🙏 Narasimha festive stories 🙏
🔔 The story of Hiranyakashipu and Prahlada 🔔
There there was a monarch by the name of Kashyap. Diti was his wife’s name. He was the father of two boys, Hiranyakashipu and Harinyaksha, respectively. Varaha, a manifestation of Lord Shri Vishnu, murdered Hiranyaksha as he carried the earth to the underworld.
Hiranyakashipu was furious as a result. He performed intense penance to appease Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva in order to exact revenge for the murder of his sibling. ‘Invincible’ was the blessing bestowed upon him by Brahmaji. He began torturing the people after gaining this blessing since it corrupted and inflated his ego.
During that time, his wife, Kayadhu, gave birth to a son, Prahlad. Prahlad began to mature gradually. Despite being born into a demon’s household, he lacked all of the vices associated with demons. He condemned his father’s misdeeds and was a devout follower of God.
Hiranyakashipu utilized all the right and wrong to try to distract Prahlad from his devotion to God and to instill in him negative traits similar to his own, but Prahlad stayed on his course. He ultimately tried a number of plots to assassinate Prahlad, but all of them failed. Even Prahlad’s hair was unable to get dandy by God’s grace.
Hiranyakashipu once attempted to burn his sister Holika, who was fortunate enough not to burn in a fire, in the lap of his sister Holika, and then burn him alive in the pyre, but Prahlad stayed the same, and Holika was reduced to ashes.
One day, after Hiranyakashipu’s attempts had failed, he became furious and drew the sword from its sheath, asking Prahlad, “Tell me, where is your God?”
In a humble tone, Prahlad said, Father! God is everywhere. Does this pillar contain your God as well?
“Yes,” responded Prahlad. Additionally, there are pillars.
Hiranyakashipu heard this and swung his sword at the pillar. After breaking the pillar, Lord Nrisimha then materialized, grabbed Hiranyakashipu, set him on his thighs, and used his nails to tear his chest open.
Following this, Lord Shri Narasimha awarded Prahlad salvation at his request. Satisfied with Prahlad’s devotion and service, he also bestowed a boon: all who fast for me on this day will be delivered from sin and enter my highest abode.
🔶 The Story of Sharabha 🔶
🍀 Sharabha: An avatar of Shiva 🍀
Shiva took on the form of Sharabha. This avatar, which is the most potent form Shiva has ever assumed to defend the universe, is not well known. In order to defend his disciple Prahlada from his terrible father, the demon king Hiranyakashipu, Vishnu adopted the fearsome avatar Narasimha, which he subdued during this incarnation. Nevertheless, Narasimha’s rage persisted even after he killed him. With an enraged roar, he proceeded to continue causing havoc. His unbridled rage had put the universe in a terrible predicament. Lakshmi, his consort, was unable to calm him.
This startled the other gods, who hurried to Shiva and asked for his assistance. Shiva first attempted to soothe him by assuming the appearance of Veerabhadra, but it was unsuccessful. Shiva subsequently made the decision to transform into Sharabha in order to appease Narasimha and return him to his former form. Lord Shiva’s Sharabha avatar is a hybrid of animals, birds, and people. It looked like a huge, ferocious dragon and had many arms, legs, and claws. The tangled woods accentuated the creature’s fierce nature.
There was a massive dome-shaped crest on the head. It had a long tail and enormous, widely spaced wings on the reverse. The teeth and sharp claws resembled weapons. It had three eyes that shone like balls of fire and a voice like thunder that made everyone shudder in terror. It also continued to hiss like a snake. It was better than the half-lion, half-man Narasimha in both strength and build.
Sharabha lifted Narasimha and threw him to the ground with his powerful tail. Narasimha prayed to Sharabha and begged for his pardon in order to stop this. Additionally, he employed lovely names and epithets that became known as the Ashtothra (108 names) of the conquering deity. In order to appease Vishnu, who had assumed the shape of Narasimha in order to slay the malevolent demon Hiranyakashipu, Shiva then revealed to all the gods that he had assumed the form of Sharabeshwara.
He said that he was the same as Vishnu. They ought to be venerated as a single entity, as they were inseparable. Narasimha was able to be calmed and returned to his divine form by Shiva as Sharabeswara. Lord Vishnu took off his lion hide and gave it to Sharaba as a token of his respect. In Shiva temples, Sharabeswara idols are frequently located at the sanctum sanctorum’s entrance.
🌻 Other versions of the myth: 🌻
Sharabha killed and de-skinned Narasimha after Shiva calmed him, according to the Shiva Purana, and then wore the lion’s head and skin as clothing.
He moaned in agony as Narasimha struck Sharabha with his body, but Sharabha, whose body was incredibly powerful, did not. After realizing that Sharabha was Shiva, Vishnu bowed to him and gave Sharabha respect. After that, Vishnu received a blessing from Shiva that gave him the ability to kill demons. One Purana concludes with the gods pleading with Shiva to give up his Sharabha form because they feared that Sharabha would lose his ability to control his rage.
Shiva thus relinquished the form of Sharabha. His torso turned into a Kapalika, and he surrendered his limbs. The story concludes in the Vamana Purana with Sharabha becoming a lingam, the symbol of Shiva, and Narasimha becoming serene and taking on the divine form of Vishnu.
According to another account, Sharabha lifted Narasimha into the sky and then let him fall to the earth. As a result, Narasimha calms down, accepts Shiva’s might, and passes away. Then Veerabhadra emerges, and Sharabha disappears. The latter wears the skin that was torn off Narasimha’s body. In addition, he takes off Narasimha’s head and adds it to Shiva’s necklace’s skulls.
Sharabha’s disappearance following her victory over Narasimha marks the conclusion of the Shiva Purana. However, in some versions, the narrative takes a different turn when Vishnu takes on the shape of Gandaberunda, a two-headed bird-beast, and another ferocious creature. Even Sharaba could not match the power of this beast. Days passed during the conflict before Goddess Shoolini put an end to it.
***