"Dasha Avatar"

Narasimha Avatar - The Man - Lion Incarnation

He went to Mount Mandarachala and began penance's. He stood there for years & years. Ant Hill and grasses grew on him but he did not move. So intense was his penance that the rivers & oceans trembled, Earth & her mountains quacked, stars & planets darted in panic and the fiery smoke emerging from his head began to burn everything in its wake. The Devtas were so terrified that they went to Brahma and prayed, " O lord ! do something before the three worlds of your creation are consumed by the fire of Asura's penance's."

Moved by their plight Brahma went to Mount Mandarachala and asked Hiranyakashipu to open his eyes.He said, " I am very pleased with your prayers.Ask for a boon." Brahma then sprinkled holy water on Hiranyakashipu and he came back to his normal form.

He asked Brahma for immortality.

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 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 said," May it be so!"

Brahma agreed and Hiranyakashipu got his death wishes granted. Thus he became practically immortal.

After securing such a born Hiranyakashipu lost no time in conquering and bringing under his sway, both earth & heaven.

The Devtas approached Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu said, " Devtas have patience, Hiranyakashipu' s son Prahlad is a devotee of me. When Hiranyakashipu seeks to kill my devotee I will slay him."

After becoming the master of the world Hiranyakashipu proclaimed, "None should take the name of Vishnu because no one is greater than me not even Vishnu!"

Hiranyakashipu's wife Kayadhu gave birth to Prahlad in the Ashrama of Narada who told Prahlad about the glory of Lord Vishnu.

Prahlad grew up to be a lovely boy. His father was unaware of the fact that Prahlad was a devotee of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu, however, wanted his son to be the king of the Asuras, strong and ruthless.

One day Hiranyakashipu lovingly asked his son, "Dear Son, what do you think is the best thing in life?"

Prahlad replied, "To renounce the world and seek refuge in Vishnu." Hiranyakashipu was shocked to hear this. He could not tolerate the idea that his son loves the sworn enemy of the Asuras, Lord Vishnu. He felt that someone deliberately trying to brainwash his son.

To find this out, Hiranyakashipu took his son to Shanku and Amarka, the sons of Shukracharya, for schooling.

In the school teacher lovingly asked Prahlad, "Who has taught you about Vishnu?" Prahlad calmly replied, "Vishnu himself." The teacher was furious. He called for his cane and beat Prahlad mercilessly. Prahlad stayed quiet and completed his education. After his graduation, Prahlad returned to his father. Hiranyakashipu expected his son to behave like an Asura prince.

So he loving asked,, "My son, What do you learn there in Guru's Ashrama?" The son replied, "One must take the name of Vishnu." The infuriated Hiranyakashipu shouted. "Beware! Don't utter such words again!" Hiranyakashipu instantly called for Shanku and Amarka who asked, "What made you remember us, O Lord?"

Hiranyakashipu shouted, "Do you really teach Prahlad what I don't like?" Both said, "It's not our fault, Your Majesty!" "We try dissuade him but he tells us: The essence of all learning lies in Vishnu's name!"

Hiranyakashipu rebuked the son. Prahlad stood before his father with his hands folded and said, "O father! You have unnecessarily developed enmity against Vishnu. If you wish well of yourself you too should adore him!"

Hiranyakashipu raged in anger and ordered his subordinates to kill Prahlad.

Two horrible attendants appeared there and he ordered them, "Take this boy away. Carry him to the peak of the mountain and throw him down from there!"

The servants took him out. Then they tied his body with ropes, carried him to the peak of the mountain and threw him down from here.

But prahlad rolled down the mountain softly. The name of Vishnu was on his lips.He was hurt nowhere. He smiled and got up.

The king got angry on hearing the reports about Prahlad. He sentenced him to death by drowning.Prahlad was thrown into the ocean but he was saved as the ocean lifted his body over the waves and landed him safely on the shore.

Again, the demon king pronounced a serve punishment for Prahlad, "Mix deadly poison in his sweet dish and serve him." But even poison did no harm to him. The demon grew even more furious. He set poisonous snakes at him but none could hurt him.

The snakes entwined his body as if they were ornaments. Some of them raised their hoods over his head and Prahlad looked like Lord Shankara himself.

The demon king sent a mad elephant but the elephant lifted Prahlad in his trunk and placed him on its back.As the demon king failed, his fury increased and he thought of even more rigorous punishments for Prahlad.

The king decided to throw his son into fire and burn him alive. His sister Holika had a boon that fire would not hurt her. She was made to sit on a big bonfire on an open ground with Prahlad in her lap. The flames encircled the bodies of both of them.

The onlookers held their breath with anxiety, but when the fire extinguished they were amazed to see that Prahlad came out quite safe while Holika was burnt to ashes.

Now the king thought of various plans to kill Prahlad but none was successful.

The next 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. You do not know the power of that omnipresent Vishnu." Hiranyakashipu's fury was at its climax. He got an iron pillar heated and asked Prahlad, "Can you embrace this pillar if your Vishnu is in it also?"

Prahlad did not hesitate even 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. When it was twilight, Narasimha caught hold of Hiranyakashipu and placed him on his thighs.

He sat on the threshold of the court-room, and pierced his nails into the body of the demon. The demon was killed on the spot in a moment.

The place was neither inside nor outside. This was Hiranyakashipu’s third death wish.

Narasimha then coronated Prahlad as the king in place of Hiranyakashipu.

The End