Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c11.52

v1.c11.52

The name Hiraṇyakaśipu is derived in the Vāyu-purāṇa from the following legend. Once Kaśyapa was performing a sacrifice, and his wife Diti was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Kaśyapa had several costly gifts for the sacrificial priests; and one of them was a gold-plated wooden seat for the hōtṛi priest. It was kept covered with kuśa grass. As the sacrifice was going on, Diti gave birth to a son; and the baby, as soon as it was born, walked straight to the place of sacrifice and there sat upon the gold-plated seat and began to repeat the Vēdas and the Purāṇas. The performers of the sacrifice were exceedingly pleased with the child and called him Hiraṇyakaśipu and prophesied that he would become very powerful.