Hiranyakashipu

Hiranyakashipu (also known as Hiranyakashyap) was an Asura and king of the daityas from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. His name literally translates to "clothed in gold" (hiranya "gold" kashipu "soft cushion"), and is often interpreted as depicting one who is fond of wealth. In the Puranas, however, it is also stated the name was derived from a golden throne called 'Hiranyakashipu' the asura sat in or nearby during the Atiratra (Soma) sacrifice.[1]

Hiranyakashipu
18th century painting depicting Hiranyakashipu on a throne, trying to kill his son, Prahlada.
Affiliation	Asura
Weapon	Mace
Personal information
Parents	Kashyap (father) Diti (mother)
Siblings	Hiranyaksha (brother) Holika (sister)
Consort	Kayadu
Children	Prahlad, Sahlad, Ahlad, Shivi, Vaashkal (Sons) Sinhika (Daughter)

Hiranyakashipu's elder brother, Hiranyaksha was slain by Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu. Angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing a penance for Lord Brahma. He is subsequently killed by the Narasimha avatara of Lord Vishnu.[2] His tale depicts the futility of desiring power over others and the strength of God's protection over his fully surrendered devotees (in the case of his son Prahlada).

Hiranyakashipu, according to legend, earned a boon from Lord Brahma that made him virtually indestructible.

The story of Hiranyakashipu is in three parts. The first has to do with the curse of the Four Kumaras on the gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, Jaya and Vijaya, which causes them to be born as the daityas Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. The second part deals with Hiranyakashipu's penance to propitiate Brahma and gain a boon from him. The final part deals with his efforts to kill his son Prahlada (a devotee of Vishnu) and his subsequent death at the hands of Narasimha.

Birth

According to a story from Bhagavata Purana, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha are Vishnu's gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya, born on earth as the result of a curse from the Four Kumaras. In Satya Yuga, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha - together called the Hiranyas - were born to Diti (daughter of Daksha Prajapathi) and the sage Kashyapa. It is said that asuras were born to them as a result of their union at the time of dusk, which was said to be an inauspicious time for such a deed.[3]

Penance

Devas approach Vishnu requesting Him to control Hiranyakashipu

After Hiranyakashipu's elder brother Hiranyaksha's death at the hands of the Varaha avatar of Vishnu, Hiranyakashipu comes to hate Vishnu. He decides to kill him by gaining mystical powers, which he believes Brahma, the chief among the devas, will award to him if he undergoes many years of great austerity and penance, just as Brahma awarded powers to other Rakshasas.

This initially seemed to work as planned, with Brahma becoming pleased by Hiranyakashipu's austerities.[4] Brahma appears before Hiranyakashipu and offers him a boon of his choice. But when Hiranyakashipu asks for immortality, Brahma refuses. Hiranyakashipu then makes the following request:

O my lord, O best of the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you.

Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.

Grant me that I not meet the death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.[5]

In other Puranas, many variations of the boon are given. The Shiva Purana mentions that Hiranyakashipu asked Brahma that he would be invulnerable to dry or wet weapons, thunderbolts, mountains, trees, missiles or any form of weapon. The Vayu Purana mentions that Hiranyakashipu asked to be so powerful, only Vishnu would slay him. Other variations include not being slain by any living being, not at daytime or nighttime and not above or below.

In section 14, the Anusasana Parva of the Mahabharata, the Sage Upamanyu briefly mentioned to Krishna that Hiranyakashipu also performed another penance to please Lord Shiva. Shiva granted Hiranyakashipu the boon that he would have unrivalled combat prowess, exceeding skill in the use of bow and other weapons as well as the powers of all the gods, including Indra, Yama, Kubera, Sūrya, Agni, Vayu, Soma and Varuna.

In consequence of these two boons, Hiranyakashipu become so mighty that he was able to shake the very Himalayas down to their roots. Ravana once tried to lift Hiranyakashipu's earrings but he was unable to do so because they were very heavy.

The Brahmanda Purana mentions that Hiranyakashipu ruled for 107,280,000 years (more than 24 Mahayugas).

