Narasimha

Narasimha
God of Protection, Destruction, Yoga and Kala (Time); The Destroyer of Evil and Fear
Avatar of Vishnu
Member of Dashavatara
Sculpture of Narasimha in Tirumala, India
Devanagariनरसिंह
Sanskrit transliterationNarasimha
AffiliationVaishnavism, Kala-Mahakala, Manyu[1]
AbodeVaikuntha, Kshira Sagara
WeaponSudarshana Chakra, Kaumodaki, Nails
FestivalsNarasimha Jayanti, Holi
ConsortLakshmi[2]
Dashavatara Sequence
PredecessorVaraha
SuccessorVamana

Narasimha (Sanskrit: नरसिंह, lit.'man-lion', IAST: Narasiṃha), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.[3] He is believed to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to kill Hiranyakashipu, to end religious persecution and calamity on earth, thereby restoring dharma.[1][4] Narasimha is often depicted with three eyes, and is described in Vaishnavism to be the God of Destruction; he who destroys the entire universe at the time of the great dissolution (Mahapralaya). Hence, he is known as Kala (time) or Mahakala (great-time), or Parakala (beyond time) in his epithets. There exists a matha (monastery) dedicated to him by the name of Parakala Matha at Mysuru in the Sri Vaishnava tradition.[5] Narasimha is also described as the God of Yoga, in the form of Yoga-Narasimha.[6][7]

Narasimha iconography shows him with a human torso and lower body, with a leonine face and claws, typically with the asura Hiranyakashipu being disemboweled and killed by him in his lap. The asura king was the powerful elder brother of the evil Hiranyaksha, who had been previously killed by Vishnu as Varaha, and thus hated the latter.[8] Hiranyakashipu gained a boon from Brahma due to which he could not be killed during the day or night, inside or outside the house; neither in the sky nor on land nor in Svarga nor in Patala, by any weapon, nor by humans, deities, demons, or animals.[9] Endowed with this boon, he began to wreak chaos and havoc, persecuting all the devotees of Vishnu, including his own son Prahlada.[1][9][10] Vishnu, cognisant of the asura's boon, creatively assumed a hybrid form that was neither human nor animal as a lion in the name of Narasimha, and Narashima disemboweled and killed Hiranyakashipu and at the junction of day and night, at the threshold of his palace, which was neither inside nor the outside, upon his lap, and with his claws.[1] Narasimha is known primarily as the 'Great Protector' who specifically defends and protects his devotees from evil.[11] The most popular Narasimha myth is the legend of his protection of his devotee Prahlada, and the killing of Prahlada's wicked father and demon Hiranyakashipu.[12]

Narasimha is one of the major deities in Vaishnavism, and his legends are revered in Vaikhanasas, Sri Vaishnavism, Sadha Vaishnavism,[13] and various other Vaishnava traditions of Hinduism. He is celebrated in many regional Hindu temples, texts, performance arts, and festivals such as the Hindu festival of colours of the spring, called Holi.[9][14][page needed]

One of the earliest representation of Narasimha, dating back to the 4th-century CE, is from Kondamotu in Coastal Andhra.[15][16] Other older known artworks of Narasimha have been found at several sites across Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, such as at the Mathura archaeological site. These have been variously dated between the 2nd and the 4th century CE.[17]

  1. ^ a b c d George M. Williams (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-19-533261-2.
  2. ^ Mallik, Anupama; Chaudhury, Santanu; Chandru, Vijay; Srinivasan, Sharada (31 March 2018). Digital Hampi: Preserving Indian Cultural Heritage. Springer. p. 183. ISBN 978-981-10-5738-0.
  3. ^ Blurton, T. Richard (1993). Hindu art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-674-39188-8. OCLC 25833896.
  4. ^ Gavin D. Flood (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0.
  5. ^ Rangachar Vasantha (1991). The Nārāyaṇasvāmi Temple at Mēlkōṭe: An Archaeological and Historical Study. Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. p. 9. The layout of this matha is almost like that of the Parakāla - matha above described. Here too in the central shrine are kept a few bronze images, including that of Lakshmi Narasimha, the presiding deity of that matha.
  6. ^ Soifer 1991, p. 102.
  7. ^ Soifer 1991, p. 92.
  8. ^ Roshen Dalal (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
  9. ^ a b c Roshen Dalal (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
  10. ^ Nanditha Krishna (2009). The Book of Vishnu. Penguin Books. pp. 50–53. ISBN 978-0-14-306762-7.
  11. ^ Steven J. Rosen, Narasiṁha Avatar, The Half-Man/Half-Lion Incarnation, p5
  12. ^ Dalal, Roshen (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
  13. ^ Farley P. Richmond; Darius L. Swann; Phillip B. Zarrilli (1993). Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 127 with footnote 1. ISBN 978-81-208-0981-9.
  14. ^ Soifer 1991.
  15. ^ Verghese, Anila (1995). Religious Traditions at Vijayanagara, as Revealed Through Its Monuments. Manohar. p. 39. ISBN 978-81-7304-086-3.
  16. ^ Elgood, Heather (1 April 2000). Hinduism and the Religious Arts. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8264-9865-6.
  17. ^ Meister, Michael W. (1996). "Man and Man-Lion: The Philadelphia Narasimha". Artibus Asiae. 56 (3/4): 291–301 with footnotes. doi:10.2307/3250120. JSTOR 3250120.