixed form that was neither human nor animal as a lion in the name of Narasimha, and Narashima disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu and at evening, which is neither day nor night, at the threshold of his palace, which was neither inside nor outside, upon his lap, which is neither sky nor land, and with his claws, which are neither weapons nor hands.

[9][14][page needed] One of the earliest representation of Narasimha, dating back to the 4th-century CE, is from Kondamotu in Coastal Andhra.

[21][22] Indra is the dharmic King of Heaven of the Devas and Devis who commands lightning, thunder, rain and rivers, while Namuci is a deceptive demon Asura in competition for power.

[21][23] After the deal is done, Namuci carries away all that nourishes the gods and goddesses: the Soma drink, the essence of food and the strength of Indra.

[21] They reply they will deal with Namuci, get it all back, if Indra agrees to share his powers, the essence of food and the Soma drink with them.

[29] Kamil Zvelebil states that the hymns dedicated to Vishnu and Murugan has branded the Paripatal as a Sanskrit plagiat within the so-called Sangam texts.

With burning hatred in his mind and drying up the sandal paste on his chest, Hiranyakashipu, the evil king, fought with his son Prahlada for singing your praises, causing on him great shock.

You attacked and caught Hiranyakashipu with your great strength, catching his mountain-like chest as drums of deities roared like thunder.

He came upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out) and put the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space).

According to Soifer, it describes how Prahlada's brothers and sisters, headed by Anuhrada and thousands of other demons, were all led to the valley of death by the man-lion (who was Vishnu as Narasimha) and killed.

[14] In a story of this incident, the Vaishnava and Shaiva scriptures say that the gods Vishnu and Shiva assumed the avataras of Gandaberunda (as Narasimha) and Sharabha respectively to destroy the chaos that happened in the universe.

[9] Some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples, such as those found in Tigava and Eran (Madhya Pradesh), dated to early 5th-century, include Narasimha along with other avatars of Vishnu.

Narasimha is a significant iconic symbol of creative resistance, hope against odds, victory over persecution, and destruction of evil.

[44] 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.

These include:[48] In Andhra Pradesh, a panel dating to third-fourth century CE shows a full theriomorphic squatting lion with two extra human arms behind his shoulders holding a conch and a discus.

Statues of Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakasipu survive from slightly later Gupta-period temples: one at Madhia and one from a temple-doorway now set into the Kurma Matha at Nachna, both dated to the late fifth or early sixth century CE.

[53] An image of Narasimha supposedly dating to second-third century CE sculpted at Mathura was acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1987.

[53] This figure depicts a furled brow, fangs, and lolling tongue is same as later images of Narasimha, but the idol's robe, simplicity, and stance set it apart.

On Narasimha's chest under his upper garment appears the suggestion of an amulet, which Stella Kramrisch associated with Vishnu's cognizance, the Kaustubha jewel.

In Matsya Purana it is shown Narasimha disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu as a plaiter of straw mats shreds his reeds".

[53] Based on the Gandhara style of robe worn by the idol, Michael Meiste altered the date of the image to fourth century CE.

[53] An image of Narasimha, dating to the 9th century CE, was found on the northern slope of Mount Ijo, at Prambanan, Indonesia.

This decorative scheme once formulated became, with very little modification, an accepted norm for sculptures throughout the Central Javanese period (circa 730–930 CE).

Despite the iconographic peculiarities, the stylistic antecedents of the Java sculptures can be traced back to Indian carvings as the Chalukya and Pallava images of the 6th–7th centuries CE.