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Prahlada

Legendary devotee of the Hindu god Vishnu

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  • 6 chapters

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Prahlada is described as a saintly boy, known for his innocence and bhakti towards god Vishnu. Despite the abusive nature of his father, Hiranyakashipu, and his uncle and aunt, Hiranyaksha and Holika, he continued to worship Vishnu. Thus, in order to protect Prahlada, Vishnu took the form of Varaha to kill his paternal uncle Hiranyaksha by piercing and crushing him. Thereafter, Vishnu saved Prahlad from his paternal aunt Holika, by burning her to ashes. Following this, Vishnu took the form of Narasimha and disembowelled Hiranyakashipu to save Prahlada and the universe from destruction and chaos.

Legend

Prahlada was born to Kayadhu and Hiranyakashipu, the ruler of the asuras, who had been granted a boon from Brahma that he could not be slain by anything born from a living womb, neither by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land nor in the air nor in water, and with no man-made weapon. However, after repeated attempts from Hiranyakashipu to slay Prahlada, he was finally saved by Narasimha, the fourth avatara of Vishnu. He had descended to demonstrate the quality of divine rage and redemption and killed Hiranyakashipu. The word "Narasimha" is derived from the Sanskrit words "Nara", meaning man, and "Simha", meaning lion. Thus, Vishnu took the form of a part-human, part-lion and killed Hiranyakashipu.

After the death of his father, Prahlada ascended the asura throne and ruled peacefully and virtuously.

His father despised Prahlada's spiritual inclination and tried to warn him against offending him, as he had a vendetta against Vishnu. Despite several warnings from his father, Prahlada continued to worship Vishnu instead. The child was successful in converting other students of the asura clan into Vaishnavism by teaching them the Narayana mantra.

His father then decided to poison Prahlada, but he survived. Thereafter, when the daitya soldiers attacked their prince with weapons, Prahlada informed them that their efforts were futile since Vishnu resided within them. Hiranyakashipu then had Prahlada trampled by the aṣṭadiggajas, the eight elephants who bear the weight of the earth, but their tusks were broken to bits upon contact with him, and so, they retreated. Following this, Prahlada was placed in a room with venomous, dark snakes, but they made a bed for him with their bodies.

Prahalada was then thrown from a valley into a river but was saved by Bhumi, the companion of Vishnu and Lakshmi. Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashipu, was blessed with a boon of being invulnerable to fire. Hiranyakashipu put Prahlada on the lap of Holika as she sat on a pyre. Prahlada prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Holika was burned to ashes and killed, whilst Prahlada remained untouched. This event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holi.

The asuras Shambara and Vayu were then tasked with slaying the prince, but both of them were driven away and were killed by Vishnu. The boy was entrusted to Shukra, who educated him regarding his duties, the sciences, and justice, and was returned to his father after he was deemed to have become humble. The asura king once again broached the topic of deities with his son, only to discover that the latter had never wavered in his faith. Finally, the wicked daitya commanded all the daityas and the danavas to collect all the mountains of the earth to construct a barrier over the boy in the ocean, so that his son would be submerged for a year. Even though they spread over him for a thousand kilometres, Prahlada, with bound hands and feet, prayed to Vishnu. Thus, Vishnu granted him a number of boons and moved all the mountains of the earth to their places from the seas. He then moved the asuras away and had Prahlada returned to prostrate before his father, who was left bewildered.

After tolerating repeated abuse from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada was eventually saved by Narasimha, who emerged from within a stone pillar in the palace. He then caught and placed Hiranyakashipu on his thighs, to then disembowel and kill him with his sharp nails. Notably, the death scene unfolded at the threshold to his home at dusk, where Hiranyakashipu was slain by the nails of a half man, half animal thus, nullifying all of Hiranyakashipu's boons of virtual immortality.

Prahlada then became the king of the asuras and attains a place in the abode of Vishnu and Lakshmi (Vaikuntha) after his death.

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