DASHAVATARA - NARASIMHAVATARA

There was a demon king called Hiranyakashyapa. He was the brother of Hiranyaksha. He was also a devotee of Lord Brahma. His years of meditation and prayer impressed Lord Brahma. He tells Hiranyakashyap that he would grant him one wish. Hiranyakashyapa wanted to be immortal but he knew that Lord Brahma cannot grant immortality to anyone. So he asked something close to it - Hiranyakashyapa asked that his death not be caused by man or beast, with a weapon or without a weapon, during the day or the night, indoors or outdoors, on earth or in the sky. Since Lord Brahma had already promised him, he had no alternative but to grant the wish.

Once he got the wish he believed that he was invincible. He started expanding his empire. And very soon he was ruling the whole earth. He was a very cruel king. He was extremely egotistic and believed that he was the creator of all. He ordered all his people to worship only him. He believed that he was the God and there was no one above him.

Hiranyakashyapa had a son called Prahalad. Whilst the whole kingdom was worshiping Hiranyakashyapa, his own son, Prahalad, refused to worship him. Prahalad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. He truly believed in Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyapa was upset with his son. He tried to convince his son that he was wrong and that he should worship only his father but he failed to make his son believe that he and only he was the God.

Meanwhile all the Devas and Lord Brahma approach Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu agrees to help them. He is quite annoyed and angry at Hiranyakashyapa for the way he has been treating his son. Lord Vishnu incarnates Himself as Nara-Simha (half man half lion). He does this because Hiranyakashyapa can’t be killed by a man or a beast or by God.

At Hiranyakashyap’s palace Hiranyakashyap and Prahalad were having an argument. Prahalad says that God is everywhere. To that Hiranyakashyap disagrees and says he can’t be present everywhere -In a very sarcastic tone he questions if God could be found in the pillar he was standing next to. Without hesitation Prahalad says ‘yes’. In a fit of anger, Hiranyakashyap breaks the pillar in an attempt to prove his son wrong. But to his surprise, Lord Narasimha, leaps onto him from inside the broken pillar. A fierce battle emerges between Hiranyakashyapa and Lord Narasimha. Eventually Lord Narasimha puts him on his thighs (neither on earth or sky), uses his sharp nails (no weapons) and kills him. This happens in twilight (neither day nor night).