Sri Vasista
O Rama, hear, now, about king Prahlada, King of danavas, and the way he gained the expreience of truth and became a 'Siddha'.
-4 There was a King called Hiranyakasipu, a king of might and valour equal to that of Narayana. He vaniquished both gods and asuras and ruled over them from Patala. He snatched from Indra the riches of the three worlds, like a King-swan which roots out a lotus which was the residence of a bee. Like a wild elephant which scares away both bees and swans, he struck fear in both gods and 'asuras' and seized their lands in the three worlds.
-7 In course of time many sons were born to him. They were very valourous even as children. Their intention and goal was to seize all the lands of gods. They grew up like the rays of sun, bright and sharp. Among them Prahlada was like 'Kaustubha' among gems.. He became the prince, the successor son of the King.
-12 Prahlada was like spring among the seasons. With his presence and help, Hiranyakasipu became strong and splendorous. He became extremely arrogant. Aided by his vast armies, he became a tyrant causing inmense grief to the people of three worlds. Gods including sun and moon were also harassed. (Unable to tolerate the harassment) gods prayed to Lord Vishnu for relief from the tyrant king. Even the most tolerant great souls can not ignore repeated crimes.
-19 . Lord Vishnu in his great compassion, took body as Narisimha, man-lion. In that form he made deep heart-rending 'ghur, ghur' sounds, shaking his body violently. His teeth and nails were like the tusks of the massive elephants of the quarters. His body was brilliant and effulgent like disamond. The ear rings were like glowing fires. He was like a massive mountain. His shoulders were like trees which could shake out universes with a little tremble. The fiery breath issuing out of his mouth could root out great mountains. His neck was big with the prowess of throwing up wild fire of anger which could turn, all the three worlds into ashes. The roots of the hairs were like pits of fire. He bore on him a variety of weapons. Lord Vishnu in such body of Narasimha, killed Hiranyakasipu like a wild elephant mutilating a horse.
-24 . In that fiery, uncontrollable anger, Narasimha burnt down the cities of danavas to ashes. The denizens of the cities took flight and became invissible, being unable to tolerate the fierce flames. At that time danavas were leaderless and patala looked like a world burnt down by deluge-fires. After the holocaust, Lord Vishnu was worshipped by gods. He asked them to be courageous and to live without fear and left for his abode.
-28 . After that prince Prahlada took charge of the situation. He along with his relatives performed the necessary rites for all the deceased. He consoled the people that survived the holscaust. Everyone was taken by total surprise by the events and were dumb-struck. They looked like a tree burnt out of its leaves and branches.
