Narasimha Jayanti

Lord Vishnu is the sustainer of the universe and has taken many incarnations for the welfare of the universe. In those incarnations, Shri Vishnu has taken the incarnation of Narasimha to protect the devotee Prahlad and free the earth from the atrocities of the demon named Hiranyakashyap. According to the Puranas, on Chaturdashi of Shukla Paksha of Vaishakh month, Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashyap by assuming the body of half man and half lion to protect his devotee Prahlad. Therefore Narasimha Jayanti is celebrated on this day.

Story of Narasimha Avatar

In ancient times, sage Kashyap had two sons. The name of one was Hirnakshya and the name of the other was Hiranyakashipu . These two sons of sage Kashyap were extremely brave and strong.

Lord Vishnu had killed Kashyap's son ' Hirnakshya ' by taking the incarnation of Varaha . Hiranyakashipu considered Lord Vishnu as his enemy and want to take revenge from Lord Vishnu, he performed rigorous penance for many years with Lord Brahma and Lord Brahma was pleased with Hiranyakshipu's penance and asked him to ask for a boon. Then Hiranyakashipu asked for a boon from Brahma ji - Oh Lord! If you are pleased with me, then grant me such a boon that I should not die from any creature created by you - be it human or animal, animate or inanimate, deity or demon or snake etc. May I not die either inside or outside the house, neither during the day, nor at night, nor by any weapon, nor on the earth, nor in the sky, nor by any creature other than the creatures created by you. No one can face me in battle. Just as you are glorified in all the worlds like Indra, may I also be glorified in the same way. Give me the same infinite opulence that ascetics and yogis get.

Lord Brahma said to Hiranyakashipu that the boon you are asking from me is very rare, but due to your hard penance, even if it is rare, I give you all those boons.

Hiranyakashipu, empowered by the boon of Lord Brahma, had subdued the entire Trilok.He enjoyed the pleasures of Indra himself and was himself the sun, wind, fire, Varuna, and the moon. The atrocities of that demon had increased so much and due to fear of his terror, the deities took human form and started wandering on the earth.

Hiranyakashipu had 4 sons who were very bright, valiant and were the ones who increased the demon dynasty. But among them, a son named Prahlad was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Prahlad was born in a demon clan but still he did not have the qualities of demons. Prahlad always opposed his father's atrocities. Prahlad lived with his guru to receive education . One day that pious child came to his father Hiranyakashipu along with Guruji. Then the demon king picked up his most brilliant son Prahlad, who was bowing at his feet, and asked him about the teachings given by the Guru.

Prahlad was a great devotee of Shri Hari. Instead of following the teachings given by the Guru, he started worshiping Shri Vishnu ji . Seeing this, Hiranyakashipu became angry and ordered the demons to kill Prahlad. After getting the permission of the demon king, the demons attacked Prahlad with many types of weapons but by the grace of Lord Vishnu, Prahlad did not feel even the slightest pain, Prahlad kept standing still and praising Lord Vishnu. Seeing all this, Hiranyakashipu became angry. He roared and said – You fool! Now you stop praising that opponent. Prahlad said - Oh father! born out of whose memory and all fears of death etc. go away. If I remain situated in the heart of that eternal fearless One , where can I fear ? Hearing this, the demon king's eyes turned red with anger . Hiranyakashipu was so burning in the flame of anger that he ordered a poisonous snake like Takshak to destroy his own son. As soon as the permission was received , the cruel and poisonous snakes like Takshak etc. bit Prahlad on all his body parts. As soon as the snakes tried to harm Prahlad , the teeth of the snakes broke , the gems started crackling , the hoods started hurting and the heart started trembling but not even a single particle of harm came to the body of that devotee Prahlad who was engrossed in the devotion of Shri Hari .

