Srila Prabhupada’s auspicious arrival at Mangalgiri:-

On December 30, 1930,  12 o’clock at night, Srila Prabhupada sent two of his intimate disciples: Sripad Hayagriva Dasa Brahmachari (later became the founder of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Matha Om Vishnupada Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja) and Sripad Devakinandana Prabhu to Mangalagiri on the 12 o’clock train at night. They were sent earlier to organise the footprint installation program. On 31st December at 7 am Srila Prabhupada took the train from Kavur to Vijayawada Along with his associates. The train was late. On reaching Vijayawada, Srila Prabhupada took the 4 pm train and finally reached the Dak Bungalow near Mangalagiri in the evening. From there, everyone reached the foothills of Mangalgiri in a car. It was the day Ekadashi. From there Srila Prabhupada ascended Mangalgiri on foot, accompanied by his associates and many local reverent devotees. Everybody sang the verse “ito Nrsimha parato Nrsimha yato yato yami tato Nrisimha” with drums and cymbals. As instructed by Srila Prabhupada, everybody arrived in front of the footprint temple which was already built. This footprint temple is located on the right side of the second lion entrance of the main temple of Lord Nrisimha.

Installation of Sri Chaitanya’s footprint by Srila Prabhupada:-

As all the paraphernalia were already collected, Srila Prabhupada entered the temple without delay to perform the arcana of  the footprint. Sripad Ananta Vasudeva prabhu performed kirtan as per the order of Prabhupada. When Śrīla Prabhupāda finished worship, all the Vaishnavas followed him and worshipped Śrī Caitanya’s footprint by offering flowers, tulasi smeared with sandalwood pulp. Then the local devotees offered puspanjali to the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya. Everybody circumambulated the footprint temple presided by Srila Prabhupada. Then they all came down from the mountain. There mahaprasad was distributed to everyone.

Geographical location of Mangalgiri:-

Mangalagiri is a small town in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. “Mangalagiri” railway station can be reached by road and rail towards Guntur, about 12 km from Vijaybara, one of the famous railway stations of Andhra Pradesh. It is a major suburb of Vijayawada and is part of the Vijayawada Metropolitan Area. About 21km north-west of Guntur, the place “Mangalgiri” is located. It is famously known as the land of Lord Nrisingha. In this place the Lord is worshipped as “Panakala Lakshmi Nrisingha Swami”.

Srila Prabhupada delivered Harikatha at Mangalagiri:-

On January 1, 1931 AD Srila Prabhupada delivered Harikatha sitting on a chair in front of his residence in Mangalagiri. He mentioned how Mahaprabhu chastised Damodara Pandita and taught him that the actions of Guru & vaishnavas should not be perceived through material perspective. Those who try to measure Vaishnavas through their limited material senses, are not devotees but nirvisesa-vādis in guise. The statements like “Na prkrtatva miha bhakta janasya pasyet”, “api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk/ sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ” etc rejects the idea of judging a Vaishnava through one’s independent intellect and teaches how to perceive the quality of Kṛṣṇa–eka-saranagati (submission to only Lord Krsna) among devotees. Independent material perception is the sibling of Aristasura. One can not attain the vision of perceiving the beauty of the footnail of Rupanuga sādhus until one gives up the independent material contemplation. 

Darshan of Pana-Nrsimhadeva at Mangalagiri:-

After doing pārana of Ekādasi, Srila Prabhupada accompanied by his associates ascended on Mangalgiri at around eleven o’clock to see Pānā-Nrsimhadeva. Although a palanquin was arranged for Srila Prabhupada, he started walking. After going some distance on foot, some devotees again requested him to ascend on the cart. Finally Srila Prabhupada agreed. All the Vaishnavas started climbing the mountain while performing sankirtana. After some time, all the Vaishnavas entered the temple of Sri Nrsimhadeva following Srila Prabhupada. There is an open nāta-mandira (pavillion) in the east, another nāta-mandira in the west; There is a door to the east of it, through that door you can go to the eastern nāta-mandira. Another door on the south side, leads to the open arena. Another door in the north-west corner leads to the next chamber. Here the deity of Alvar Sri Ramanujacharya is worshipped. If you enter the eastern chamber, you will see the deity of Sri Nrisimhadeva on the wall of the mountain. He is known as “Panakala Nrsimha”. His entire body except the mouth hole is covered with a metallic armour. Only on the day of every Ekadashi, this armour is removed. The Lord gives the opportunity to have the vision of His divine body for the devotees. Only pānā (refreshing sweet drink) is offered at this place. The Lord takes the half of the amount of the pānā offered by the devotees. The priest performed worship and arati in front of everyone and offered the pānā as bhoga.