Prahlada and Narasimha

Hiranyakashipu wielding a mace against Narasimha

Whilst Hiranyakashipu is performing the penance to be granted this boon, Indra and the other devas attack his home,[6] seizing the opportunity in his absence. At this point the divine sage Narada intervenes to protect Hiranyakashipu's wife Kayadhu,[7] whom he describes as 'sinless'.[8] Narada takes Kayadhu into his care, and while she is under his guidance, her unborn child (Hiranyakashipu's son) Prahlada becomes affected by the transcendental instructions of the sage even in the womb. Later, growing as a child, Prahlada begins to show symptoms of Narada's prenatal training and gradually becomes recognised as a devoted follower of Vishnu, much to his father's disappointment.[9]

Hiranyakashipu eventually becomes so angry and upset at his son's devotion to Vishnu (whom he sees as his mortal enemy) that he decides he must kill him[10] but each time he attempts to kill the boy, Prahlada is protected by Vishnu's mystical power. When asked, Prahlada refuses to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe and claims that Vishnu is all-pervading and omnipresent. To which Hiranyakashipu points to a nearby pillar and asks if 'his Vishnu' is in it:

"O most unfortunate Prahlada, you have always described a supreme being other than me, a supreme being who is above everything, who is the controller of everyone, and who is all-pervading. But where is He? If He is everywhere, then why is He not present before me in this pillar?"[11]

Vishnu as Narasimha kills Hiranyakashipu, stone sculpture from Halebidu, Karnataka

Prahlada then answers, He was, He is and He will be. (In an alternate version of the story, Prahlada answers He is in pillars, and he is in the least twig.) Hiranyakashipu, unable to control his anger, smashes the pillar with his mace. A tumultuous sound is heard, and Vishnu in the form of Narasimha appears from the broken pillar and moves to attack Hiranyakashipu in defence of Prahlada.

Vishnu has chosen here to appear in the form of Narasimha in order to be able to kill Hiranyakashipu without violating the boon given by Brahma. Hiranyakashipu cannot be killed by human, deva or animal, but Narasimha is none of these, as he is a form of Vishnu (a deva) incarnate as part human, part animal. He comes upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out), and puts the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space). Using his nails (neither animate nor inanimate) as weapons, he disembowels and kills the demon.[12]

Even after Hiranyakashipu's death, none of the gods and demigods present are able to calm Narasimha's fury. So all the gods and goddesses call His consort, the goddess Lakshmi, but she is also unable to do so. Then, at the request of Brahma, Prahlada is presented to Narasimha, who is finally calmed by the prayers of his devotee.[13]

Holi

One of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son Prahlada was to have him sit on a burning pyre with his aunt Holika. Holika had a special boon that prevented her from being harmed by fire. Prahlada chanted Vishnu's name and in the battle of good against evil, Holika was burnt down but nothing happened to Prahlad. The burning of Holika is celebrated in Hinduism as the festival of Holi.[14][15]

See also

• Bhagavata Purana
• Vishnu Purana

Footnotes

1. G.V.Tagare (1958). Brahmanda Purana - English Translation - Part 2 of 5. pp. 426 (5.4-5).
2. Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 734.
3. Mani, Vettam (1975). Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary With Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 314. ISBN 0-8426-0822-2.
4. Bhag-P 7.4.1 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine "Lord Brahma was very much satisfied by Hiranyakasipu's austerities, which were difficult to perform"
5. Bhag-P, Canto 7 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 7.3.35–38
6. Bhag-P 7.7.6 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine "The victorious demigods plundered the palace of Hiranyakasipu, the King of the demons, and destroyed everything within it. Then Indra, King of heaven, arrested my mother, the Queen"
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "When Hiranyakasipu left his kingdom and went to the mountain known as Mandaracala to execute severe austerities, all the demons scattered. Hiranyakashipu's wife, Kayadhu (Leelavati), was pregnant at that time."
8. Bhag-P 7.7.8 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine "Narada Muni said: O Indra, King of the demigods, this woman is certainly sinless. You should not drag her off in this merciless way. O greatly fortunate one, this chaste woman is the wife of another. You must immediately release her."
9. Bhag-P 7.8.6 Archived 8 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine
10. Bhag-P 7.8.3–4 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine "Thus he finally decided to kill his son Prahlada. Hiranyakashipu was by nature very cruel, and feeling insulted, he began hissing like a snake trampled upon by someone's foot."
11. Bhag-P 7.8.12 Archived 26 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
12. Bhag-P 7.8.29 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine "Lord Nrisimhadeva placed the demon on His lap, supporting him with His thighs, and in the doorway of the assembly hall the Lord very easily tore the demon to pieces with the nails of His hand."
13. Bhag-P 7.9 Archived 8 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine
14. http://www.indiacelebrating.com/festivals/holi/holika-dahan/
15. http://www.holifestival.org/legend-holika-prahlad.html