Hiraṇyāksha
Hiraṇyāksha is the second son of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and Diti. He was born at the time of Kaśyapa’s great aśvamedha yajña (horse sacrifice) at Pushkara. He was the younger brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and he was a daitya (child of Diti) of very great strength.
Hiraṇyāksha seized the earth and sank her in the cosmic ocean. Bhagavān Vishṇu came down as Varāha, the cosmic Boar, to rescue Bhūdevī (the earth as a devī). After a fierce battle of a hundred years, Bhagavān Vishṇu slew Hiraṇyāksha. He was the first of Vaikuṇṭha’s two fallen gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, to be born as an asura. His sister Siṃhikā married Vipracitti and became the mother of Rāhu.
Birth at the Aśvamedha Yajña
Hiraṇyāksha and his elder brother Hiraṇyakaśipu were both born from Diti’s womb at Kaśyapa’s great aśvamedha yajña at Pushkara. The elder, Hiraṇyakaśipu, came out of the womb during the yajña and sat on the golden seat of the hotā (the priest who calls the devas). He received his name from that act. Hiraṇyāksha is the younger (anuja) of the two.
Their sister Siṃhikā was also born of Diti. Siṃhikā married Vipracitti and gave birth to Rāhu, who swallows Sūrya and Candra. The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa tells this in its Uttarārdha, Chapter 6.
Five sons
The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa speaks of five powerful sons of Hiraṇyāksha. It names four of them:
- Utkura
- Kālanābha
- Mahānobha, who is called vikramānvita (full of great valor)
- Bhūtasampanna
The fifth son is not named. He is described as invincible even to the devas.
These sons and their descendants took part in the great Tārakāmaya war and died there. Their children, through the generations, numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Hiraṇyāksha and the curse on the gatekeepers
Hiraṇyāksha is the first asura birth of Vijaya. Vijaya was one of the two doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha. The Sanaka-kumāras cursed the two doorkeepers with a śāpa (a curse) to take three births as asuras, and after that they would return to the service of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Hiraṇyāksha died at the hands of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Varāha. That death was both defeat and liberation, and with it the first of the three births was finished.
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells of the battle between Varāha and Hiraṇyāksha as a cosmic duel of very long duration. The Vāyu Purāṇa gives its length as a hundred years. In the end Bhagavān Vishṇu slew him with the Sudarśana cakra at dusk.
The account in the Bhavishya Parva
The Bhavishya Parva of the Harivaṃśa tells Hiraṇyāksha’s story as the first part of the Narasiṃha and Hiraṇyakaśipu account. In this account Hiraṇyāksha seized the earth and sank her in the cosmic ocean, and Bhūdevī cried out in pain. Hiraṇyāksha had met Indra and the devas, driven them from their homes and become master of the three worlds.
Bhagavān Vishṇu came down as Varāha to save Bhūdevī from the depths of the ocean. A terrible battle followed between Varāha and Hiraṇyāksha. In the end Bhagavān Vishṇu slew the daitya and raised the earth up from the primal waters. The Bhavishya Parva presents this rescue of Bhūdevī by Varāha as the direct cause of what came next: Hiraṇyakaśipu’s vow to take revenge, and his tapas (austerity).
Sources
- Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 6
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skandha, Chapters 17–19
- Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva, Chapters 38–39