Author – Awadhesh Sharma
Holika-Dahan, the lighting of bon-fire, is an important element of Holi, the Hindu festival of colours. It is performed on the night before the celebration of the festival. The festival has become popular all over the world, and its celebration with colours and the performance of Holika-Dahan have been adapted to local conditions.
Traditionally, in Indian villages, Ashrams and rural settlements, a green stick of castor-oil plant was vertically placed in the ground and combustible materials such as drywood and dry cattle-dung cakes were collected around it for Holika-Dahan. Just before lighting the fire, the green stick was removed and then combustibles were burnt.
The green stick symbolised Prahlad, who remained safe from the bon-fire and the combustible materials symbolisd Holika, who burnt to ashes. Prahlad, the son of a demon king Hiranyakashipu, was a Vishnu Bhakta, devotee of Lord Vishnu. Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashipu, was immune to fire by the effects of boons that she had received from deities. She was deputed by her brother to burn Prahlad for being a devotee of Vishnu. Legends of Prahlad are described in Hindu scriptures including the Bhagavat and Vishnu Purans.
Events in the legend relate to the primeval period following the new Creation of the World after cosmic dissolution. Brahma created a number of psychic sons and daughters Including four Kumaras, Narad, Daksh Prajapati, Marichi and other sages with immense abilities.
Once, four Kumaras named Sanak, Sanandan, Sanatan and Sanatkumar went to Vaikunth, the abode of Vishnu, to worship him. Although they were older than stars and planets, they always looked like small children. Two gatekeepers of Vaikunth, named Jay and Vijay, assuming them to be ordinary youngsters, stopped them at the gate, barring their passage towards Vishnu. An argument ensued and considering gatekeepers’ behaviour to be comparable to that of mortal creatures, the Kumaras cursed them to be born in the mortal world with Tamasic, demonic attributes. The gatekeepers realised the power of Kumaras and begged for forgiveness. At that moment, Vishnu appeared before them. He welcomed the Kumaras, who worshipped him and departed. Vishnu rebuked the gatekeepers for their poor behaviour. The gatekeepers requested Vishnu for emancipation from the curse of Kumaras. Vishnu said to Jay and Vijay, ‘You two will be born thrice into the mortal world as cursed by the Kumaras, and I will incarnate myself to kill you each time to liberate you from the curse.’
In the first birth after the curse, Jay and Vijay were born as Hiranyaksh, golden eye and Hiranyakashipu, golden body as twin sons of sage Kashyap and mother Diti.
Daksh Prajapati begot a number of daughters. Thirteen of his daughters including Aditi, the boundless and Diti, the beautiful chose sage Kashyap, the son of Marichi, as their husband. Devatas, celestial deities, were born to Aditi. Once Kashyap was performing his Sandhya Vandan, evening worship with fire sacrifice as usual at the time of dusk. Diti came to the sage in the Ashram and desired to become mother, as her sister Aditi had already become a mother. Kashyap explained to her that the dusk was the time for prayer and worship. He said, ‘During this period, Lord Shiva along with his Gana, attendants, roams around with all his three eyes open that include the setting sun, the rising moon and the flame of the sacrificial evening fire. Their sighting is generally inauspicious for such desire’. However, she insisted and conceived with twins. She prayed to sage Kashyap and Shiva for the wellbeing of the babies in her womb. In time, Diti gave birth to two beautiful sons, named Hiranyaksh and Hiranyakashipu. Both were very strong and after performing penance and meditation pleased Brahma and received occult power. Both were of Tamashi Pravriti or demonic nature and were recognised as Daitya, Rakshas, Asura or demon. They later became king of demons. Both the deities and demons were half-brothers from Kashyap, the same father, but their characteristics were quite opposite.
Brahma created the first humans, Manu and Shatrupa, and asked them to procreate, to spread the human race. At that time, Earth, which was needed to provide for sustenance of humans, was submerged in the sea. On request from Manu and Shatrupa, Brahma prayed to Vishnu, who came out from Brahma’s nostril as air and converted into a gigantic boar. The boar plunged into the sea and tried to lift the Earth to bring it to the water’s surface. The demon king Hiranyaksh obstructed his passage. A duel ensued between them, and eventually, the boar killed Hiranyaksh and brought the Earth onto the water’s surface. This Boar form of Vishnu is also known as Varah-avatar, the third incarnation of Vishnu.
After Hiranyaksh, his brother Hiranyakashipu became the king of demons. He decided to take revenge and inflict injury and death to Vishnu for his brother’s death. Hiranyakashipu realised that his brother Hiranyaksh was equal in strength to him, but Vishnu had killed him. It was possible that he would meet the same outcome, so he wanted to become immortal prior to challenging Vishnu. He acknowledged that immortality could be achieved through penance and so he started his mission of gaining immortality. His penance continued for a long time and it became so severe that the heat of his sacrament started inflicting deities. They approached Brahma to convince the demon to abandon his penance. Brahma obliged and appeared before Hiranyakashipu and asked him to forsake his penance. In return, he was ready to grant any boon of his choice, other than his immortality, which was against the rule of nature. Hiranyakashipu agreed and requested, ‘Grant me that none among your creatures shall kill me. Let me not die by day or by night, on earth or in the sky, by man or beast. Let no weapons kill me, neither inside a dwelling nor outside. Let none of the living or insentient kill me, no deities, Asuras or Nagas.’ Brahma granted the boon and Hiranyakashipu returned home with golden splendour. He believed that he had indirectly obtained immortality.
