Narasingapuram, a village in Tiruvallur district, around 55 km from Chennai is home to the ancient Lakshmi Narasimhaswami temple. The main sanctum enshrines the tall and majestic stone image of Lakshmi Narasimha.
The deity, approximately seven -and-a-half-feet tall, is seated with his left leg resting on the pedestal and right leg placed in front. The discus (chakra) and conch (sankha) are held in his upper right and left hands respectively while His lower right hand is in abhaya hasta, guaranteeing protection to his devotees. He holds Goddess Lakshmi on his lap. Garuda with 16 snakes (nagas)and enshrined in a mandapa in front is a rare image.
The sanctum for Goddess Lakshmi, worshipped as Maragatavalli Nayika has a beautiful mandapa that dates back to the Vijayanagara era, with sculptures of Venugopala, Vira Anjaneya and the Kurma Avatara of Vishnu. Other shrines are for Andal, Sudarsana and Vedanta Desika the illustrious Srivaishnava scholar, poet and preceptor of the 13th-14th centuries. The gopura of this temple, which was dilapidated, was constructed again on an older granite base.
You can see many historical inscriptionsin the ancient Tamil script here. The oldest of these, datable to 1104 AD, belongs to the reign of Kulottunga Chola I.
There are some inscriptions of the Vijayanagar era, one of which, mentions an allowance for the recitation of the Vedas for the merit of Emperor Achyuta Raya’s father Narasa Nayaka of the 16th Century. This temple was once in a decrepit condition and has been restored in the recent past.