Narasiṃha Avatāra

Bhagavān Narasiṃha is the fourth of the ten main avatāras (descents) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He came out of a pillar in the palace as a being who is neither fully man nor fully lion. He had the body of a man and the head and claws of a lion.

He came to slay Hiraṇyakaśipu, the asura king. Hiraṇyakaśipu had a vara (a boon) that made him safe from death by any man or beast, any weapon, by day or by night, indoors or outdoors, on earth or in the sky. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, in its Madhyama Bhāga (Chapter 5), tells this avatāra together with the birth of Hiraṇyakaśipu, the devotion of Prahlāda, and the need to restore dharma in the Kṛta-yuga of one manvantara.

Why the avatāra came

Bhagavān Narasiṃha came because the three worlds were suffering under Hiraṇyakaśipu, and because his son Prahlāda was a steadfast devotee.

Hiraṇyakaśipu had won a vara from Brahmā that made him safe from every ordinary means of death. He had conquered the devas and driven them out of svarga (heaven). He called himself the one lord of creation. He forbade the pūjā of Vishṇu in all three worlds. The devas and ṛshis begged Bhagavān Vishṇu for help.

Prahlāda never gave way. He stayed faithful in the court of his father, who hated Vishṇu, through every kind of torture and every attempt on his life. His devotion was the divine invitation that drew Bhagavān Vishṇu into view. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

The coming out of the pillar

In a last meeting with Prahlāda, Hiraṇyakaśipu struck a pillar of the palace. He asked whether Prahlāda’s dear Vishṇu was in it. Prahlāda answered with full certainty: “Bhagavān Vishṇu is present everywhere, in this pillar as in all creation.”

At that moment the pillar burst apart with a sound that shook the cosmos. Out of it came Bhagavān Narasiṃha, blazing with a terrible glory. His lion face roared, his mane filled the sky, and his claws were like thunderbolts. He was the exact meeting-point of all the conditions the vara had set:

• Neither man nor beast: he had the body of a man and the head of a lion.
• Neither day nor night: he came at twilight (sandhyā-kāla), the point between day and night.
• Neither inside nor outside: he dragged Hiraṇyakaśipu to the threshold of the palace hall.
• Neither on earth nor in the sky: he laid the asura across his own thighs, which are neither earth nor sky.
• By no weapon: he used his own claws, which are not counted as weapons (āyudha).

Every condition of the vara was met, and at the same time was got around by the wisdom of Bhagavān Vishṇu. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

The slaying of Hiraṇyakaśipu

Bhagavān Narasiṃha laid Hiraṇyakaśipu across his thighs at the threshold of the palace hall at twilight. He tore open the asura’s chest with his claws and slew him. The cosmos shook with Narasiṃha’s roar. It was the most terrible sound ever heard, and also the most freeing. Hiraṇyakaśipu was slain directly by the hands of Bhagavān Narasiṃha, and he gained at once sāyujya-mukti (liberation by union). All his life he had hated Vishṇu. That hatred kept his mind always on Bhagavān Vishṇu, and it brought him the rare grace of dying at Bhagavān Narasiṃha’s own hands. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

Prahlāda’s blessing

After the slaying, the fierce look of Bhagavān Narasiṃha slowly cooled in the presence of Prahlāda, his dear devotee, whose steady love had drawn this avatāra into being. Bhagavān Narasiṃha accepted Prahlāda, blessed him with a touch of his hand and made him king of the asura realm. Prahlāda then ruled justly for a long age. He kept both dharma and devotion, and became a teacher of bhakti (devotion) for all beings. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

Link to the story of Rāvaṇa and Rāma

The Madhyama Bhāga of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says that Hiraṇyakaśipu was born again as Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed rākshasa king of Laṅkā. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

Worship

Narasiṃha is honoured as the great protector of devotees. He is the form that Bhagavān Vishṇu takes when a devotee is in the greatest danger and every ordinary means of protection has failed. His form is terrible to the enemies of dharma and gentle and loving to his devotees. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5)

Narasiṃha at Purushottama Kshetra

The Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells of another side of Narasiṃha: his ugra (fierce) form kept at Nīlācala hill in Purushottama Kshetra, and his close oneness with the dāru-mūrti (wooden mūrti) of Jagannātha.

The fierce form at Nīlācala

Brahmā performed the pratishṭhā (installation) of the four wooden mūrtis: Jagannātha, Balabhadra, Subhadrā and Sudarśana. This was at Indradyumna’s prāsāda (great temple) on Nīlācala. During it he meditated on the Narasiṃha mahāmantra from the Atharvaveda. The vast form of Narasiṃha then appeared. It blazed like the fire at the end of the world, and it filled all the directions with its many faces, eyes, throats, arms and legs. This fierce form is kept at Nīlācala in a separate shrine, as the fierce guardian of the kshetra (holy ground) and its devotees. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 28)

Brahmā declared this form the best of all the forms of Svāmī: “Whoever worships it does not return to any further birth.” (Chapter 28)

Narasiṃha and the wooden mūrti

The text states that Narasiṃha is the Sāmaveda and is the main inner form of Jagannātha. The deepest nature of the wooden mūrti is the fierce, all-consuming form of Narasiṃha. Yet it shows itself in wood, the easiest of all things to reach, to pour moksha (liberation) on everyone. The Narasiṃha mahāmantra, from the Atharvaveda, is laid down as the highest mantra for the pūjā of Jagannātha at Purushottama. (Chapter 28)

Worship at the Indradyumna Sarovara

The Purāṇa also lays down a particular pūjā of Narasiṃha at the Indradyumna Sarovara (the lake of Indradyumna). Bathing there on set tithis (lunar days) with the Narasiṃha mahāmantra is part of the pilgrimage at Purushottama. (Chapter 31)

Narasiṃha at Badarikāśrama: the Nārasiṃhī Śilā

The Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4) tells of Narasiṃha’s presence at Badarikāśrama in a separate account. After Narasiṃha slew Hiraṇyakaśipu, his form blazed with such a fierce glory that the devas could not come near. They asked Brahmā to speak for them and to ask Bhagavān Narasiṃha to take a peaceful four-armed form. Bhagavān Narasiṃha placed his various aspects on many mountains and asked the devas what they wished.

Later the ṛshis who had gathered praised Narasiṃha and made one request: that he stay for ever at Badarikāśrama. Bhagavān Narasiṃha agreed and chose to live in the river at Badarī. This place became the Nārasiṃhī Śilā, the fifth of the five great Pañca Śilās of Badarikāśrama.

The way laid down to gain darśana (sight) of the Nārasiṃhī Śilā is a three-day upavāsa (fast) with pūjā. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4)

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapters 28 and 31
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4