Book I. Chapter Xx
*
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 143
Chap. Xx.
Vishnu appears to Prahlda. Hiranyakaipu relents, and is reconciled to his son: he is put to death by Vishnu as the Nrisinha. Prahlda becomes king of the Daityas: his posterity: fruit of hearing his story.
Thus meditating upon Vishnu, as identical with his own spirit, Prahlda became as one with him, and finally regarded himself as the divinity: he forgot entirely his own individuality, and was conscious of nothing else than his being the inexhaustible, eternal, supreme soul; and in consequence of the efficacy of this conviction of identity, the imperishable Vishnu, whose essence is wisdom, became present in his heart, which was wholly purified from sin. As soon as, through the force of his contemplation, Prahlda had become one with Vishnu, the bonds with which he was bound burst instantly asunder; the ocean was violently uplifted; and the monsters of the deep were alarmed; earth with all her forests and mountains trembled; and the prince, putting aside the rocks which the demons had piled Upon him, came forth from out the main. When he beheld the outer world again, and contemplated earth and heaven, he remembered who he was, and recognised himself to be Prahlda; and again he hymned Purushottama, who is without beginning or end; his mind being steadily and undeviatingly addressed to the object of his prayers, and his speech, thoughts, and acts being firmly under control. "Om! glory to the end of all: to thee, lord, who art subtile and substantial; mutable and immutable; perceptible and imperceptible; divisible and indivisible; indefinable and definable; the subject of attributes, and void of attributes; abiding in qualities, though they abide not in thee; morphous and amorphous; minute and vast; visible and invisible; hideousness and beauty; ignorance and wisdom; cause and effect; existence and non-existence; comprehending all that is good and evil; essence of perishable and imperishable elements; asylum of undeveloped rudiments. Oh thou who art both one and many, Vsudeva, first cause of all; glory be unto thee. Oh thou who art large and small, manifest and hidden; who art all beings, and art not
p. 144
all beings; and from whom, although distinct from universal cause, the universe proceeds: to thee, Purushottama, be all glory."
Whilst with mind intent on Vishnu, he thus pronounced his praises, the divinity, clad in yellow robes, suddenly appeared before him. Startled at the sight, with hesitating speech Prahlda pronounced repeated salutations to Vishnu, and said, "Oh thou who removest all worldly grief, Keava, be propitious unto me; again sanctify me, Achyuta, by thy sight." The deity replied, "I am pleased with the faithful attachment thou hast shown to me: demand from me, Prahlda, whatever thou desirest." Prahlda replied, "In all the thousand births through which I may be doomed to pass, may my faith in thee, Achyuta, never know decay; may passion, as fixed as that which the worldly-minded feel for sensual pleasures, ever animate my heart, always devoted unto thee." Bhagavn answered, "Thou hast already devotion unto me, and ever shalt have it: now choose some boon, whatever is in thy wish." Prahlda then said, "I have been hated, for that I assiduously proclaimed thy praise: do thou, oh lord, pardon in my father this sin that he Bath committed. Weapons have been hurled against me; I have been thrown into the flames; I have been bitten by venomous snakes; and poison has been mixed with my food; I have been bound and cast into the sea; and heavy rocks have been heaped upon me: but all this, and whatever ill beside has been wrought against me; whatever wickedness has been done to me, because I put my faith in thee; all, through thy mercy, has been suffered by me unharmed: and do thou therefore free my father from this iniquity." To this application Vishnu replied, "All this shall be unto thee, through my favour: but I give thee another boon: demand it, son of the Asura." Prahlda answered and said, "All my desires, oh lord, have been fulfilled by the boon that thou hast granted, that my faith in thee shall never know decay. Wealth, virtue, love, are as nothing; for even liberation is in his reach whose faith is firm in thee, root of the universal world." Vishnu said, "Since thy heart is filled immovably with trust in me, thou shalt, through my blessing, attain freedom from existence." Thus saying, Vishnu vanished from his sight; and Prahlda repaired to his father, and bowed down before him. His father
p. 145
kissed him on the forehead 1, and embraced him, and shed tears, and said, "Dost thou live, my son?" And the great Asura repented of his former cruelty, and treated him with kindness: and Prahlda, fulfilling his duties like any other youth, continued diligent in the service of his preceptor and his father. After his father had been put to death by Vishnu in the form of the man-lion 2, Prahlda became the sovereign of the Daityas; and possessing the splendours of royalty consequent upon his piety, exercised extensive sway, and was blessed with a numerous progeny. At the expiration of an authority which was the reward of his meritorious acts, he was freed from the consequences of moral merit or demerit, and obtained, through meditation on the deity, final exemption from existence.
