Hiranyakashipu

Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIR : Hiranyakashipu

In Hinduism, Hiranyakashipu (or Hiranyakasipu) was an Asura, and also a King of Dravida whose younger brother, Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha, one of the avatars of Vishnu. Angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing a penance for Brahma.

When Brahma appeared before him, Hiranyakashipu asked for the boon of immortality. Brahma refused, and told Hiranyakashipu to ask for something else.

Wanting to remain immortal, the rakshasa tried to make his demise practically impossible. So he asked that his death be neither of any natural cause nor by a weapon; also that his death be caused neither on land, nor in space, nor in fire, nor water; neither during the day nor at night; neither inside his abode, nor outside, and neither by a human, nor by a god, nor by an animal. Brahma was pleased with his penance and granted the boon.

His son - Prahlad

Hiranyakashipu, a Daitya, hated the Devas and most especially, the supreme God, Vishnu, the followers of whom he began to torture. Hiranyakashipu's son, Prahlad, was a very devoted follower of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu failed in convincing his son to join him against Vishnu, and tried to kill him, but Prahlada was protected by Vishnu. When asked, Prahlad refused to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe (though he had used his boon to conquer the entire world) and claimed that Vishnu was omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu made many attempts to kill his son.

Holi

One of the attempts was to have Prahlada sit on a burning pyre with his sister Holika. Holika had a special gift that prevented her from being harmed by fire. Prahlad chanted Vishnu's name and in the battle of good against evil, Holika was burnt down but nothing happened to Prahlad. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi festival in Hinduism.

The tradition goes that Hiranyakashipu challenged his son that if "Vishnu was omnipresent" He should be in the pillar nearby. Prahlada answered that He was. Hiranyakashipu furious with the answer smashed the pillar, and the ferocious Narasimha emerged from it.
Hiranyakashipu tried to fight, but was no match for Narasimha.
Narasimha slew Hiranyakashipu by disembowelling him. In slaying the Asura, He made sure that Brahma's boon was not violated:
He was neither human nor animal, nor god;
He killed Hiranyakashipu during twilight (neither day nor night);
He placed him on His thighs (not on earth, nor in space, nor in fire, nor in water) to kill him;
He killed him on the threshold of his palace (neither inside his abode nor outside it);
He used His nails (neither animate nor inanimate) as weapons.

redirect

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.