A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1376

c5.1376

PRAHLĀDA, PRAHRĀDA. A Daitya, son of Hiranyakasipu and father of Bali. Hiranya-kasipu, in his wars with the gods, had wrested the sovereignty of heaven from Indra and dwelt there in luxury. His son Prahlāda, while yet a boy, became an ardent devotee of Vishnu, which so enraged his father that he ordered the boy to be killed; but not the weapons of the Daityas, the fangs of the serpents, the tusks of the celestial elephants, nor the flames of fire took any effect, and his father was constrained to send him back to his preceptor, where he continued so earnest in performing and promoting the worship of Vishnu that he eventually obtained final exemption from existence. According to some accounts, it was to avenge Prahlāda, as well as to vindicate his own insulted majesty, that Vishnu became incarnate as the Nara-sinha, ‘man-lion,’ and slew Hiranya-kasipu. After the death of his father, Prahlāda became king of the Daityas and dwelt in Pātāla; but, according to the Pādma Purāna, he was raised to the rank of Indra for life, and finally united with Vishnu. The Pādma Purāna carries the story farther back to a previous birth. In this previous existence Prahlāda was a Brāhman named Soma-sarman, fifth son of Siva-sarman. His four brothers died and obtained union with Vishnu, and he desired to follow them. To accomplish this he engaged in profound meditation, but he allowed himself to be disturbed by an alarm of the Daityas, and so was born again as one of them. He took the part of his race in the war between them and the gods, and was killed by the discus of Vishnu, after that he was again born as son of Hiranya-kasipu.