Naraka Vadha

Naraka, also called Bhaumāsura, was an asura, the son of the Earth’s devī Bhūdevī. The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 142) tells that through his tapas (austerity) and divine protection he became so strong that he terrified the three worlds and could not be killed by ordinary means. Bhagavān Vishṇu in the end destroyed him. This part of the account is joined to the account of the earth sinking under Naraka’s weight, and to Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Varāha avatāra (boar descent) that lifted the earth.

Naraka’s rise to power

Naraka was born of Bhūdevī and of Bhagavān Vishṇu in his first form as the upholder of the earth. He was a being of vast size. He did great tapas and received varas (boons) that made him nearly unbeatable. He won the three worlds and defeated the armies of the devas. He set up his rule over wide lands. He gathered enormous power: divine weapons, armies of asuras and conquered lands. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 142)

The devas could not stand against him. They fled to Brahmā and then to Bhagavān Vishṇu to ask for rescue.

Bhagavān Vishṇu destroys Naraka

In this part of the Vana Parva, the account turns to what followed from Naraka’s gathered power. His weight, and the weight of all he had stolen and stored up, grew so great that the earth could not bear it and began to sink. This led straight into the Varāha episode.

Bhagavān Vishṇu destroyed Naraka. He alone could overcome a being of such birth and such divine protection.

The longer account of the fight is in the Sabhā Parva. It tells of Satyabhāmā’s part, of Kṛshṇa’s battle at Prāgjyotisha, and of how the stolen earrings of the devas were won back. The Vana Parva passage speaks of the earth sinking and of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s answer to it.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 142