Kong Posh: Prahlad

Sham S. Misri

The Puranas tell us that Prahlad was a saintly boy. He was known for his piety and Bhakti to Vishnu. Stories in Bhagavat Purana state that Prahlad loved to worship his lord, Vishnu. The majority of stories in the Puranas are based on the activities of Prahlad as a young boy.

There was once a demon king by the name of Hiranyakashyap who won over the kingdom of earth. Prahlad was born to an evil king Hiranyakashyap and his mother’s name was Kayadu. The king had been granted a boon that he could not be killed by man or animal, day or night, inside or outside.

Hiranyakashyap was so selfish that he commanded everybody in his kingdom to worship only him. But to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an passionate devotee of Lord Vishnu (Narayana) and refused to worship his father.

In the olden days, giant demons were called daityas. Hiranyakashyap was the king of the daityas and wanted to conquer the world and be worshipped by everyone.

Despite several warnings from his father Hiranyakashyap, Prahlad continued to worship Vishnu instead of him. Hiranyakashyap did not like this but Prahlad was unmoved in his devotion. So, Hiranyakashyap decided to kill Prahlad. He tried several tricks.

He tried to get snakes to crush Prahlad, but Prahlad prayed to Vishnu and was saved.

Then Hiranyakashyap tried to throw Prahlad from a cliff, but Prahlad escaped. Again he trampled the boy with elephants, but he lived.

Hiranyakashyap tried several ways to kill his son Prahlad but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. Finally, he asked his sister, Holika, a she-demon, to kill Prahlad. Hiranyakashyap knew that Holika had a boon, whereby, fire could not destroy her. She had to enter a burning fire with Prahlad in her lap. For, she could enter the fire unharmed. She decided to take Prahlad in her lap and sit on a burning pyre.

As the flames engulfed them Prahlad called aloud for Lord Vishnu's help. To everybody's surprise, the fire slowly consumed Holika and she burned to death. Prahlad emerged safe and sound. This event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holi.

Thus, Holi derives its name from Holika. It is celebrated as a festival of victory of good over evil. Holi is also celebrated as the triumph of a devotee.

Even today, people enact the scene of 'Holika's burning to ashes' every year to mark the victory of good over evil.

In several states of India, especially in the north, effigies of Holika are burnt in the huge bonfires that are lit. There is even a practice of hurling cow dung into the fire and shouting obscenities at it as if at Holika. Then everywhere one hears shouts of 'Holi-hai! Holi-hai!’

The tradition of burning 'Holika' is religiously followed in Gujarat and Orissa also. Here, people render their gratitude to Agni, the god of fire by offering gram and stalks from the harvest with all humility.

Further, on the last day of Holi, people take a little fire from the bonfire to their homes. It is believed that by following this custom their homes will be rendered pure and their bodies will be free from disease.

At several places there is also a tradition of cleaning homes, removing all dirty articles from around the house and burning them. Disease-breeding bacteria are thereby destroyed and the sanitary condition of the locality is improved.

After bearing cruelty from Hiranyakashyap, Prahlad is eventually saved by Narsimha, the half-man, half-lion avatar, who kills the king at the entrance to his home at dusk.

There is an underground pillar known as "Prahlad khamba" in Dharahra village, in the Purnea District of Bihar, India. It is said to be the pillar from which Narsimha manifested to kill Hiranyakashyap. Adjacent to the pillar is a large temple devoted to Lord Narsimha. Allegedly, attempts to excavate or move the "Prahlad khamba" have failed. In Maharashtra, an underground temple near the banks of the river "Krishna" in Sangli district, hosts a beautiful stone carved sculpture of "Narsimha and Laxmi".