Hiraṇyakaśipu Vadha in the Matsya Purāṇa

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa gives its own account of the daitya Hiraṇyakaśipu and of Bhagavān Narasiṃha, the man-lion form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It tells of his tapas (austerity), the vara (boon) he received from Brahmā, his conquest of the three worlds, and his death. The Matsya Purāṇa counts this as the seventh of the twelve Deva-Asura wars it records.

In this account Prahlāda is a grown courtier in his father’s assembly. The account spends its detail on the great sabhā (assembly hall) and on the battle.

Brahmā’s vara

In the Kṛtayuga, the great daitya Hiraṇyakaśipu stood in water and performed tapas for eleven thousand years (jalavāsa, living in water). He kept strict niyamas (rules): bathing, silence, brahmacarya (celibacy) and śamadama (calm and self-control). Brahmā was pleased with his austerity. He came down from the sky on his haṃsa (swan) carrier, surrounded by all the ranks of the devas, and offered him the vara of his choice.

Hiraṇyakaśipu asked for two things.

First, he asked to be unkillable. No deva, asura, gandharva, yaksha, pannaga, rākshasa, human being or piśāca should be able to kill him. No ṛshi should be able to curse him (śāpa). He should not be killed by śastra or astra (weapons), by a mountain, a tree, a dry thing or a wet thing, by day or by night.

Second, he asked for rule over all. He wanted to hold the work and the authority of the Ādityas, Vasus, Maruts, Rudras, Viśvedevas and all the lords of the devas. He alone would be the ruler of all beings in the three worlds.

Brahmā gave him both without holding anything back.

The devas who were present saw at once what this meant. They went to Brahmā and cried that Hiraṇyakaśipu would now destroy them. Brahmā comforted them: “The fruit of his tapas must run its course. When it is used up, Bhagavān Vishṇu will destroy him.” The devas were comforted and left.

Conquest and the sabhā

With his varas, Hiraṇyakaśipu swept through all the worlds. He drove the devas out of Svargaloka and turned the Vedic yajñas to his own use. Then he settled in his great sabhā, which moved through the sky.

The Matsya Purāṇa describes this hall at length. It was one hundred yojanas long and not less than fifty yojanas wide. It was five human heights tall. It flew through the sky wherever he wished. It knew no old age, no sorrow and no tiredness. Viśvakarmā made it, and its beauty had no equal. It had jewelled windows, floors set with gems and flowering trees all around.

In this court sat Hiraṇyakaśipu in his full glory. He wore garlands of divine flowers and blazing jewelled earrings. He shone like the sun, and thousands of daitya women surrounded him. Some of the greatest daityas and dānavas attended him: Bali, Virocana, Naraka (the son of Pṛthivī), Prahlāda, Vipracitti, Gavishṭha, Daśagrīva (Rāvaṇa), Vāli and many others. In this account Prahlāda is a grown courtier in his father’s assembly.

Narasiṃha appears

The devas went straight to Bhagavān Vishṇu and prayed to be rescued. Bhagavān Vishṇu promised them: “Do not fear. I shall kill him together with his followers.” He set out for the realm of Hiraṇyakaśipu, with Oṃkāra as his companion and support.

He came as half man and half lion. His left hand touched his right. His upper body blazed with tejas (radiance) like a thousand suns, and his lion form filled all who saw it with awe. He stood before the splendid sabhā.

The battle

The Matsya Purāṇa describes the fight between Bhagavān Narasiṃha and the daitya forces in great detail. Hiraṇyakaśipu sent against him a huge store of divine weapons. These included the Daṇḍāstra, the Ghora-kālacakra, the Vishṇu-cakra, the Paitāmaha-astra, the Vichitrayāśani (in dry, wet and terrible forms), the Raudra, the Śūla, the Kāla, the Musala, the Mohana, the Śoshaṇa, the Santāpana, the Vāyavya, the Mathana, the Kāpāla, and scores of others. The daitya armies threw gadās (maces), khaḍgas (swords), musalas (clubs), vajras (thunderbolts), burning trees, muddara weapons, bhindipālas and mountains.

None of it touched Bhagavān Narasiṃha. He swallowed the flaming cakras as they flew at him. They went into his mouth and vanished like suns slipping into gaps in the clouds. A śakti (spear) was thrown at him. He broke it with a thunderous roar, and it became a meteor that crashed to earth in sparks. Rocks hurled from the sky broke against his body like lightning against a mountain. The showers of water that the daityas called up against him dried up before they touched him.

The daityas used their māyās (tricks of power) one after another, and each one failed. His own tejas cleared away their darkness. Indra’s rain put out their fire. Their weapons melted away. In despair they fell back to Hiraṇyakaśipu.

The omens of death

Hiraṇyakaśipu himself rose in fury to face Bhagavān Narasiṃha. Terrible omens appeared across the cosmos.

  • The seven vāyus (winds) were disturbed: Āvaha, Pravaha, Vivaha, Udāvaha, Pūvaha, Saṃvaha and Parivaha.
  • The circles of the grahas (planets) moved wildly through the sky.
  • The moon left its own path and wandered through the circle of the nakshatras (stars).
  • Rāhu swallowed the moon before the full moon.
  • Comets fell.
  • Fire blazed in the sky with no earthly cause.
  • Seven suns rose together on the horizon.
  • Snakes such as Vāsuki and Takshaka breathed out fire from their troubled mouths.
  • Rivers flowed backward.
  • The great Śesha trembled.
  • Blood rained from Indra.
  • Trees flowered and fruited out of season.

All of nature showed that the end of the daitya lord had come.

Death of Hiraṇyakaśipu

Hiraṇyakaśipu, blazing with rage, took up his gadā and śūla and rushed at Bhagavān Narasiṃha. With Oṃkāra as his support, Bhagavān Narasiṃha leapt on the daitya lord. He seized him in his lion arms and tore him apart with his razor-sharp nails (nakhāgrāḥ).

When Hiraṇyakaśipu fell, the three worlds became pure and clear: earth, sky, stars, planets, sun, the directions, rivers, mountains and oceans. The devas, ṛshis and munis praised the eternal Bhagavān Vishṇu by his divine names.

Brahmā then offered a great stotra (hymn of praise): “Brahmā, Rudra, Mahendra, all who create, keep and dissolve, you alone are their tattva (truth). You are the Para, the Siddha, the Para-deva, the Para-mantra, the Para-havis, the Para-dharma. Everything that is named ‘highest’ is your form alone. O Sanātana, O Śaraṇya, the Narasiṃha form you have taken is what the knowers of the tattva worship as the sovereign reality.”

After this stotra Brahmā went back to his own loka. Bhagavān Vishṇu returned to Kshīrasāgara, the Ocean of Milk. He left the Narasiṃha form there and took up again his eternal own form, seated on Garuḍa.

Sources

  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 160: Brahmā’s vara, the conquest, the sabhā, and Narasiṃha’s appearance
  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 161–162: the battle with the daitya forces
  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 162: the omens, the death of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and Brahmā’s stotra