Prahlada

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Narasimha tears up Hiranyakashipu, lower left Prahlada praying (oil painting, 18th century, British Library )

Prahlada ( Sanskrit प्रह्लाद prahlāda ), also Prahrada ( प्रह्राद IAST prahrāda ) is in Indian mythology a king from the Daitya demon rulers . Unlike his father Hiranyakashipu , however, he is a devout admirer of Vishnu , who in the form of his man-lion- Avatar Narasimha saves him from his father's assassinations.

myth

He is the son of the demon king Hiranyakashipu . His mother was Kayadhu , a Danava . His brothers were Samhlada , Anuhlada and Hlada . He is also said to be the brother of Sinhika , the mother of Rahu .

In the 7th book of the Bhagavata Purana the story of Prahlada is told: His father Hiranyakashipu was Vishnu's archenemy. He had succeeded in making himself the master of the world, since he had achieved almost immortality through severe penance exercises on Mount Mandara . During this time of absence, Indra and his demigods attacked the kingdom of Hiranyakashipu and wanted to kidnap the pregnant Kayadhu to kill the unborn demon prince after birth. This was prevented by the great seer Narada , who took Kayadhu into his ashram , where he taught her the wisdom teachings. The unborn child also participated in these teachings, so that at birth Prahlada was a fully formed mahā-bhāgavata , a great among the vaiṣṇava , the worshipers of Vishnu.

The father returned, made himself subject to all three worlds through his newly acquired factual undeadness and was initially very fond of the son. He grew up and was sent to the demon school to Shukra , the priest and guru of the Daityas. He was taught there by Shanda and Amarka, the sons of Shukra. Through Narada's teachings, however, he shows himself to be completely insensitive to what the young demon prince is taught, namely sacrificial rites, the acquisition of wealth and the satisfaction of the senses, not to forget politics, i.e. the distribution of posts and benefices, as well as art of sharing and ruling. All of this bypassed Prahlada completely.

When his father had the five-year-old son brought in front of him, sat on his lap and asked what beautiful things he had learned at school, the latter replied that there was only one goal in human life, namely to worship Lord Vishnu serve. When the father threw the obvious adder from his bosom and asked the degenerate son how he came to worship Vishnu, the archenemy, the murderer of his uncle, the son taught him that friend and foe were illusory distinctions only prevented one from attaining total merging with the divine self and realizing Krishna consciousness within.

Hiranyakashipu wants to behead his son Prahlada.
Narasimha kills Hiranyakashipu, on the left the praying Prahlada, on the right his mother Kayadhu.

The fact that his son was an ardent worshiper of the god Vishnu angered the father to the utmost, so that he decided to have his son killed. But all assassinations failed: the weapons of the demon warriors could not injure Prahlada, elephant feet could not trample him and poisonous snakes could not bite him. Meanwhile the boy just sat quietly, absorbed in meditation. Magic and poison, hunger and cold, wind, fire and water: none of this had any effect. When he failed to kill his underage son, Hiranyakashipu became discouraged and saw his end approaching. Then the teachers Shanda and Amarka suggested that he give the boy a very detailed tutorial on all the vices and lusts of the world, the childish aberrations and confusions would then grow out over time. But even this did not work, on the contrary: after class, instead of devoting himself to diversions and games, Prahlada began to teach his classmates the teachings received from Narada.

First of all, one should devote the time of material existence ( bhavam āśritaḥ ) exclusively to the worship of Vishnu and spiritual development, everything else is ultimately pointless and a waste of time, namely the pursuit of wealth and power as well as the satisfaction of the sensual desires. But getting entangled in human relationships, striving for home and family, is just a waste of valuable time and dangerous, since love for women and children is a strong bond with the sensual world. Although it is a pleasure to have fun in a secluded place with a beautiful woman, one inevitably finds oneself tied to women, children and grandchildren and so on, instead of devoting oneself to the pursuit of spiritual union with Narayana , the cosmic Prehistoric man. You, his classmates, should turn away from demonic ways and demonic behavior, "demonic" means here "attached to the material". The Vedic science of trivarga ( त्रिवर ), the three legitimate aims of human endeavor, namely victims, wealth and sense gratification, and this doctrine only leads astray and entanglement in the material safely to the destination and in the transcendence lead alone the pursuit of Narayana and Krishna consciousness, as well as the worship of the lotus feet of Vishnu.

