Narasimha Swamy Temple, Seebi

state of Karnataka. Seebi is located on National Highway 4, just 20 km north of Tumkur

Mysore Kingdom. Story goes that Nallappa had a dream in which the god Narasimha promised him eternal happiness if a temple was raised where it stands today. The completion of the temple construction took ten years. The Narasimha Swamy temple is a simple yet elegant Dravidian structure built around the end of the 18th century. The main deity of the temple is Narasimha, an avatar (incarnation) of the Hindu god Vishnu.^[2][3][4]

Bhagavata, the Narasimha Purana, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The murals follow the same artistic idiom found in the murals of the Daria Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna. According to the critic Veena Shekar, the art of mural paintings migrated to Karnataka and the murals in this temple are "folkish" in character.^[2][5] According to the art historian George Michell, the murals of this temple are among the best from the Mysore period and the courtly paintings depicting processions exude a Mogul influence.^[6]

Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan with Kacheri Krishnappa, and Ravanappa and Venkatappa (maternal uncles of Nallappa who held high posts) in attendance. According to Veena Shekar, based on the style, the portrait of Maharaja Krishna Raja Wodeyar III (who ruled after the death of Haider and Tipu Sultan) may have been incorporated in the early 19th century.^[2] The ceiling of the main entrance mantapa has a mural in which the god Krishna plays the flute to other cowherd friends while watching Tipu Sultan fighting a Tiger. The ceiling has four beams each with a mural: the first depicts riderless horses followed by elephants; the second depicts horsemen wearing conical caps (common during the Vijayanagara era) with some horsman in gallop, others carrying flags and a couple on foot; the third depicts horseman, some riding and others on foot followed by elephants and a cart carrying cannons.^[2] Michell concurs regarding the likeness these murals bear to the ones in the Virupaksha temple at Hampi as well as at the Siddheshvara temple at Holalgundi, also a late 18th-century construction.^[4]