S6E9 - Let's Get Sanskrit! Narasimha and Hiranyakashipu

The stories featured in Greaking Out are usually original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features overreactions of the deadly kind, a major religion, a father determined to kill his son, reincarnations, loose terminology, and trying to cheat death.

out.

We are once again on a field trip to hear more stories from around the world.

Now, in this one, I think you're going to find a lot of similarities to some stories you've already heard, though it's from a place we have never visited before.

This week, we are traveling to the Indian subcontinent to hear the story of Narsimha and Hiran Yakshipu.

Narsimha is the fourth reincarnation of Vishnu.

Right.

But I think we need to rewind a bit for some context, though.

This is a story from the Hindu tradition.

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world.

It is the dominant religion in India, Nepal, and Mauritius, and is present in many other countries.

In the U.S., 2.5 million people practice Hinduism.

And we shouldn't think of the stories of Hinduism the same way we think of Greek mythology, if only because these stories have a lot of personal and religious meaning to about 1.2 billion people across the world.

These are sacred stories that are tightly linked with Hinduism, so we're going to do our best to tell them respectfully.

Now there are tons of different ways to tell this story.

Many regions across India tell it differently, but we're just going to tell you one version, even though you may have heard a different version in your family.

Like the oracle said, today we're going to talk about the god Vishnu's fourth reincarnation.

Vishnu has had nine reincarnations so far throughout history.

Reincarnation is the idea that when you die, you get to be reborn back into the world.

Many world religions have a similar concept, including the ancient Greeks, but it is an idea that two religions born in India, Hinduism and Buddhism, are both famous for.

Exactly.

And the idea in Hinduism is that if you are the best person you can be throughout your entire life, then you get reincarnated into a better life.

But in Vishnu's case, since he's a god, he's only reborn onto earth under super special circumstances.

He only comes down to solve big problems.

And here in Yakshipu was a huge problem.

He was a being known as an asura, and he was cursed to live life on earth as a human for three rebirths.

Asuras are powerful beings related to the gods, but often at war with the gods.

The word can be translated as anti-god or even titan, but can also be translated as demon.

You know what?

For this story, I'm going to call him an asura because I think you guys can handle it.

So, Hiran Yakshipu's younger brother had already been killed by Vishnu's last reincarnation when our story starts.

He caused way too much chaos and he had to go.

And Hiran Yakshipu, well, let's say he really didn't care for Vishnu.

He was looking for revenge, in fact.

Some say that's why his hair was so shiny.

It was full of rage.

That was a joke.

That's not part of the story.

No, no, no, it actually is part of the story.

Hiran Yakshipu had a glorious head of hair that was black and shiny and flowed across his shoulders in a slight wave as though it was always being brushed gently by the wind.

He spent hours and hours tending to it each day.

And in those hours that he sat there brushing his hair to a radiant luster, he was plotting revenge for his brother's death.

Yep, that's basically all he did all day.

Take care of the hair, plot revenge.

But since Vishnu had already killed his brother, Hiranyakshipu knew he had to be smart about this revenge.

He knew he couldn't attack Vishnu until he had more power, more defenses.

So he set his sights on impressing another god named Brahma.

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are three of the major gods in Hinduism.

Brahma dreamed the world into being.

Vishnu is responsible for maintaining the world.

And Shiva is responsible for one day destroying the world.

Hiran Yakshipu undertook many years of living a good and simple life.

He was kind to his neighbors.

He kept his house clean.

He helped people who needed helping.

He was hoping to impress Brahma with his devotion and gain special powers.

He didn't show his anger on the surface, but he kept his rage locked deep inside where no one knew that he was still plotting his revenge.

This long game worked out well for the Asura because eventually Brahma took notice.

You are devoted to living a good life, Hiranyakshipu.

You are nothing like your brother.

Except, of course, for your magnificent hair.

I'd like to grant a wish for you.

What can I give you?

Hiran Yakshipu was thrilled.

A wish to be granted from Brahma was no small thing, and it was something he'd worked hard for.

