MY BLOG 10        MYTHOLOGY

THE LEGEND OF PRAHLADA

The story of the wise and magnanimous Prahláda, whose adventures are ever interesting and instructive is very simple mythological tale reminiscent of the conflicts and wars between various sections of the Aryan tribes in the remotest period of time.

In every age we have daityas and gods  envious of each other.In some cases we find from the old tales that there are no ethnic, racial or outward features to qualify one party as gods and the other as one of daityas. Sometimes they happen to be relatives even.They can be likened to the members of two rival political parties fighting for power.

As the story goes ; Hiranyakashipu was the king of the Daityas . His name in Sanskrit means "one who is  clothed in gold”; and depicts one who is very much fond of wealth . He was married to Leelavathi, a noble wife.   

He was very  arrogant, exceedingly cruel, and materialistic by nature and seized the throne of the gods and ruled for sometime . His brother, Hiranyaksha another daitya who had been a nuisance and spreading venom, was killed by  Lord Varaha, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in an earlier epoch. 

Somehow he acquired special powers through meditation and by propitiating the deities.   He was granted a boon that he could neither be killed during the day nor night, inside or outside, by any weapon nor by any man or animal. The boon,in fact, according to the Váyu Puráńa, was, that he should not be slain by any created being:

Endowed with these special powers,Hiranyakashipu declared himself to be the master of the whole universe and proclaimed that there was no other God but himself, and strictly enjoined that the Omnipotent Vishnu should have no worship offered to Him anywhere; and that all the worship should henceforth be offered to himself only.

Hiranyakashipu had a son called Prahlâda. Now, it so happened, that this Prahlada from his infancy was devoted to God. He showed indications of this as a child; and the king of the Daityas, fearing that the evil he wanted to drive away from the world would crop up in his own family, made over his son to two teachers called Shanda and Amarka, who were very stern disciplinarians, with strict injunctions that Prahlada was never to hear even the name of Vishnu mentioned. The teachers took the prince to their home, and there he was put to study with the other children of his age. But the little Prahlada, instead of learning from his books, devoted all the time in teaching the other boys how to worship Vishnu. When the teachers found it out, they were frightened, for the fear of the mighty king Hiranyakashipu was upon them, and they tried their best to dissuade the child from such teachings. But Prahlada could no more stop his teaching and worshipping Vishnu than he could stop breathing. To clear themselves, the teachers told the terrible fact to the king, that his son was not only worshipping Vishnu himself, but also spoiling all the other children by teaching them to worship Vishnu.

The monarch became very much enraged when he heard this and called the boy to his presence. He tried by gentle persuasions to dissuade Prahlada from the worship of Vishnu and taught him that he, the king, was the only God to worship. But it was to no purpose. The child declared, again and again, that the Omnipresent Vishnu, Lord of the universe, was the only Being to be worshipped — for even he, the king, held his throne only so long as it pleased Vishnu. The rage of the king knew no bounds, and he ordered the boy to be immediately killed. So the Daityas struck him with pointed weapons; but Prahlad's mind was so intent upon Vishnu that he felt no pain from them.

When his father, the king, saw that it was so, he became frightened but, roused to the worst passions of a Daitya, contrived various diabolical means to kill the boy. He ordered him to be trampled under foot by an elephant. The enraged elephant could not crush the body any more than he could have crushed a block of iron. So this measure also was to no purpose. Then the king ordered the boy to be thrown over a precipice, and this order too was duly carried out; but, as Vishnu resided in the heart of Prahlada, he came down upon the earth as gently as a flower drops upon the grass. Poison, fire, starvation, throwing into a well, enchantments, and other measures were then tried on the child one after another, but to no purpose. Nothing could hurt him in whose heart dwelt Vishnu.

At last, the king ordered the boy to be tied with mighty serpents called up from the nether worlds, and then cast to the bottom of the ocean, where huge mountains were to be piled high upon him, so that in course of time, if not immediately, he might die; and he ordered him to be left in this plight. Even though treated in this manner, the boy continued to pray to his beloved Vishnu: "Salutation to Thee, Lord of the universe. Thou beautiful Vishnu!" Thus thinking and meditating on Vishnu, he began to feel that Vishnu was near him, nay, that He was in his own soul, until he began to feel that he was Vishnu, and that he was everything and everywhere.

As soon as he realised this, all the snake bonds snapped asunder; the mountains were pulverised, the ocean upheaved, and he was gently lifted up above the waves, and safely carried to the shore. As Prahlada stood there, he forgot that he was a Daitya and had a mortal body: he felt he was the universe and all the powers of the universe emanated from him; there was nothing in nature that could injure him; he himself was the ruler of nature. Time passed thus, in one unbroken ecstasy of bliss, until gradually Prahlada began to remember that he had a body and that he was Prahlada. As soon as he became once more conscious of the body, he saw that God was within and without; and everything appeared to him as Vishnu.

