Hiranyakashipu

When I first met Hiranyakashipu, he did not present as a man of rage. He had a great capacity for love which was spent on his wife, and more importantly his brother, Hiranyaksha. The two had been together their entire lives, yet it felt like they had known each other for longer (well, we do know that there might be a reason for this….). We start with the brothers Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha who we know as Jaya and Vijaya, respectively.

“Brother, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Hiranyakashipu quietly questioned his brother.

“What do you mean? This is a quick and … rewarding way to get back at them. Mother Earth of all the immortals is surely a sore spot for the Trimurti,” Hiranyaksha slyly responded.

“I hate them as much as you, but I just think that maybe there’s a better way.”

“You’re always like this. No fire. You just need to take a leap sometime. Because if I fall, I will get up.” Pride and confidence exuded from the younger Hiranyaksha.

“Fine, brother. Do as you wish, but be careful. Allowing arrogance to cloud your way will be your doom.” Hiranyakashipu then left his brother’s cosmos, being careful not to confront Mother Earth. The asura then returned to his kingdom and continued to use the asuras to gain power, but within limits. However, he quickly became concerned with his reckless brother and made his way back to Hiranyaksha’s cosmic ocean.

“What has happened! Hiranyaksha! Brother!”

Hiranyaksha rushed to his fallen brother’s side. “Hiranyaksha, stay with me. Who did this to you? Where is Mother Earth?”

“She … is … gone. Ha...ha. He finally got me.”

“Who? Who did this?!”

“Vishnu,” whispered Hiranyaksha with his dying breath.

Okay, so we know that Hiranyakashipu is definitely gonna get mad, real mad, about this news. But I’d really like to briefly talk about how Hiranyaksha died because I think he deserves at least that. Alright, after Hiranyaksha took Mother Earth, which he somehow did, all the demigods asked Vishnu to do somethin’ ‘bout it. So grand and powerful Vishnu sent his avatar, Varaha, to take care of Hiranyaksha. Now, Varaha was a man-boar with the incredible strength to take off someone’s head, so that’s what he did to Hiranyaksha. In this, Vishnu’s avatar released Vijaya from one of his avatars. Now back to our program with 1 down for Vijaya and 0 for Jaya.

Hiranyakashipu then spent the next few years terrorizing Vishnu’s followers while being in constant conflict with the gods. During this time he completed many penances and had a son named Prahlad. Hiranyakashipu’s penances were rewarded with a boon from Brahma that prevented him from death inside or outside and from a beast or man. He was invincible. Not even the gods could harm him. With this power, the asura became the king of the heavens and every realm.

His only issue was raising his son. Teaching him to be hateful of Vishnu proved to be difficult without a known reason. After continued attempts to convert his own son to his cause, Hiranyakashipu decided to stop his son. Like a domino, he couldn’t be allowed to infect the others with his Vishnu affliction. Again, Hiranyakashipu challenged the belief of his son.

"Where is your god Vishnu?!" roared Hiranyakashipu as he challenged Prahlad. "Oh, is he in this table?" Hiranyakashipu then smashed the table. "Nope! If he is so real, where is he? Maybe this pillar!" The pillar began to crumble soon after Hiranyakshipu hit it and in the pillar's rubble, a figure appeared.

Narasimha, the fourth avatar of Vishnu, waded out into the middle of the throne room. His appearance was staggering. He was an ordinary man from the feet to the shoulders, but his head was that of a magnificent lion. His teeth were razor sharp and could cut through iron.

“Jaya, it is time for you to take one step closer to me.”

“What? Who is Ja-” With that, the man-lion pounced. Narasimha brought Hiranyakashipu to the courtroom where the asura lost his invincibility as Narasimha was not a man nor a beast and Hiranyakshipu was not inside or outside. The sheer strength of the man-lion's jaws ripped through Hiranyakashipu's chest. When he took his last breath, Hiranyakashipu began to fade from existence and universe was rid of the mad king.

As Hiranyaksha breathed his last, the first of Jaya's avatars was freed, and the score was tied. Vijaya and Jaya 1-1. You see, Hiranyakashipu was vulnerable to Narasimha because the man-lion didn't fit one of the categories. He was neither beast nor man and they were neither inside nor outside. Even with all the power that Hiranyakashipu had, the gods still found a way to end his reign of terror. This encounter between a seemingly invincible force will be familiar in our next story on the Demon King.

Author’s Note: I used the Amar Chitra Katha’s comic for Prahlad for the background on Hiranyakashipu. For the beginning, I wanted to expand just a little bit on the death of Hiranyaksha which was just a single line in the comic book. So I went on a search for little more on Hiranyaksha’s death. For the entire story I was back and forth on how I want to present it. I ultimately went with myself being omniscient, but also present when these events occurred. The story itself is mostly told from Hiranyakashipu’s perspective with little interjections from myself. In regard to Prahlad, I decided against declaring his whole story as the focus is on Jaya’s (and Vijaya’s) avatar, not the avatar’s son. Prahlad still must be mentioned in order to propel the story towards Narasimha’s arrival. Without Hiranyakashipu crushing the walls of his palace, there would have to be another way for Vishnu’s avatar to appear. So I showed the how Hiranyakshipu tried to kill his son, which ultimately lead to the eventual downfall of Hiranyakashipu. His arrogance comes through as he challenges his son’s belief in Vishnu, while he also believes himself to be immortal and untouchable by even the strongest beings in the universe. I wanted to end with the narrator (me) so that the next story could be slightly introduced.

Images:

• Banner: Narasimha Disembowling Hiranyakashipu from Wikimedia Commons
• Second Image: Varaha Kills Hiranyaksha from Wikimedia Commons
• Third Image: Narasimha versus Hiranyakashipu from Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography:

• Prahlad: A Tale of Devotion from the Bhagawat Purana by Kamala Chandrakant and Souren Roy
• Hiranyakashipu
• Hiranyaksha