When even the snakes could not harm Prahlad, the demon king got angry and ordered Prahlad to be burnt. The priests of the demon king requested him not to do so and took the devotee Prahlad with them. There were other sons of demons , Prahlad ji said to them, O children born in demons clan , listen to me carefully , all living beings undergo birth , childhood and then youth , after that it is inevitable to attain old age day by day. Saying this, he started preaching them to praise Lord Vishnu. The demon king, Purohits heard all this and gave him a cup of very strong potent poison to drink. But even that strong poison had no effect on devotee Prahlad . Angered by this, the priests called for the monstrous whose body was on fire like a flame of fire , but by the grace of Shri Hari, the burning flames of the fire were making the devotee Prahlad feel cool. Seeing this, the demon priest became very angry and attacked Prahlad on his chest with a trident. As a result of which Prahlad did not feel any pain and he remained standing as he was. Due to the effect of that fire the priests of the demon king were destroyed. Seeing this, devotee Prahlad started requesting Shri Hari to bring those priests back to life. Shri Hari brought him back to life , after which the priests came to the demon king and narrated the whole situation. Hiranyakashipu made a lot of efforts to divert Prahlad's mind from devotion to Shri Vishnu and to inculcate demon-like qualities in him. He tried all the right and wrong methods , but Prahlad did not deviate from his path. Amazed by this, Daityaraj asked Prahlad the reason for these failed acts, then Prahlad ji started telling his father Daityaraj about the might of Shri Hari. In this way, devotee Prahlad did not stop praising Shri Hari and the demon king kept trying to kill his son Prahlad. Sometimes he tried to throw him from a high hill , get him crushed by the feet of elephants , get him thrown by tying it to rocks in the sea , burn him with fire, etc. , but due to the grace of Shri Hari, all his efforts kept failing.

Even after so many attempts to kill Prahlad, but he escaped all the time. one day the demon king himself tied Prahlad to a pillar with a rope and asked with red eyes in anger, where is your Lord Vishnu ? Prahlad replied smilingly, O demon king Shri Hari is present in every particle of this world. Seeing Prahlad's smile, the demon king became angry and said angrily - You fool, is your God also in this pillar ? Will he come out of this pillar to save you? Saying this, as soon as the demon king attacked Prahlad, Similarly, after tearing the pillar, Shri Hari appeared in the form of Narasimha to protect Prahlad and killed the demon king Hiranyakashipu . In this way Shri Hari protected his devotee Prahlad and also ended the fear of that demon.

In this manner, Lord Hari assumed the form of Narasimha and liberated the Earth and all the gods from the tyranny of the demon king Hiranyakashipu. He also ensured the welfare of the human race. For this reason, this day is celebrated as Narasimha Jayanti to remember the Narasimha form of Lord Vishnu .

Why did Lord Vishnu take the incarnation of Narasimha?

Sage Kashyap had two sons. Both the sons were very strong and intelligent. Hiranyakashipu considered Lord Vishnu as his enemy . To take revenge from Lord Vishnu, Hiranyakashipu did severe penance to Lord Brahma and by pleasing him, obtained the desired boon from him. Hiranyakashipu asked for a boon from Lord Brahma that neither any human being nor any animal could kill him, neither he could be killed during the day nor at night, neither he could be killed on the ground nor in the sky nor by any weapon .

When Brahma ji gave such a boon to Hiranyakashipu, after receiving the boon, he started considering himself as god and started torturing the gods, due to his atrocities even the gods started trembling. He even snatched away Indra's throne and under the influence of ego, he himself sat on it. In this way he declared himself God in all three worlds and started worshiping himself. Due to the boon of Lord Brahma, he was free from fear of death. Therefore, contrary to the boon of Hiranyakashipu, Lord Vishnu took such an incarnation in which he was neither completely human nor an animal to kill Hiranyakashipu. In this way, Lord Vishnu, in the form of half man and half animal, killed Hiranyakashipu with his big nails.

Importance of Narasimha Jayanti

Lord Vishnu took the incarnation of Narsingh to protect the devotee Prahlad and to free the gods from the tyranny of Hiranyakashipu and also to free the inhabitants of the earth from the tyranny of the demons. Therefore, the person who worships the Narsingh incarnation of Lord Vishnu with devotion on the day of Narsingh Jayanti, all his wishes are fulfilled. All the mental and physical troubles of his life go away. And in the end the person attains the path of liberation.

Narasimha Jayanti

Narasimha Jayanti

Story of Narasimha Avatar

Why did Lord Vishnu take the incarnation of Narasimha?

Importance of Narasimha Jayanti

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