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Sri Venkateswara Ashtotthram 

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Malayappa Swamy
48) NaarAyaNa nagEsaaya Sri VenkatEsaaya nama:
 
Salutations to Lord VenkatEsa , who has taken the form of a hill revered as NaarAyaNaadhri !
 
When Agastya and other Rishis were searching for the Lord ( as narrated elsewhere),they came across a radiant mahaa purusha seated on a rock, whose brilliance and beauty were beyond description. When Agastya performed obeisance to this maha purusha and sought his identity, the distinguished entity just disappeared without a word. Sri Vamadeva tells Janaka that this purusha is none other than the Narayana Parvatam, which had assumed the splendorous manly form.
 
Since Agastya describes this wonderful form as akin to that of the Lord's, another interpretation puts this mahapurusha  as none other than Srinivasa HImself, adopting the etymological formula, "naarayaNa iti nagesa: tasmai nama:".
 
Apart from this, the story of one brahmin described below by name Narayana and his links for one of the Tirumala hills acquiring the sobriquet "Narayanaadri" is elaborated by the tirunaama,  "Narayana artthita asesha jana drik vishayaaya nama:"
According to this view , the salutations are to Lord SrI VenkatesA , who resides in NaarAyaNAdhri (One of the seven hills of Thirumala) in response to the prayer of NaarayaNa Muni ! The name " NaarAyaNa nagEsan " originated this way: 
 
A brahmin by the name of NaarAyaNa performed severe penance (tapas) to have the darsanam of Lord VenkatEsa  in one of the seven hills of Thirumala .In addition to appearing before NaarayaNa ,  Lord VenlkatEsa  granted also his other wish for that hill to be known thereafter as NaarAyaNAdhri.
 
UtthamUr Swamy's  slOkam referring to the tapas of NaarAyaNa Muni to result in the place of his tapas being named NaarAyaNAdhri is:
 
yO hi dharamas-tapas-tEpE taTA NaarAyaNO dhvija:
AnjanEyOajanishtEthi VirushO NaarAyaNOanjana:
 
(Meaning): Three of the seven hills of Thirumala are revered
as VrushAdhri , NaarAyaNAdhri and AnjanAdhri and are
named thus because Vrusha (Dharma Devathai) and NaarAyaNan
performed tapas here. To celebrate AnjanEyar's avathAram,
one peak is named AnjanAdhri.
 



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