A model of Simhachalam Lord soon at railway station

Visakhapatnam: In a move to highlight the significance of Lord Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy of Simhachalam Devasthanam and popularise the ancient temple among the tourists, a model of the sandalwood paste-covered idol will soon be giving darshan for passengers at Visakhapatnam railway station.

The glass-encased 23-inch-long model of the deity is carved out of pumpkin tree (challa gummadi) wood and installed in a wooden mandapam that stretches up to nine-ft height and five-ft wide. The teak wood mandapam comes along with the engravings of 'Dasavataram' such as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna and Kalki avatars of Lord Vishnu.

Devotees who could not make a trip to Simhachalam Devasthanam can offer their prayers at the railway station itself wherein the wooden mandapam will be set up. Sharing details, Simhachalam temple carpenter AV Ramana says that it took about four months to complete the structure with the wooden canopy. "Keeping the originality intact, the carving has been made with a certain level of dexterity. In terms of design, A Uday Kumar also lent support to the endeavour," shares Ramana. Executive Officer MV Surya Kala paid special attention to the completion of the carving on time. Efforts are on to install the mandapam at platform number: 8 in Visakhapatnam railway station. Depending on the response, steps will be initiated to set up a similar kind of model at Visakhapatnam Airport as well.