When Hiranyakashipu departed for performing the penance, his wife Lilawati, also known by name Kayadhu, was pregnant with her son. In absence of Hiranyakashipu, Indra the leader of deities abducted her with intention to kill the baby after his birth and destroy the dynasty of the demon. On the way, the wandering sage Narad encountered Indra and rebuked him for his ignoble action. Finally, Indra freed Lilawati, who went with Narad for safety. She resided in his Ashram and regularly listened to spiritual discourses that were conducted by Narad and other sages. When time approached, Lilawati gave birth to a baby boy, who was named Prahlad. Lilawati along with her son was united with her husband Hiranyakashipu after his return home with Brahma’s blessings. Hiranyakashipu was very pleased to see his son, Prahlad. He assumed his kingship and defeated all opponents including deities, and became the Lord of the Earth and Heaven. He declared himself God and demanded that he alone should be worshipped. He searched for Vishnu, the killer of his brother, to take revenge but could not find him. Deities fled or became subservient to him.
As a baby in the womb, Prahlad had heard spiritual stories. He was very virtuous by nature and a great devotee of Vishnu. Prahlad respected his parents but for him Vishnu was the supreme god of the universe. His propensities were not consistent with his father’s expectations. Hiranyakashipu hoped that an appropriate education could influence Prahlad’s mind, as he was still a young boy and he would accept him God. He deputed teachers Sanda and Amarka, the sons of Daitya’s teacher Sukracharya to teach Prahlad.
In a short period, Prahlad mastered the Vedic knowledge but remained steadfast in his devotion to Vishnu. During his stay at the Gurukul, Prahlad was also able to convince fellow students with his idea of Vishnu being the ultimate God, and convert them into Vishnu’s devotee. Hiranyakashipu was enraged by his son’s behaviour. He persisted in his attempts to change his son’s attitude but in vain. Thinking that punishment would be effective, Hiranyakashipu put his son in a prison without food and water, but Prahlad endured and survived. Then he was sent to the torture house where sages and devotees were persecuted. He remained unharmed despite furious attacks. Next, Hiranyakashipu ordered him to be crushed under the feet of elephants. Instead, miraculously, elephants placed a garland on his neck. Prahlad was flung from a cliff of a mountain but he landed softly on the ground. Hiranyakashipu’s anger increased with failures of his efforts with intentions initially to reform and then to kill Prahlad.
He ordered Prahlad to be bitten by venomous snakes. Prahlad was left in the middle of such snakes but they did not bite him. He was left in a jungle filled with wild animals but remained unharmed. Hiranyakashipu’s sister Holika was immune to fire. She was ordered to take Prahlad with her into a burning fire. But the fire did not burn Prahlad, and instead, Holika burnt to ashes. Prahlad was thrown into the sea to drown but he returned alive. He was given Kalkoot poison to drink, but survived. Prahlad remained devoted to Vishnu, who is also known by many other names including Narayan and Hari, whom Hiranyakashipu considered his greatest enemy.
Hiranyakashipu then decided to kill Prahlad himself. He asked him, ‘Tell me where is Vishnu, your saviour.’ Prahlad explained to his father that Vishnu was everywhere, even in himself, Hiranyakashipu and in the pillar standing in front of him. He is the protector of the world. Hiranyakashipu, in his anger and arrogance, struck the pillar with his sword to check if Vishnu was present there. At that moment Narasimha, a person with a half man and half lion body, appeared from the pillar. He was very angry and frightening. Hiranyakashipu thought that he would never be killed due to Brahma’s boon and engaged in a fight with him. Narasimha overwhelmed him and lifted Hiranyakashipu in his lap and sat at the door of a house. It was dusk, neither day nor night. By lying on Narasimha’s lap, Hiranyakashipu was neither on earth nor in the sky. Narasimha himself was neither a human nor a beast. Using his glinting talons, Narasimha ripped open the heart of Hiranyakashipu and killed him within limitations of the terms of the boon. All deities appeared at the scene and offered prayers to pacify Narasimha. On their request, Prahlad also offered prayers, which soothed and settled Narasimha. Narasimha crowned Prahlad the king of demons and declared him Bhakta Shiromani, the greatest of Vishnu Bhakta.
It was Lord Vishnu who had appeared as Narasimhadev to protect Prahlad from the tyranny of his father Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha is the fourth incarnation of Vishnu. Prahlad ruled his kingdom justly for a long time. After Prahlad, his son Virochan became king of Daityas. King Bali, who was well known for generosity, was the grandson of Prahlad and a son of Virochan. He donated his kingdom and his body to Vaman, the dwarf Brahmin, who was the fifth incarnation of Vishnu. The legend of Prahlad demonstrates the victory of humane virtues over evil forces, and inspires millions to follow the path of righteousness.