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