Such, Maitreya, was the Daitya Prahlda, the wise and faithful worshipper of Vishnu, of whom you wished to hear; and such was his miraculous power. Whoever listens to the history of Prahlda is immediately cleansed from his sins: the iniquities that he commits, by night or by day, shall be expiated by once hearing, or once reading, the history of Prahlda. The perusal of this history on the day of full moon, of new moon, or on the eighth or twelfth day of the lunation 3,
p. 146
shall yield fruit equal to the donation of a cow 4. As Vishnu protected Prahlda in all the calamities to which he was exposed, so shall the deity protect him who listens constantly to the tale 5.
Footnotes
145:1 Literally, 'having smelt his forehead.' I have elsewhere had occasion to observe this practice: Hindu Theatre, Ii. 45.
145:2 Here is another instance of that brief reference to popular and prior legends, which is frequent in this Purna. The man-lion Avatra is referred to in several of the Purnas, but I have met with the story in detail only in the Bhgavata. It is there said that Hiranyakaipu asks his son, why, if Vishnu is every where, he is not visible in a pillar in the hall, where they are assembled. He then rises, and strikes the column with his fist; on which Vishnu, in a form which is neither wholly a lion nor a man, issues from it, and a conflict ensues, which ends in Hiranyakaipu's being torn to pieces. Even this account, therefore, is not in all particulars the same as the popular version of the story.
145:3 The days of full and new moon are sacred with all sects of Hindus: the eighth and twelfth days of the lunar half month were considered holy by the Vaishnavas, as appears from the text. The eighth maintains its character in a great degree from the eighth of Bhdra being the birthday of Krishna; but the eleventh, in more recent Vaishnava works, as the Brahma Vaivartta P., has taken the place of the twelfth, and is even more sacred than the eighth.
146:4 Or any solemn gift; that of a cow is held particularly sacred; but it implies accompaniments of a more costly character, ornaments and gold.
146:5 The legend of Prahlda is inserted in detail in the Bhgavata and Nradya Purnas, and in the Uttara Khanda of the Padma: it is adverted to more briefly in the Vyu, Linga, Krma, &c., in the Moksha Dharma of the Mahbhrata, and in the Hari Vana.
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 143
Chap. Xx.
Vishnu appears to Prahlda. Hiranyakaipu relents, and is reconciled to his son: he is put to death by Vishnu as the Nrisinha. Prahlda becomes king of the Daityas: his posterity: fruit of hearing his story.
Thus meditating upon Vishnu, as identical with his own spirit, Prahlda became as one with him, and finally regarded himself as the divinity: he forgot entirely his own individuality, and was conscious of nothing else than his being the inexhaustible, eternal, supreme soul; and in consequence of the efficacy of this conviction of identity, the imperishable Vishnu, whose essence is wisdom, became present in his heart, which was wholly purified from sin. As soon as, through the force of his contemplation, Prahlda had become one with Vishnu, the bonds with which he was bound burst instantly asunder; the ocean was violently uplifted; and the monsters of the deep were alarmed; earth with all her forests and mountains trembled; and the prince, putting aside the rocks which the demons had piled Upon him, came forth from out the main. When he beheld the outer world again, and contemplated earth and heaven, he remembered who he was, and recognised himself to be Prahlda; and again he hymned Purushottama, who is without beginning or end; his mind being steadily and undeviatingly addressed to the object of his prayers, and his speech, thoughts, and acts being firmly under control. "Om! glory to the end of all: to thee, lord, who art subtile and substantial; mutable and immutable; perceptible and imperceptible; divisible and indivisible; indefinable and definable; the subject of attributes, and void of attributes; abiding in qualities, though they abide not in thee; morphous and amorphous; minute and vast; visible and invisible; hideousness and beauty; ignorance and wisdom; cause and effect; existence and non-existence; comprehending all that is good and evil; essence of perishable and imperishable elements; asylum of undeveloped rudiments. Oh thou who art both one and many, Vsudeva, first cause of all; glory be unto thee. Oh thou who art large and small, manifest and hidden; who art all beings, and art not
p. 144
all beings; and from whom, although distinct from universal cause, the universe proceeds: to thee, Purushottama, be all glory."
