LORD NARASIMHA

 

Nrusimha (in Sanskrit), popularly called by devotees as "Narasimha", denotes the divine form of half man and half lion. The Asura King Hiranyakashibu on the advice of his guru Shukracharya, undertook severe penance on Lord Bramha and when the God appeared before him, he requested the following boons in the hope that he will not die. 1) No human or animal can kill him. 2) Death should not occur in his palace and outside. and 3) Death should not occur during day time or night. When he was granted the boon, he thought he was immortal and tortured saints not realizing that no being is immortal. His near immortality made him to think himself as God and he forced his subjects to worship him as their God. Those who refused to accept him as their God were either killed or driven out of his country. Meanwhile, his wife was expecting and she listened to the Bhagavatha from Naradha Maharishi. She gave birth to a male child Prahlada. Since Prahlada heard Bhagavatha during his pre-natal stage, he was devoted to Narayana. Prahlada would always chant 'Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya'. Hiranyakashibu tried his best to coerce his child to worship him but failed. Hiranyakashyap thaught his child a hinderance in his path of replacing God and tried a number of ways to kill him.He even tried to burn Prahalad alive but failed.Nevertheless, Prahlada continued his Narayana Bakthi . One day Hiranyakashibu, tired of converting his son, decided to make it final and asked to show him his God. If he failed, he will be his God. Prahlada proclaimed that his God Narayana is everywhere, present in Pillar and tiny particle. When Hiranyakashibu broke one of the pillars to check His existence, God came out in the form of Narasimha ( half man half lion, to honour the Boon) with , caught hold of Hiranya, sat on the door step of the palace with Hiranya on His thighs, pulled out the intestine to signal his end. Prahlada sung praise of the Lord and Narasimhaswamy with Lakshmi blessed him.

Boon given to Hiranyakashibu
Avatar
No human or animal can kill him.
Took the form of half lion and half man (Lion's head & claws and human body)
Death should not occur in his palace and outside
He was teared on the Door step of his palace
Death should not occur during day time or night
God choose Sandhya Kala i.e., when day and night meets (during sun rise and sun set)

Thus truth prevailed and the evil was defeated.

Back