Hiraṇyakaśipu
Hiraṇyakaśipu was the elder of the two daitya brothers, Hiraṇyāksha and Hiraṇyakaśipu. Their parents were Diti and Kaśyapa Mahāṛshi. He was the first birth of Jaya, one of the two doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha who were cursed to be born as asuras.
He had great power from tapas (austerity), and he also had deep learning. He spent all his strength on avenging his brother and on overthrowing the supremacy of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He won a five-part vara (a boon) from Brahmā that made him almost impossible to kill. He conquered the three worlds and ruled from Svargaloka for ages. His own son Prahlāda brought about his fall. Prahlāda’s steady bhakti (devotion) drew Bhagavān Narasiṃha out of a pillar. Bhagavān Narasiṃha killed him on His own lap, at the threshold, at dusk, with His bare nails. In this way He went beyond every clause of the vara.
Birth and former identity
Hiraṇyakaśipu was the first birth of Jaya, one of the two chief doorkeepers of Bhagavān Vishṇu at Vaikuṇṭha. The four Sanatkumāras were stopped by Jaya and Vijaya at the seventh gate. They cursed the two doorkeepers to fall from Vaikuṇṭha and be born as asuras. Bhagavān Vishṇu came there Himself and accepted the śāpa (curse) as His own will. He comforted Jaya and Vijaya: “You will take three births as my fiercest enemies. Through vaira-dhyāna (meditation through hatred), your minds will stay fixed on me, and after three births you will return.”
Hiraṇyakaśipu was born to Diti and Kaśyapa Prajāpati. He entered her womb at the unlucky time of sandhyā (twilight), with terrible signs appearing in the world. His brother Hiraṇyāksha was born with him and was killed by Bhagavān Varāha. Hiraṇyakaśipu himself was killed by Bhagavān Narasiṃha.
His wife was Kayādhu, the daughter of Jambha. They had four sons: Anuhlāda, Hlāda, Prahlāda and Saṃhrāda. Prahlāda was the best known of them, and he became the means of his father’s end. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 1–2.
The Brahmāṇḍa account of his birth
The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5, says that Hiraṇyakaśipu was born at Pushkara, the tīrtha (holy place) of Brahmā. He was born during the Aśvamedha yajña (fire ritual) performed by his father Kaśyapa. The same chapter says that Rāvaṇa, the rākshasa lord of Laṅkā, was Hiraṇyakaśipu in a former birth.
Grief and anger after Hiraṇyāksha’s death
Śrī Hari took the form of Varāha and killed Hiraṇyāksha. Hiraṇyakaśipu’s body shook with grief and rage. His eyes blazed like the sun at the end of the world. His lips trembled, and the smoke of his anger filled the sky.
He called his generals: Dvimūrdhā, Tṛksha, Śambara, Śatabāhu, Hayagrīva, Namucī, Pāka, Ilvala, Vipracitti, Pulomā and Śakunī. He ordered them to lay waste the earth. They were to burn cities, villages, fields, āśramas (hermitages) and sacred groves. They were to cut down trees and break bridges and gateways. They were to frighten everyone who practised tapas, yajña and Vedic dharma. He said: “The root of Vishṇu is yajña. Destroy the root and the tree falls.” The rākshasas carried out these orders, and the devas left Svargaloka.
Hiraṇyakaśipu then performed the funeral rites for Hiraṇyāksha. Hiraṇyāksha had nine sons: Śakunī, Śambara, Dhṛshṭa, Bhūtasantāpana, Vṛka, Kālanābha, Mahānābha, Hariśmaśru and Utkaṭa. Hiraṇyakaśipu comforted them, their mother Rushābhānū, and his own mother Diti. He gave a long teaching on the ātmā (the self), which cannot be destroyed, and on how useless grief is.
He told them the account of Suyajña. In it a boy who was a form of Yama taught the grieving wives of a dead king. He told them that to mourn the dead while oneself subject to death is the deepest delusion. When Diti heard her son, she gave up her grief completely. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 2.
Tapas on Mandara Parvata
Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted the power to avenge his brother and overthrow Vishṇu Himself. He began a tapas unlike any seen before. He went to Mandara Parvata and stood alone on the tip of one toe. He raised both arms to the sky, looked upward, and kept up his tapas for a very long time.
So fierce was it that smoke and fire came out of the crown of his matted hair (jaṭā). They spread through all three worlds and Pātāla and scorched them. The oceans churned, the mountains shook, the planets fell, and all ten directions blazed. The devas could not bear the heat. They fled to Brahmaloka and prayed to Brahmā to act before the living beings died.
Brahmā came down to Hiraṇyakaśipu’s āśrama. He could not see the daitya at all. Ants had eaten his body, and anthills, grass and bamboo covered it. Only his prāṇas (life breaths) remained in the bones. Brahmā smiled in wonder and sprinkled holy water from his kamaṇḍalu (water pot). Hiraṇyakaśipu rose at once from the anthill like fire from wood. His body was whole again, bright like refined gold and hard as diamond, and full of strength of mind, senses and body. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 3.
