A story of unshakeable faith
Bhakt Prahlad
Prahlad is a young prince, the son of Hiranyakashipu, a demon king who has won a boon that makes him almost impossible to kill. Drunk on that power, the king orders everyone in his kingdom to worship him alone.
Prahlad will not. From childhood he is devoted to Lord Vishnu and keeps chanting his name, whatever his father says. The furious king tries again and again to destroy his own son: Prahlad is thrown from a cliff, set before charging elephants and given poison, yet each time he is saved. Finally his aunt Holika, who cannot be harmed by fire, sits with him in a blazing pyre. Prahlad walks out untouched and Holika is consumed, which is the story remembered every year in the Holika Dahan bonfire on the eve of Holi.
When the king mocks Prahlad, asking whether his god is even in a pillar, Vishnu bursts out of it as Narasimha, half man and half lion. At dusk, on the threshold of the palace, he defeats Hiranyakashipu in a way the boon never protected against.
- Faith
- Courage
- Good over evil
