One day
Lord Vishnu was resting in his palace, when
Lord Brahma’s four
sons came to meet him. They were stopped at the entrance by two guards
Jaya and
Vijaya. They did not allow them to enter as their master was
resting,
Brahma’s sons were very angry and cursed
Jaya and
Vijaya to be
born as humans on earth and to leave their godly status.
A little while
later Lord Vishnu arrived at the spot and apologized for
Jaya and
Vijaya’s behaviour as they were merely doing their duty. So as a
compensation
Brahma’s sons said that curse would be lifted when
Jaya and
Vijaya in human forms would meet their death at
Lord Vishnu’s
hands.
So
Jaya and
Vijaya were born as humans on Earth. They were named
Hiranyakashyap and
Hiranyaksh. When they were born both the earth and the heaven shook violently.
Indra went to
Lord Vishnu and said, “At their birth itself, there is so much chaos. What will happen when they’ll grow up?”
“
Don’t worry, Indra,” said
Lord Vishnu. “
I’ll kill them when the time comes and no harm will come to anybody.”
Many years went by and
Hiranyaksha became a young man. He was a great
devotee of
Lord Brahma. He gave a lot of time in penance when
Lord
Brahma appeared and gave him a boon. According to the boon, no God,
human, Daitya or Asura would be able to kill him. So
Hiranyaksha started
displaying his strength as he was assured of his immortality.
He turned his waist side to side and began churning the sea. Due to this, waves lashed the sea.
Varun Dev got very scared on seeing such a scene. He started searching for a place to hide. But
Hiranyaksh confronted him and challenged him. At this,
Varun Dev accepted his defeat and declared that he could not defeat
Hiranyaksha as he was the strongest of all. And then
Hiranyaksha was filled with pride. He went on churning the sea waters and walked through the sea. Then he met
Narad Muni.
Hiranyaksh asked him,” “Is there anyone as strong as or stronger than me?”
Narad Muni said, “Yes,
Lord Vishnu is the strongest.”
Hiranyaksha searched for
Lord Vishnu everywhere but could not find him. Then he gathered the whole Earth into a round ball and went underwater to
Pataal Lok to search for
Lord Vishnu. All the Gods were worried. They got together and rushed to
Lord Vishnu for help. They said, “Lord please save us.
Hiranyaksh has taken Earth and disappeared.”
“
Don’t worry. I know he has taken Earth to Pataal Lok. I’ll soon get Earth back at its position.”
Then
Lord Vishnu took the form of a
Varaha, a wild boar with two tusks. He went to
Pataal Lok and challenged
Hiranyaksha so they had a fierce fight.
Hiranyaksha used many weapons to strike
Varaha but they had no effect on him. Lastly,
Hiranyaksha wound his strong, muscled arms round the wild boar’s neck to strangle him.
At that very moment,
Lord Vishnu left his
Varaha form and appeared in his true self.
And then
Vishnu directed his
chakra at
Hiranyaksha . The
chakra separated his head from his body.
Hiranyaksha died then and there.
Then
Lord Vishnu again took the
Varaha form. He picked the
Earth, which was like a ball, balanced on his two tusks and left
Pataal Lok through the sea. He placed Earth at its original position and again appeared in his true form.
Lord Vishnu was praised by all the Gods on hearing the news of
Hiranyaksha’s death.