He'd been banking on this exact thing to happen because the Asura already knew exactly what he wanted.

Now this was where Hiran Yakshipu got all Sisyphus because the number one thing he wanted was to cheat death.

He wanted to be unkillable so that he could defeat Vishnu.

Sisyphus was thrown into Tartarus for cheating death several times.

You can find his story in the episode called Ancient Greece's Most Wanted.

Right.

But instead of chaining up death like Sisyphus did, Hiranyakshipu thought he'd just ask.

Lord Brahma, please make me immortal so that I can live a long life of devotion and goodness.

Ah, good Asura, Brahma said, sighing, I've been asked for this many times, and it is something I cannot grant you.

Even I, who dreamed everything into being, am not immortal.

Okay,

so this was a blow to Hiran Yakshipu's plan, but he wasn't down for the count yet.

Of course,

How silly of me, he said, bowing his head.

Well, then, if I must die, can you please let me choose how I die?

Brahama nodded.

This seemed to be a reasonable request.

Okay.

I don't want to die outside, exposed to the elements, Hiranyakshipu said.

And I don't want to die inside either.

I don't want to die at night or during the day.

I don't want to die by weapon, or human, or animal.

In fact, I don't want to die by any entity living or non-living that was created by you.

I also don't want to be killed by any demigod or asura or by a great snake.

That is very clever.

Yeah, he pretty much covered all the bases there, including the very specific fear of being killed by a giant snake.

Vishnu was said to sleep on a thousand-headed snake.

Maybe that explains it.

Brahma nodded solemnly when he heard the request.

He probably sensed at this point that the Yasura was up to no good, but he had promised to grant this wish, and so he did.

And of course, Yeren Yakshipu immediately started behaving badly.

Nothing could kill him.

He had his beautiful hair and he was invincible.

There was nothing anyone could do to stop him from doing anything he wanted.

In fact, one of the first things he did was to go around to all of the temples and replace the statues of Vishnu and all the other gods with statues of himself because he felt he should be worshipped and not Vishnu.

Vishnu wasn't even here.

His last reincarnation was gone.

We're going to take a little break, but we'll get back to this story in a moment.

I got to get some water.

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Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find Girl Tales wherever you get your podcasts.

See, that wasn't so bad.

And just like that, we're back.

So, as Hirin Yakshipu went about his destruction, shaking the Himalayas down to their roots and chasing all the other gods into exile, Hiranyakshipu's son, Prahlada, was busy learning at school.

Man, imagine being that kid.

While your dad is off chasing gods around and destroying statues, you're just trying to get through your math class.

Anyway, Prahlada's teachers noticed that he was becoming quite the devotee of Vishnu, which was weird considering Vishnu was his father's sworn enemy.

At this point, everyone knew how Hiranyakshipu felt about Vishnu.

They tried gently to let Prahlada know that his father would not be happy about this, but Prahlada just continued to sing songs praising Vishnu.

It got to the point where the teachers were scared to let Hiranyakshipu know what Prahlada was up to, because the Asura would assume that the teachers had been making Prahlada learn the songs in praise of Vishnu.

So instead, they sent him home from the school he'd been living at so that his father would know know what he was up to.

When he arrived at Hirin Yakshipu's house, the Asura was so happy to see his son.

And like any dad, he asked him what he'd been learning at school.

When Prahlada started singing the songs about Vishnu, Hirin Yakshipu was furious.

He explained to his son that Vishnu was his enemy.

But it made no difference.

And the fact that his only son was singing these songs and praising Vishnu, well, it really got Hiran Yakshipu's goat.

The goat mentioned here is a metaphorical goat.

To get someone's goat means to really upset or irritate them.

Yeah, yeah, right, exactly.

We're not talking about actual goats here.

Anyway, the Asura was so angry that he decided his best course of action was to kill his own son.

That seems like an overreaction.

Yeah, I think so too, Oracle, but it made perfect sense to Hirin Yakshipu.

And you may remember this from our episode about Thetis.