The five-part vara
Full of joy, Hiraṇyakaśipu bowed to the ground and sang a long stotra (hymn of praise) to Brahmā. He praised Brahmā as the self-shining Parameśvara, who creates through sattva, rajas and tamas, the support (adhishṭhāna) of the seven yajñas, the kāla (time) that wears down all beings, and the advaita ātmā (the one self) of all. Then he made his request. He said, “If you grant me a vara, grant me these”:
- Not to be killed by any being that Brahmā has created.
- Not to be killed inside any dwelling or outside it.
- Not to be killed by day or by night.
- Not to be killed on the earth or in the sky.
- Not to be killed by any weapon, nor by any living being or lifeless thing.
He also asked for these: no rival in battle; rule over all beings and all three worlds; the glory (mahimā) of all the lokapālakas (guardians of the worlds); and the unending power (aiśvarya) of the siddha-purushas (perfected beings).
Brahmā gave him everything and said that his grace was never in vain (anugraha amogha). This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 3.
Conquest and rule of the three worlds
With his varas and his burning hatred (dvesha) of Vishṇu, Hiraṇyakaśipu swept through all three worlds. He overcame every class of beings: the lokapālakas, gandharvas, garuḍas, nāgas, siddhas, cāraṇas, vidyādharas, maharshis, the leaders of the pitṛs, the Manus, yakshas, piśācas, pretas and the lords of all beings. He took the duties and glory of all the lokapālakas.
He set himself up in Svargaloka and ruled from Indra’s own palace, Mahendrabhavana. Viśvakarmā had built it with coral steps, emerald floors, crystal walls, vaidūrya pillars, canopies hung with pearl garlands and beds like milk foam.
Viśvāvasu, Tumburu and Nārada sang his praises. All beings worshipped him with great yajñas. The earth gave crops without sowing. The sky was a treasure house of wonders, and the oceans brought gems to his shore. Yet in the middle of all this he could not conquer any of his own senses. Drunk with his aiśvarya, he broke every limit set by the śāstras, held by the original curse of the Sanakādis.
The devas prayed to Bhagavān Vishṇu with their minds fully turned inward. A voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) told them: “When Hiraṇyakaśipu harms the peaceful Prahlāda, my devotee among his sons, I will kill him.” This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 4.
The persecution of Prahlāda
Hiraṇyakaśipu sent his son Prahlāda to be taught by Śaṇḍa and Amarka, the sons of Śukrācārya. Prahlāda came back again and again with teachings on bhakti to Vishṇu, not the three purushārthas (aims of life) of a rākshasa king. Hiraṇyakaśipu’s anger grew until he tried to have the boy killed.
He ordered his rākshasas to kill Prahlāda. They pierced all his vital points with spears, but it had no effect. Hiraṇyakaśipu then used thirteen ways of killing, one after another:
- Trampling by elephants
- Snake bites
- Black magic
- Throwing him from mountain peaks
- Tricks of māyā (illusion)
- Prison
- Poisons
- Starvation
- Exposure to cold
- Storm winds
- Fire
- Boulders
- Drowning
Every method failed. Prahlāda came out unharmed each time. His mind was fixed on Parabrahman, who lives in all beings as their inner self.
Alone, Hiraṇyakaśipu thought: “This child freed himself from everything by his own tejas (power). His strength is beyond what I imagined. Perhaps I will die through my enmity with him.” This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 5 and 8.
The final meeting and death
In his last fury, Hiraṇyakaśipu called Prahlāda and demanded: “Where is your Vishṇu? Is he in this pillar?” Prahlāda answered: “Śrī Hari is everywhere, in the pillar, in you, in me, in all beings.” Hiraṇyakaśipu struck the pillar with his fist.
A sound like the roar of the end of the world came from inside the pillar, and the pillar split. Bhagavān Narasiṃha came out. His form had never been seen in creation and fitted no category. He had a lion’s head and a man’s body, blazing eyes, a blazing mane and nails like thunderbolts.
- He was neither man nor animal.
- It was the meeting point of day and evening, so it was neither day nor night.
- He seized Hiraṇyakaśipu at the threshold, so it was neither inside nor outside.
- He laid him across His own thighs, so it was neither earth nor sky.
- With His bare nails, which are neither a weapon nor a living being nor a lifeless thing, He tore open the daitya’s chest and ripped out his bowels.
Every clause of the vara was met. Hiraṇyakaśipu died by the hand of Bhagavān Narasiṃha Himself. Bhagavān Narasiṃha later told Prahlāda that for this reason twenty-one generations of his family, on both sides, were made pure by the touch of His grace. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 8.
His learning and his liberation
Hiraṇyakaśipu had real philosophical depth. His words of comfort to Diti hold deep Vedānta teaching. They include the example of reflection in water for how the ātmā seems to be bound, a talk on prārabdha (karma already ripening) and avidyā (ignorance), and the account of Yama on how nothing lasts.
His mind stayed filled with hatred (dvesha) and pride (abhimāna). Yet through this hatred of Vishṇu, by vaira-mukti (liberation through enmity), he was killed by the hand of Bhagavān Narasiṃha and reached the gati (goal) of those who contemplate Him. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 2–8.
