Prahalada

Hiranya kasibu was a very powerful demonic king who controlled all the three worlds and imprisoned all Devas and Gods were afraid of him. He had obtained the boons from Lord Shiva which made him so powerful. One of the boon is that he  could not be killed in the day time nor in the night, he could not be killed  by any weapons, he could not be killed inside the house or outside the house, he could not be killed by a man or animal , he could not be killed either in the space or on the earth etc. These conditions made him so invincible he continued to rule and harass all the Devas and their king Devendra.

 All the Devas went to Lord Vishnu and asked him for relief from this demon. The boons were given by Lord Shiva and boons once given cannot be taken back. So Vishnu promised them some relief  and asked them to remain  calm and patient.

Hiranyakasibu  had a son called Prahalada. Huranyakasibu loved his son so much and brought him up as a son to reign after his death and gave all kinds of education, skills in archery, horse riding, sword fighting, elephant riding etc.

But Prahalada was a very ardent believer of Lord Vishnu and always used to say “OM NARAYANA NAMO” which annoyed Hiranyakasibu. He called his son’s teachers and threatened  to execute them for this instead of telling “Hiranyakasibu Namo” all the time. 

The teachers fell at his feet and told him that whatever effort they take the boy Prahalada was adamant and said “OM NAMO NARAYANA”.

Hiranyakasibu got so wild that he ordered  his men to put him under the feet of the elephants and kill him. But the elephants did not stomp him as he was going on saying PM NAMO NARAYANA. Then he was tied to a rock and thrown into the sea so he would drown and die. But again he was saved by the Lord Vishnu. Later he was fed with poison and even this did not kill him.

Finally Hiranyakasibu called his son and asked him why he was muttering  his enemy’s name “OM NAMO NARAYANA all the time as he was the real God and not Vishnu. Prahalad replied that Lord Vishnu was the real God and hence he was uttering his name all the time.

Hiranyakasibu asked Prahalad  “where is the Vishnu and show him to me.”

Prahalad said “He is everywhere. In Pillar and in dust”.

Hiranyakasibu then showed a pillar in his palace and asked “is he in this pillar?”

Prahalad said “yes he is in there.”

It was late in the evening and sun was setting so it was neither day or night. Hiranyakasibu got so wild he took his Mace and hit the pillar. The pillar split into two and  A huge animal like thing, half Lion and half man came out of the pillar and took Hiranyakasibu in its lap, sat on the entrance to the palace  and tore his chest and bought out his heart and ate and killed him.

 This Narasimha Moorthy killed Hiranyakasibu and finished off his despotic rule. Prahalad prostrated in from of it and prayed to cool its temper and praised Lord Vishnu who came in the form of the Narasimha moorthy. 

The Lord calmed down and made Prahalad as the king and vanished.

Lord Vishnu as Narasimhamoorthy was neither an animal or man, it used its nails to kill Hiranyakasibu as he could not be killed by any weapon, he was neither on the earth nor in space but on the lap of the Moorthy, he was killed neither in day nor in night but in the evening  , he was not killed inside the house or outside but on the entrance of the palace and so on.

So his boon had not helped him as he was killed meeting all his stated conditions.