Editing Narasimha (section)

==History==
===Prahlada legend===
[[File:Narasimha Disemboweling Hiranyakashipu, Folio from a Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) LACMA M.82.42.8 (1 of 5).jpg|thumb|Narasimha disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu, manuscript folio from Bhagavata Purana, 1760 CE - 1770 CE.]]

The Bhagavata Purana says that Vishnu, in his previous avatara as [[Varaha]], killed the evil demon [[Hiranyaksha]]. The elder brother of Hiranyaksha, demon king [[Hiranyakashipu]], hated Vishnu and wanted revenge.<ref name="dalal2010p148"/> He undertook many years of austere penance to gain special powers. Thereafter, [[Brahma]] offered Hiranyakashipu a boon. Hiranyakashipu asked, "Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at nighttime, nor in the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought about by any weapons or hands, nor by any human or animal. Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving created by you. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any deity or demon or by any other organisms and divinities." Brahma granted him the boon, and Hiranyakashipu gained these powers.<ref name="dalal2010p262"/>

Hiranyakashipu, once powerful and invincible with the new boon, began to persecute those who were devotees of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu had a son, [[Prahlada]], who disagreed and rebelled against his father. Prahlada became a devotee of Vishnu. This angered Hiranyakashipu, who tried to kill the boy but with each attempt, Prahlada was protected by Vishnu's mystical power. When asked, Prahlada refused to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe and said that Vishnu is [[omnipresent]].

Hiranyakashipu pointed to a nearby pillar and asked if 'his Vishnu' is in it and said to his son Prahlada, "O most unfortunate Prahlada, you have always described a supreme being other than me, a supreme being who is above everything, who is the controller of everyone, and who is all-pervading. But where is He? If He is everywhere, then why is He not present before me in this pillar?" Prahlada then answered, "He was, He is, He will be."
[[File:Narasimha Disemboweling Hiranyakashipu, Folio from a Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) LACMA M.82.42.8 (4 of 5).jpg|thumb|Narasimha emerging from a pillar and disemboweling and killing Hiranyakashipu (detail), manuscript folio from a Bhagavata Purana, 1760 CE - 1770 CE.]]

Hiranyakashipu, unable to control his anger, smashed the pillar with his mace, and following a tumultuous sound, Vishnu, in the form of Narasimha, appeared from it and moved to attack Hiranyakashipu in defense of Prahlada. In order to kill Hiranyakashipu and not upset the boon given by [[Brahma]], the form of Narasimha was chosen. Hiranyakashipu could not be killed by a human, deity, or animal. Narasimha was none of these, as he is a form of Vishnu incarnated as part-human and part-lion.  He came upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out) and put the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space). Using his sharp fingernails (neither [[animate]] nor [[wikt:inanimate|inanimate]]) as weapons, he disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu alive.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=HariHarji |url=http://hariharji.blogspot.com/2008_09_14_archive.html |access-date=8 January 2020 |website=hariharji.blogspot.com}}</ref>

Seeing that Narasimha was in rage, Brahma, [[Shiva]] and all of the other Hindu gods and goddesses sent Prahlada to pacify him. Prahlada prayed to Narasimha, and Ugra Narasimha became the peaceful Soumya Narasimha.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vishwananda |first1=Paramahamsa Sri Swami |title=The Essence of Shreemad Bhagavatam: A Seven-Day Journey to Love |date=2017 |publisher=Bhakti Marga Publications |isbn=978-3-940381-71-2 |page=374 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT374 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vishwananda |first1=Sri Swami |title=Just Love: The Essence of Everything, Volume 3 |date=2019 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-96343-046-6 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MnHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Krishnan |first1=S. A. |title=Prahlad and Holika: The Narasimha Avatar |date=2017 |publisher=SA Krishnan |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3617DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 |language=en}}</ref>

The Kurma Purana describes the preceding battle between the [[Vishnu]] and demonic forces in which he destroys the powerful weapons of asuras and asuris and kills the asuras and asuris. According to Soifer, it describes how Prahlada's brothers and sisters, headed by Anuhrada and thousands of other demons, were all led to the valley of death by the man-lion (who was Vishnu as Narasimha) and killed.{{sfn|Soifer|1991|p=85 |loc=K.P.1.15.70}} The same episode occurs in the ''Matsya Purana'', several chapters after Narasimha disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu.{{sfn|Soifer|1991}}