The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa account
The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa gives its own account of Hiraṇyakaśipu, in Chapters 160–162.
Tapas. In the Kṛtayuga he did jalavāsa-tapas (tapas done standing in water) for eleven thousand years. He kept strict silence, the rules of bathing, brahmacarya (self-control) and śama-dama (calm and restraint of the senses).
The varas. He made two requests. First, he asked to be safe from all classes of beings: deva, asura, gandharva, yaksha, pannaga, rākshasa, human and piśāca. He asked to be safe from the śāpa of a ṛshi. He asked not to be killed by śastra (a hand weapon), astra (a missile), mountain or tree, by dry or wet, by day or by night. Second, he asked for lordship over all the offices of the devas: the Ādityas, Vasus, Maruts, Rudras, Viśvedevas and others.
Prahlāda. In this account Prahlāda is a grown member of the daitya court. He is named with Bali, Virocana, Naraka, Rāvaṇa and Vāli.
His sabhā (assembly hall). It was built by Viśvakarmā. It was a hundred yojanas long and fifty yojanas wide. It flew through the sky as he wished, and it had no old age, grief or tiredness.
Narasiṃha’s form. Bhagavān Narasiṃha appeared as half man and half lion. His left hand touched His right. He blazed like a thousand suns. He swallowed all the flaming cakras thrown at Him and made every weapon useless. At last He sprang on Hiraṇyakaśipu and tore him with sharp nails on the open battlefield.
After his death. Brahmā sang a long stotra naming Bhagavān Narasiṃha as the highest in every kind of being. Bhagavān Narasiṃha then laid down His lion form on the northern shore of the Kshīrasāgara and went back to His eternal svarūpa (own nature).
The Harivaṃśa account in the Bhavishya Parva
The Bhavishya Parva of the Harivaṃśa tells of Hiraṇyakaśipu in Chapters 41–47. After Bhagavān Varāha killed Hiraṇyāksha, Hiraṇyakaśipu was filled with rage and grief. He vowed to avenge his brother by winning invulnerability from Brahmā. He did fierce tapas. At its end Brahmā appeared and gave him varas that made him almost impossible to defeat by any ordinary means.
This account stresses that Prahlāda saw Bhagavān Vishṇu with his own eyes. He received Vishṇu’s darśana (sight) while he was living in his father’s house. This vision made his bhakti unshakable and made him proof against all his father’s threats.
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s last meeting with Prahlāda follows the same course. He demands, “Show me your Vishṇu. Where is He?” Bhagavān Narasiṃha comes out of the pillar.
The account then gives Brahmā’s long Sanskrit stotra to Bhagavān Narasiṃha, in Chapters 44–47. It praises Bhagavān Narasiṃha as the highest power, who is creator, upholder and destroyer in one. He guards those who take refuge in Him, and He is the reality beyond all forms, even His own Narasiṃha form.
The Narasiṃha Purāṇa account
The Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 44, tells of the last moments of Hiraṇyakaśipu. He sits on a high throne, decked with ornaments of dark jewels. Around him are rākshasas with great tusks, and the gathering looks like a company of yamadūtas (messengers of Yama). The fire of his anger makes him look like a flame wrapped in smoke.
He demands that Prahlāda show him Vishṇu in the pillar and strikes it with the Candrahāsa sword. Bhagavān Narasiṃha comes out with a roar. In the fight that follows, Hiraṇyakaśipu’s body is in the end ground to dust between Bhagavān Narasiṃha’s nails. The nails, “equal to the vajrāyudha“, tear open his chest, and his body scatters as grains of dust. When Bhagavān Narasiṃha sees this, His rage dies down and He laughs.
At the sandhyā time, as Bhagavān Narasiṃha seizes him, Hiraṇyakaśipu thinks in his last moments: “The tusks of Indra’s Airāvata broke against my chest. Śiva’s axe took its sharpness from my chest. Now my chest is being torn open by Narasiṃha’s nails. When fate turns against a person, even a blade of grass becomes a tool of shame.”
The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva
In Chapter 14 of the Anuśāsana Parva, Upamanyu tells Bhagavān Kṛshṇa about earlier devotees of Bhagavān Śiva. Hiraṇyakaśipu appears there with a vara from Bhagavān Śiva and not from Brahmā. By the grace of Bhagavān Śiva, he gained rule over all the devas and lordship of the three worlds for ten crore years. His strength could shake even Mount Meru.
The same passage adds an episode that the Bhāgavata, Matsya and Harivaṃśa accounts above do not give. A son of Hiraṇyakaśipu fought Indra for ten crore years, by the vara of Bhagavān Śiva that no weapon could harm him. His name is given as Maṅgāru, or as Mandāraka or Māndāraka. In that war even Vishṇu’s Sudarśana Cakra and Indra’s Vajrāyudha broke against his body like dry grass. Only later was he defeated, when Bhagavān Śiva Himself made the Sudarśana Cakra, or gave it new power, to kill this son.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 1–8
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5
- Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 160–162
- Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva, Chapters 41–47
- Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 44
- Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya pratī, Chapter 38
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14