Whether this state of Krishna consciousness has been reached can be seen from the fact that when the believer hears a narration of the Lord's deeds, his hair stands up on his body, tears flow from his eyes and his voice fails. Sometimes he dances, sometimes he sings loudly without restraint and sometimes he cries openly, he behaves like a man possessed, laughs, screams, breathes heavily and keeps calling out: “Hare krishna, Hare Krishna!” This is how he expresses his transcendental delight. That is the true way, one does not reach the goal by becoming a brahmin, a demigod or a rishi , nor through modesty or erudition, not even through sacrifice, penance or mild gifts, one reaches the goal of union with him highest self, that can only be achieved through complete, unreserved surrender ( bhakti ).

After spreading such subversive teachings at the demon school, he couldn't stay there any longer. His teachers, Shanda and Amarka, reported to the father that not only did Prahlada in no way divert himself from worshiping Vishnu, but that he also indoctrinated his classmates with Krishna consciousness. Then the Demon King decided to kill the son with his own hands. He called him over and snapped at him how he, a boy, could dare to oppose him, before whom the planets of all three worlds tremble. And where does the power come from? Prahlada replied that the source of his power, like any other , was Brahman , the highest, divine, all-pervading Self. And he asked his father to let go of the way of seeing the demons, who would indulge in the illusion of the existence of something like "enemy" or "friend" and thereby close themselves off from the perception of the All-One through such distinctions. The father had only mockery for this instruction, called the son precocious and nosy and where was it anyway, this supposedly all-pervasive solitude? Maybe in this pillar here? He wanted to knock on it, then it would show whether the All-One would come to save him from being beheaded by his sword.

At that moment, Vishnu chose to manifest himself in the form of his man-Leo-Avatar Narasimha before the eyes of the terrified king. A tremendous sound came from the chipped pillar, then a shape appeared that wasn't human, not lion, you didn't quite know what kind of creature it was, only that it was terrible, that was certain. But Hiranyakashipu did not hesitate to attack Narasimha, because he felt safe, as he had achieved through his penance exercises that neither humans nor animals could kill him, neither in the house nor outside, neither on earth nor in heaven, neither by day nor by day at night. So it came about that Narasimha, who was neither human nor animal, grabbed the demon king, laid it over his thighs on the threshold of the house and tore it to pieces with his claws. That was the end of the cruel king and his pious son succeeded him.

The sons of Prahladis are Virochana , the father of Bali and Nivatakavacha ("wearer of an impenetrable armor"), the progenitor of the class of demons of the same name.

reception

The story of Prahlada has been the subject of numerous film adaptations. The first silent film versions existed as early as 1917. Bhakta Prahlada from 1931 was the first Telugu sound film ever (director: HM Reddy), MG Ramachandran played the role of Indra in another film adaptation under the title Prahalada (1939, director: BN Rao) . Further film adaptations, over 20 in total, in the various Indian languages, including Hindi , Gujarati , Tamil , Malayalam , Kannada , Bengali and Assamese, followed over the years.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ prahlāda . In: Monier Monier-Williams : Sanskrit-English Dictionary . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1899, p. 701, col. 3 .
  2. ↑ Harivamsha 3.72
  3. ^ Bhagavata Purana VI, 18: 12-13
  4. ↑ Bhagavata Purana VII, 5-10
  5. ↑ Bhagavata Purana VII, 7.2
  6. ↑ Bhagavata Purana VII, 5: 18-19
  7. ↑ Bhagavata Purana VII, from 5.45 to 50
  8. ^ Bhagavata Purana VII, 6
  9. ^ Bhagavata Purana VII, 6:19
  10. ↑ Bhagavata Purana VII, 7.35
  11. ^ Blast from the past - Prahalada 1939 . In: The Hindu , August 13, 2011