Whilst with mind intent on Vishnu, he thus pronounced his praises, the divinity, clad in yellow robes, suddenly appeared before him. Startled at the sight, with hesitating speech Prahlda pronounced repeated salutations to Vishnu, and said, "Oh thou who removest all worldly grief, Keava, be propitious unto me; again sanctify me, Achyuta, by thy sight." The deity replied, "I am pleased with the faithful attachment thou hast shown to me: demand from me, Prahlda, whatever thou desirest." Prahlda replied, "In all the thousand births through which I may be doomed to pass, may my faith in thee, Achyuta, never know decay; may passion, as fixed as that which the worldly-minded feel for sensual pleasures, ever animate my heart, always devoted unto thee." Bhagavn answered, "Thou hast already devotion unto me, and ever shalt have it: now choose some boon, whatever is in thy wish." Prahlda then said, "I have been hated, for that I assiduously proclaimed thy praise: do thou, oh lord, pardon in my father this sin that he Bath committed. Weapons have been hurled against me; I have been thrown into the flames; I have been bitten by venomous snakes; and poison has been mixed with my food; I have been bound and cast into the sea; and heavy rocks have been heaped upon me: but all this, and whatever ill beside has been wrought against me; whatever wickedness has been done to me, because I put my faith in thee; all, through thy mercy, has been suffered by me unharmed: and do thou therefore free my father from this iniquity." To this application Vishnu replied, "All this shall be unto thee, through my favour: but I give thee another boon: demand it, son of the Asura." Prahlda answered and said, "All my desires, oh lord, have been fulfilled by the boon that thou hast granted, that my faith in thee shall never know decay. Wealth, virtue, love, are as nothing; for even liberation is in his reach whose faith is firm in thee, root of the universal world." Vishnu said, "Since thy heart is filled immovably with trust in me, thou shalt, through my blessing, attain freedom from existence." Thus saying, Vishnu vanished from his sight; and Prahlda repaired to his father, and bowed down before him. His father
p. 145
kissed him on the forehead 1, and embraced him, and shed tears, and said, "Dost thou live, my son?" And the great Asura repented of his former cruelty, and treated him with kindness: and Prahlda, fulfilling his duties like any other youth, continued diligent in the service of his preceptor and his father. After his father had been put to death by Vishnu in the form of the man-lion 2, Prahlda became the sovereign of the Daityas; and possessing the splendours of royalty consequent upon his piety, exercised extensive sway, and was blessed with a numerous progeny. At the expiration of an authority which was the reward of his meritorious acts, he was freed from the consequences of moral merit or demerit, and obtained, through meditation on the deity, final exemption from existence.
Such, Maitreya, was the Daitya Prahlda, the wise and faithful worshipper of Vishnu, of whom you wished to hear; and such was his miraculous power. Whoever listens to the history of Prahlda is immediately cleansed from his sins: the iniquities that he commits, by night or by day, shall be expiated by once hearing, or once reading, the history of Prahlda. The perusal of this history on the day of full moon, of new moon, or on the eighth or twelfth day of the lunation 3,
p. 146
shall yield fruit equal to the donation of a cow 4. As Vishnu protected Prahlda in all the calamities to which he was exposed, so shall the deity protect him who listens constantly to the tale 5.
Footnotes
145:1 Literally, 'having smelt his forehead.' I have elsewhere had occasion to observe this practice: Hindu Theatre, Ii. 45.
145:2 Here is another instance of that brief reference to popular and prior legends, which is frequent in this Purna. The man-lion Avatra is referred to in several of the Purnas, but I have met with the story in detail only in the Bhgavata. It is there said that Hiranyakaipu asks his son, why, if Vishnu is every where, he is not visible in a pillar in the hall, where they are assembled. He then rises, and strikes the column with his fist; on which Vishnu, in a form which is neither wholly a lion nor a man, issues from it, and a conflict ensues, which ends in Hiranyakaipu's being torn to pieces. Even this account, therefore, is not in all particulars the same as the popular version of the story.
145:3 The days of full and new moon are sacred with all sects of Hindus: the eighth and twelfth days of the lunar half month were considered holy by the Vaishnavas, as appears from the text. The eighth maintains its character in a great degree from the eighth of Bhdra being the birthday of Krishna; but the eleventh, in more recent Vaishnava works, as the Brahma Vaivartta P., has taken the place of the twelfth, and is even more sacred than the eighth.
146:4 Or any solemn gift; that of a cow is held particularly sacred; but it implies accompaniments of a more costly character, ornaments and gold.
146:5 The legend of Prahlda is inserted in detail in the Bhgavata and Nradya Purnas, and in the Uttara Khanda of the Padma: it is adverted to more briefly in the Vyu, Linga, Krma, &c., in the Moksha Dharma of the Mahbhrata, and in the Hari Vana.