When the king Hiranyakashipu found to his horror that all mortal means of getting rid of the boy who was perfectly devoted to his enemy, the God Vishnu, were powerless, he was at a loss to know what to do. The king had the boy again brought before him, and tried to persuade him once more to listen to his advice, through gentle means. But Prahlada made the same reply. Thinking, however, that these childish whims of the boy would be rectified with age and further training, he put him again under the charge of the teachers, Shanda and Amarka, asking them to teach him the duties of the king. But those teachings did not appeal to Prahlada, and he spent his time in instructing his schoolmates in the path of devotion to the Lord Vishnu.

When his father came to hear about it, he again became furious with rage, and calling the boy to him, threatened to kill him, and abused Vishnu in the worst language. But Prahlada still insisted that Vishnu was the Lord of the universe, the Beginningless, the Endless, the Omnipotent and the Omnipresent, and as such, he alone was to be worshipped.

Narasimha was the man-lion form of Lord Vishnu. He killed Hiranyakashipu at the twilit (neither day nor night); on the doorsteps of his palace (which is neither inside nor outside of the home); puts him on his lap (neither on earth nor in space); and used his nails for killing (neither animate nor inanimate).

The king roared with anger and said: "Thou evil one, if thy Vishnu is God omnipresent, why doth he not reside in that pillar yonder?" Prahlada humbly submitted that He did do so. "If so," cried the king, "let him defend thee; I will kill thee with this sword." Thus saying the king rushed at him with sword in hand, and dealt a terrible blow at the pillar. Instantly thundering voice was heard, and lo and behold, there issued forth from the pillar Vishnu in His awful  man-lion form . He killed Hiranyakashipu at the twilit (neither day nor night); on the doorsteps of his palace (which is neither inside nor outside of the home); puts him on his lap (neither on earth nor in space); and used his nails for killing (neither animate nor inanimate).Panic-stricken, the Daityas ran away in all directions.

God is Omnipresent in whatever form he seems to appear,when,where and why; only He knows!

Then the gods descended from heaven and offered prayers to Vishnu, and Prahlada also fell at His feet and broke forth into exquisite hymns of praise and devotion. And he heard the Voice of God saying, "Ask, Prahlada ask for anything thou desires"; thou art My favourite child; therefore ask for anything thou mayest wish." And Prahlada choked with feelings replied, "Lord, I have seen Thee. What else can I want? Do thou not tempt me with earthly or heavenly boons." Again the Voice said: "Yet ask something, my son." And then Prahlada replied, "That intense love, O Lord, which the ignorant bear to worldly things, may I have the same love for Thee; may I have the same intensity of love for Thee, but only for love's sake!"

Then the Lord said, "Prahlada, though My intense devotees never desire for anything, here or hereafter, yet by My command, do thou enjoy the blessings of this world to the end of the present cycle, and perform works of religious merit, with thy heart fixed on Me. And thus in time, after the dissolution of thy body, thou shalt attain Me." Thus blessing Prahlada, the Lord Vishnu disappeared. Then the gods headed by Brahma installed Prahlada on the throne of the Daityas and returned to their respective spheres.

 According to the Hindu scriptures, Lord Narasimha is described as a fierce avatar of the Hindu God Lord Vishnu who incarnated in the form of part lion and part Man for destroying evil forces and ending calamity on Earth, thereby restoring the rule of Dharma and righteousness. (adapted from Vishnu Purana.tr. Wilson, Bk I,ch.16-20)

Historical context

It seems probable that in the  very early stages of Aryan settlements when the Society was primitive, there were rivalries and conflicts between Devas and Daityas for grabing vast tracts of land for their tribes. Thus they were constantly at war and the superior party won in the end. In this case it culminated in the elimination of  Hiranyakashipu and his son was enthroned after him suggesting an amicable settlement between the two rival groups.

It may have been an historic event too as the capital of the kingdom of Hiranyakashipu was Multan (now in Pakistan)on the east bank of river Chenab as attested by ancient traditions.  It is said that  Multan was  earlier known as Kashyap-Pur having been founded  by Raja Kashyap. It was named Prahiladpuri when Prahlada became the king. Later it transformed to moolsthan and then to Multan.

Persian Kings had built a temple of Sun God in which the idol in pure gold was installed. During Muslim onslaughts, Muhammad bin Qasim in his raids found 330 chests of treasure containing 13300 maunds ( 532 metric tones) gold. Entire treasure was shifted from Multan to Basra on ships. After Islamic conquest, Arab rulers got handsome income from temple of the Sun. Whenever any Hindu Raja intended to conquer Multan the Arab rulers would threaten to destroy the temple. 

 According to Buzrag bin Shahryar  this temple  was known as a monument to God  Aaditya (Surya). Al Biruni ( 973-1048 A.D.) paid a visit to this temple as  mentioned  by him in his memoirs. ( source ;Multan gazetteer)

By : O P Gupta