Nrusimhanath stands on the eastern flank of the Gandhamardhan hills, about 165 km west of Bargarh town and reached via Paikmal. The 13th-century stone temple is tucked against the cliff at the head of a cool, wooded valley, with the Papaharini stream tumbling down the hillside in a series of waterfalls — Kapildhar, Bhimdhar, Gadadhar and Chaldhar — that give the place much of its atmosphere. The walk up from the car park is short but steep, and after the dusty plains the change of climate is striking.
The presiding deity is Marjara-Kesari, a fierce cat-faced form of Vishnu's man-lion avatar, which is unusual enough to draw scholars of temple iconography as well as ordinary pilgrims. The crowds peak during the spring Nrusimha Chaturdashi festival, when devotees from Odisha and neighbouring Chhattisgarh climb up to the shrine; on most other days it is quiet, with monkeys on the rocks and the sound of falling water filling the valley. Pair it with a visit to Harishankar on the western side of the same hill for the full Gandhamardhan circuit.