Prahlada

Prahlada (Sanskrit: प्रह्लाद, romanized: Prahlāda) is an asura king in Hindu scriptures. He is known for his staunch devotion to the preserver deity Vishnu. He is rescued from his evil father, the asura king Hiranyakashipu by Narasimha, the lion avatar of god Vishnu.

Prahlada is described as a saintly boy, known for his innocence and bhakti towards god Vishnu. Despite the abusive nature of his father, Hiranyakashipu, and his uncle and aunt, Hiranyaksha and Holika, he continues to worship Vishnu, and Vishnu as Varaha kills his paternal uncle Hiranyaksha by piercing and crushing him, and Vishnu kills his paternal aunt Holika by burning her to ashes alive, and Vishnu as Narasimha disembowels and kills his father Hiranyakashipu and saves Prahlada and the universe from destruction and chaos. He is considered a Mahajanas, or great devotee, in the Vaishnava tradition. A treatise is attributed to him in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Prahlada describes the process of his loving worship towards Vishnu.

The majority of stories in the Puranas regarding him are based on the activities of Prahlada as a young boy, and he is usually depicted as such in paintings and illustrations.

Prahlada was born to Kayadhu and Hiranyakashipu, an evil asura king who had been granted a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed off by anything born from a living womb, neither by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land nor in the air nor in water, and with no man-made weapon. However, after repeated attempts of filicide by Hiranyakashipu against Prahlada, Prahlada was finally saved by Narasimha, the fourth avatara of Vishnu, who descended to demonstrate the quality of divine rage and redemption and killed Hiranyakashipu. The word "Narasimha" is derived from the Sanskrit words "Nara", meaning man, and "Simha", meaning lion. Thus, the preserver god took the form of a part-human, part-lion and killed Hiranyakashipu.

After the death of his father, Prahlada ascended the Asura throne and ruled peacefully and virtuously. He was known for his generosity and kindness. He sowed similar seeds in his son, Virochana, and grandson, Mahabali.^{[citation needed]}

When the ruler of the asuras, Hiraṇyakashipu, was performing a penance in the forest to gain the boon of destroying Vishnu, the devas attacked the asura realm. A great battle ensued, in which the devas were defeated. While fleeing, Indra abducted the pregnant Kayadhu, the wife of Hiranyakashipu, as a spoil of war. Narada listened to the wails of the poor asuri and got her released from Indra’s captivity. She stayed in the ashrama of the divine sage in gratitude. Prahlada, while inside his mother's womb, listened to Narada's chants of devotion towards Vishnu. He was taught by Narada during his early childhood. As a result, he grew devoted to Vishnu. His father was antagonised by his spiritual inclination and tried to warn Prahlada against offending him since he had greatly desired to turn his son against Vishnu in particular. Despite several warnings from his father Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued to worship Vishnu instead of the former. The child is successful in converting other students of the Asura clan into Vaishnavism by teaching them the Narayana mantra. His father then decided to commit filicide and poison Prahlada, but he survived. When the daitya soldiers attacked their prince with weapons, Prahlada informed them that their efforts were futile since Vishnu resided within them. The asura then had the Prahlada trampled by the aṣṭadiggajas, the eight elephants who bear the weight of the earth, but their tusks were broken to bits upon contact with him and they went away. He placed Prahlada in a room with venomous, dark snakes, and they made a bed for him with their bodies.

Prahalada was then thrown from a valley into a river but was saved by Bhumi, the companion of Vishnu and Lakshmi. Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashipu, was blessed in that she could not be hurt by fire. Hiranyakashipu put Prahlada on the lap of Holika as she sat on a pyre. Prahlada prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Holika is burned to ashes and killed, as Prahlada goes away. This event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holi.

The asuras Shambara and Vayu were tasked with slaying the prince, but both of them were driven away and were killed by Vishnu. The boy was entrusted to Shukra, who educated him regarding his duties, the sciences, and justice, and was returned to his father after he was deemed to have become humble. The asura king once again broached the topic of deities with his son, only to discover that the latter had never wavered in his faith. Finally, the wicked daitya commanded all the daityas and the danavas to collect all the mountains of the earth to construct a barrier over the boy in the ocean, so that his son would be submerged for a year. Even though they spread over him for a thousand kilometres, Prahlada, bound hands and feet, prayed to Vishnu, who granted him a number of boons, moved all the mountains of the earth to their places from the seas and moved the asuras away and had Prahlada returned to prostrate before his father, who was left bewildered.