Prahlad-The Greatest Devotee of Vishnu

Prahlad

Prahalad is a saintly boy as described in Vishnu Purana , who is one of the most important devotee of Vishnu and one of the twelve Mahajanas , and of importance to the worshippers of the Narsimha Avatar of Vishnu .

Prahlad was born to Hiranyakashipu and Kayadhu .He belonged to the Kashyap gotra. Despite of his father’s demonic nature ,Prahlad possessed all the great and saintly qualities . He is one of the greatest devotee of Vishnu and in the Vishnu Purana , he is described in many of the stories as a young boy with the help of paintings and drawings.

Why did Prahalad had saintly features ?

When Prahalad was in his mothers womb his father had moved to Himalayas to perform austerities to please Brahma. Indra took this opportunity to attack his kingdom , and killed his ministers ,and decided to abduct Kayadhu . Narada sage condemned this action and took Prahalad’s mother to his hermitage and treated her like his daughter . When Kayadhu was at his hermitage , he used to chant mantras in praise of Lord Narayana .

During this time Prahalad was in the womb and he used to hear all the chantings and developed devotion for Narayana . When he was born he was taught by Narada himself about the nature and greatness of Vishnu and with all this knowledge , he had become and ardent devotee of Vishnu.

Reason of Prahalada’s brith

Hiranyakashipu,father of Prahalada was an evil demon king who had been granted a boon that he could not be killed off by anything born from a living womb, neither be killed by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land nor in the air nor in water and of no man-made weapon. So , Vishnu took the Narsimha avatar to kill him , and to make people know that Lord Narayana always protect his devotees from all dangers in whichever conditions they are , the birth of Prahalad was necessary.

Attempts of Killing Prahalada

His father decided to commit fillicide and poison Prahlāda, but he survived. He then trampled the boy with elephants, but the boy still lived. Then he put Prahlāda in a room with venomous snakes, and they made a bed for him with their bodiesPrahalada was then thrown from a valley into a river but was saved by Vishnu. Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashyap, was blessed in that she could not be hurt by fire. Hiranyakashipu put Prahlāda on the lap of Holika as she sits on a pyre. Prahlāda prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Holika then burned to death as Prahlāda is left unscathed. This event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holi.

Later Life

Because of his pure devotion for Narayana ,Prahalad became one of the mightiest king of Asuras, and was even more powerful than his father . He ruled his kingdom virtuously and everyone lived in peace.

Prahalad was also present during Samudra Manthan (churning of the milk ocean) and also fought in the Tarakamaya war against the Devas.

Prahalad was the father of Virochana , who had a son named Bali , who is one of the most famous demon king known for his generous behavior and noble qualities. Bali had a son named Banasura who had fought a battle with Lord Krishna in the Dwapar Yuga and was defeated .

The main reason for which Prahalad was born was to make people realise that one who is a pure devotee of Vishnu is never perished and he is always under the protection of mighty arms of Narayana.