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Story of the 4th Avatar of Lord Vishnu, Narasimha
Hiranyakashipu (the brother of
Hiranyaksha who was killed by the
Varaha Avatar of
Lord Vishnu) wanted to take
revenge on the devotees and in particular on
Lord Vishnu. He wanted to become
the master of all the three worlds - Heaven, Earth & Pathala. He went to Mount
Mandarachala and began penance which continued for years. Due to the intensity
of Penance, Lord Brahma appeared before Hiranyakashipu. He asked Lord Brahma
for immortality as a reward for his years of penance . Brahma, however,
declined, saying "All living beings must face death Hiranyakashipu. You
can, however, choose your death wish."
Hiranyakashipu then asked for
three conditions, as his death wish, "'O Brahma, let not death come to me
either by man or beast, nor devil, nor god shall cause my death by day or by
night with steel or stone or wood, indoors or outdoors, or earth or in sky.
Grant me undisputed lordship over the world". Brahma agreed and Hiranyakashipu
got his death wishes granted. Thus he became practically immortal.
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After securing his death wishes Hiranyakashipu conquered the worlds and
became a demon tyrant. He banned all pujas to
Lord Vishnu and declared
himself a God. The devotees of Vishnu approached
Lord Vishnu for help.
Lord
Vishnu asked them to be patient. Hiranyakashipu's wife Kayadhu gave birth to
Prahlad in the Ashrama of Narada. Prahlad grew up and became an ardent
devotee of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu, however, wanted his son to be a strong and
ruthless King like himself. Realizing that Prahlad always prayed to
Lord
Vishnu, Hiranyakashipu tried to school his son against the influence of
Lord
Vishnu. All their efforts to influence Prahlad against
Lord Vishnu failed and Prahlad was still as devoted as ever to
Lord Vishnu.
Hiranyakashipu ordered his
servants to kill Prahlad if he refused to accept the supremacy of his father.
They tried to kill him by throwing down a mountain, drowning, poisoning, and
burning him. They failed in all their attempts because
Lord Vishnu was
protecting his devotee. King Hiranyakashipu was very angry on hearing the
reports on the failed attempts on the life of his son, Prahlad.
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One day the king challenged his son in the open court:
"Prahlad! Is my enemy, whom
you worship, present anywhere here?".
Prahlad replied, "Vishnu is
omnipresent. There's not a single place where he's not found."
Hiranyakashipu's fury was at its
climax. He heated an iron pillar and then asked Prahlad, "Can you embrace
this pillar if your
Vishnu is in it also?"
Prahlad did not hesitate for a moment but rushed towards the pillar and
embraced it. The heated iron did not burn him. The king got up from his
throne in fury and hit the pillar with his mace.
And to his surprise! The pillar
cracked with a thundering sound and
Vishnu appeared there in the form of
Narasimha.
One half of his body was of a
lion and the other half of a man. He had matted hair on his head, large
moustaches on the face and terrible teeth in the mouth. His paws had terrible
nails on them.
Hiranyakashipu remembered his
first death wish, "To be killed by some one who is neither human nor beast."
It was also the twilight hour, neither day nor night, the second death wish.
The demon king hit
Narasimha
with his mace but
Narasimha brushed it aside swiftly. It was twilight and
Narasimha caught hold of the demon Hiranyakashipu.
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He sat on the threshold of the
court room, placed the body of the demon on his thighs, and pierced his nails
into the body of the demon and broke open his stomach. The demon was killed on the spot in a moment. The place
was neither inside nor outside. This was Hiranyakashipu’s third death wish.
Lord Narasimha was furious and
roared. However, he was pacified when Prahlad touched his feet and goddess
Lakshmi also tried to cool him.
Lord Narasimha then made Prahlad the King.
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