Prahlad

One day the gate keepers of Lord Vishnu, Jaya and Vijaya, annoyed Sanak, Sanandan, Sanat Kumar and, as a result, the kumars cursed them, saying they be demons. In Satyuga, the gate keepers had to be born on the earth as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha to sage Kashyapa and Diti, daughter of Daksha Prajapati. When the Varah avatar of Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyaksha, his elder brother Hiranyakashipu decided to take revenge on Vishnu. He worshiped Brahma with a view to gaining super powers. He underwent years of hard austerity and penance. At last, Brahma emerged and offered him anything that he wanted. He asked for the immortality but he was refused. Brahma, however, agreed to oblige him with alternative boons. He then requested that he not be killed by any living or nonliving entity, by god or demon and asked to grant him that he not die within or outside any house, nor on the ground or in the sky, not during the daytime or at night, that no weapon, nor man or any animal could kill him and that he be the sole ruler of the earth and the sky without any rival. He also asked for the powers that are not available to the supernatural beings.

In the meantime, taking the advantage of his absence, Indra along with other gods attacked his home. Sage Narada was watching what Indra was doing. He rushed to rescue Kayadhu, the wife of Hiranyakashipu, who was pregnant and whom he considered sinless. He took Kayadhu in his care. While she was living with the sage, she gave birth to their son, Prahlad. Since the son grew up under the guidance of the sage, he developed to be a great devotee of his father’s arch enemy, Lord Vishnu.

With his being almost immortal, Hiranyakashipu turned tyrant. He silenced anyone who spoke out against him and forced the people to worship him instead of God. He indulged his passion for wealth and sex as his name implies and started to treat people not like a man is treated but like a thing. Just his name could send a shudder of fear through every direction. People almost forgot that they were living their own life because they could not use anything, even those things which they produced, until permitted. In short, the whole world was shaking with terror.

Hiranyakashipu was not happy with the way his son was worshiping Vishnu. He tried to teach him that it was not Vishnu but he himself was the supreme lord of the universe but he refused to acknowledge it rather he claimed that Lord Vishnu was omnipotent and omnipresent. Eventually, he became so upset at Prahlad that he decided to kill him. He threw Prahlad down the mountain in a fit of rage but before he fell on the rock, God Vishnu seized him with his tender hands. He tried different means to kill him but every time he failed.

Hiranyakashipu had a sister named Holika, who was gifted with a magical power that could prevent any type of fire from burning her. One day it occurred to the demon king that he could burn his rebellious son to death with the help of his sister. He asked his sister to sit on a burning pyre with Prahlad. When Holika did that, she was soon reduced to ashes whereas Prahlad came out of the fire safe, chanting the name of Lord Vishnu.

At last, Hiranyakashipu drew his own sword to slay his son. “Prahlad,” he said, “where’s he who you call all-pervading and the controller of all?” “He is in your sword, in the pillar and everywhere around here,” replied Prahlad. The king roared in anger and smashed the pillar. When someone inhuman grows too powerful for any opponent, their end comes from an unexpected direction. The same thing soon happened. Lord Vishnu appeared from the cracks of the pillar in the form of Narsingha after a loud thunder. He took the demon to the threshold where he put him on his thighs and with his sharp nails ripped him up at twilight. Thus He did not go against the words of Brahma.

Narsingha was still distorted with fury. Brahma, Shiva and all the three goddesses emerged there but no one dared to calm Him down. Finally, the prayers of Prahlad brought him to compose His features.

By being excited with their first victory over a long-term tyranny, people strewed flowers and sprayed fragrance on each other, danced, sang devotional songs, and then hugged each other. Later, the anniversaries of the end of Holika and her tyrant brother Hiranyakashipu and the rise of freedom were celebrated as Holi festival by the people who restored faith by being inspired by Prahlad, their young leader.