The temple is located on top of a raised platform (mandapa) at the southern tip of the Fort of Multan, adjacent to the mausoleum of Baha’ul Haq Zakariya.

[1] According to local folklore, Prahlada — son of Hiranyakashipu, the Asur-king of Multan[a] — built the temple in honor of Narasimha, an incarnation of Vishnu, who had appeared out of a pillar in the royal court to disembowel the oppressive King and reward his devoutness.

[1] There appear to have been older temples on the site which were subject to cycles of razing and re-construction during the medieval era; however, the precise details are hazy in light of conflicting legends.

[1][5] In 1831, Alexander Burnes noted the temple as a low-height structure, supported by wooden pillars and having Hanuman and Ganesha as the portal guardians; he was denied entrance to what was "the only place of Hindu worship in Multan".

[7] During the Siege of Multan in 1848, a shell fired by forces of the East India Company fell on a gunpowder store within the fort and blew away the temple's roof.

[7][8] Post-siege, the East India Company retained total control of the fort and all adjacent areas — including the temple and the mausoleum — for a couple of years before returning the shrines to native communities in July 1852.

[1] In 1854, Alexander Cunningham found the temple to be a roofless "square brick building with some very finely carved wooden pillars", and the only Hindu shrine in Multan alongside Suraj Kund.

[1] In the early 1870s, his successor, Baba Narayan Das, proposed to increase the height of the temple spire to 45 ft — more than that of the mausoleum — but was opposed by local Muslims as a breach of the 1859 agreement, fomenting an acrimonious dispute.

[1][c] Eventually, the local administration decided the issue in favor of the Muslims; an agreement enacted on 14 April 1876 restricted the height to 33 ft.[1] However, the Hindus were not content and sought to overturn it.

[18] In the early morning of 7 November 1912, miscreants removed an image of Lakshmi from the temple and threw it in a nearby well after stealing the crown; the Hindu devotees blamed local Muslims.

[29][30] Soon, the local "peace committee" — with representatives from the government, civil society, and Ulemas — announced plans to restore the temple to ensure religious harmony.