Sri Lakshmi Devi’s temple on Mangalagiri:-

Srila Prabhupada went a few steps further up towards the temple of Sri Lakshmi Devi. Sri Lakshmi Devi’s temple is located above Sri Nrsimhadeva temple. The temples here are made of stone. There is no exclusive architecture. All Vaishnavas took some rest for a while and drank the pana prasad after Srila Prabhupada had it. After a while, Srila Prabhupada came down and stopped at the footprint temple. There he bowed down and finally descended from the hill.

The temple of Bhoga-Nrsimhadeva at the foot of Mangalagiri:-

At the bottom of the hill the temple of “Bhoga-Nrsimhadeva is located. This temple has four doors. Bhoga-Nrsimhadeva is facing east; But “Pana-Nrsimhadev” faces west. The deities of Jaya & Vijaya, the dvarapalas (gatekeepers) are present in front of Bhog-Nrisimhadeva. On the way to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple after entering the nāta-mandira, there is a huge golden garuda deity on the left side, and a silver deity of Lord Vishnu lying on Sesa on the south side; inside the third chamber Lord Sri Nrisimhadeva is present. Sri Lakshmi Devi is sitting on the left side of Sri Nrsimhadeva’s lap. Outside the entrance to the first chamber there is the functional deity of Sri Nrisingha along with His consorts  Sri & Bhu on either side. On either side of the temple the temples of Lakshmi Devi are present. Śrīla Prabhupāda visited all these places with his associates and offered obeisances and saw the deities.

History of Pānā-Nrsimhadeva or Panakala Nrisimhadeva:-

The famous history about this place is as follows: A demon called ‘Namuchi’ after many austerities pleased Brahma and got a boon that he would not die from anything dry or wet. After getting the boon, he started to torture the demigods. The demigods then took shelter of Lord Vishnu. They were imbued with the power of Vishnu and started destroying the demon’s army. Then Namuchi was hiding in a cave in Mangalagiri. On the order of Lord Vishnu, Indra soaked the Sudarshana chakra in the foam of the sea and threw it into the cave. Lord Vishnu appeared in a fearsome lion faced form inside the chakra. The demon was killed by the “samhara agni” released from the mouth of the Lord. That is why the “lion faced” deity is also popularly known as “The Sudarshana Nrsimha-Swami”. Fire was emitting from the lion face of the Lord.  The demigods pacified Him by offering Him Amrita as drink. Satisfied with that, the Lord announced that He would live in this cave and would be particularly satisfied with amrita in satya yuga, ghee in treta yuga, milk in dwapara yuga and “panakam” in kaliyuga. That is why he became famous as “Panakala Nrsimha Swami” in Kali Yuga.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Pana-Nrsimha or Panakala Nrsimhadeva:-

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met Sri Raya Ramananda at Kavur during his South-Indian tour. After that He visited Mangalagiri Pānā-Nrsimhadeva or Panakala Nrisimhadeva. of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya Lila 9th chapter has described this in verse 66-67.

sva-prabhāve loka-sabāra karāñā vismaya

pānā-nṛsiṁhe āilā prabhu dayā-maya

Translation: Everywhere Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went, His influence astonished everyone. He next arrived at the temple of Pānā-nṛsiṁha. The Lord is so merciful.

nṛsiṁhe praṇati-stuti premāveśe kaila

prabhura prabhāve loka camatkāra haila

Translation: In great ecstatic love, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu offered obeisances and prayers unto Lord Nṛsiṁha. The people were astonished to see Lord Caitanya’s influence.

Installation of stone plaque:

The following Sanskrit verse is carved on a stone plaque it the footprint temple in Devanagari script. It reads as follows: 

“sāke’abde’agni guna gamendu vimite devadi samsevitam

sri gaurendu varasya mangala girau sri pada yugmam sthitau

sri siddhanta sarasvatiha paramo hamsah padankam prabhoh

gauravde nidadhe yuga srama yuge gaudiya sanrakshakah”

The following words are inscribed in English at the bottom of the pinnacle outside of the footprint temple: 

Mahaprabhu visited Mangalgiri in 1512 A. D. Chaitanya-Foot-prints installed by Paramhansa Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami in 1930.