Leaving a legacy is something that is attractive to mortal humans, but not necessarily to indestructible anti-gods.

So, first, Hiranyakshibu commanded an elephant to smush the young Prathada.

But the kid wasn't afraid, and the elephant refused to trample him.

So then, Hiranyakshipu tried to throw his son off a cliff, but Prophada was caught on the soft branches and leaves, and he never even hit the ground.

Hiranyakshipu then sent a dozen venomous snakes after Pradhada in the middle of the night, but instead the snakes just cuddled with the boy and then slinked off in the morning.

Finally, some good snake representation.

I know, right?

I knew you'd like that.

Finally, Hiranyakshipu tried to poison Pratada, but the poison turned to nectar instead.

Enraged now because of his constant failure, Hiranyakshipu demanded to know what was so special about Vishnu.

I mean, he's not even here.

His hair isn't even that great.

You should worship me.

I'm your father.

I can't die.

Vishnu is everywhere, Progoda responded.

He's in that twig over there.

And those pillars too.

Everywhere.

Enraged, Hiranyakshipu ran over to the doorway where the pillars Prothada had pointed to were and held up his huge mace as though he were going to strike them.

A mace is a kind of weapon that is like a club, but with a spiky or heavy metal head.

He must have looked a very dramatic sight.

The sun was setting, so golden light washed through the doorway and set his magnificent hair gleaming, his face radiating terrible anger, his weapon held high.

Oh, so I suppose if I strike this pillar, he'll come right out then?

Yeren Yakshipu asked.

That was a rhetorical question yeah because he didn't really wait for an answer he just brought his mace down upon the pillar and there was a great and terrible sound and the whole room shook bits of debris flew everywhere and the dying light fell upon the ruins of the pillar as the dust settled hiranyakshipu could see that a figure had emerged from the pillar itself It had the body of a human man, but the head of a lion with a beautiful lion's mane.

Hiranyakshipu knew at once that it had to be a form of Vishnu, here to try to kill him.

Who else but his nemesis would show up with such a dazzling mane to outdo him?

His name was Narsimha.

Nara is the Sanskrit word for man, and simha means lion.

So, Narsima is man,

lion.

A low growl filled the room.

A sound that was both human and beast at the same time.

And Narsima sprang at Hiranyakshipu, claws out.

At first, the Asura was confident that Narsima could do nothing to him.

Brahma had given him that wish.

He couldn't die.

But as those claws were coming at him, Hiranyakshipu had a second to think it through.

Let's flash back real quick.

I don't want to die outside, exposed to the elements, Hiranyakshipu had said.

And I don't want to die inside either.

I don't want to die at night or during the day.

I don't want to die by weapon or human or animal.

In fact, I don't want to die by any entity, living or non-living, that was created by you.

I also don't want to be killed by any demigod or demon or by a great snake.

Okay, let's check the list.

Narsimha was neither man nor beast.

He was somewhere in the middle and neither at the same time.

Vishnu was a god just like Brahma and therefore wasn't created by Brahma at all.

Narsimha was using his claws, which weren't technically weapons.

And as Hiranyakshipu looked outside, he could see that the sun had just set.

It was officially twilight, neither day nor night.

But I can't die inside or outside, he shouted, his last ditch attempt to get away.

I do believe you're standing in the doorway, Narsimha said, and then killed Hiranyakshipu where he stood.

Vishnu as Narsima had won this one.

But it's often the case when you do something violent that other violent things follow.

And now that Narsima was killing things, he wanted to keep going.

Brahma saw this and was worried about his fellow god and the world he dreamed into existence.

Shiva, another god, saw this and knew it had to stop.

Shiva was the one who was supposed to destroy the world after all, not not Vishnu.

Brahma and Shiva first went to Lakshmi, Vishnu's wife, and asked her to help calm her husband down.

She went down to talk to Narsima, but he couldn't hear her through his rage.

Brahma and Shiva were afraid they were out of ideas until Brahma remembered Pradhada and his devotion to Vishnu.

Brahma asked Pradhada to try to intervene to stop Narsima's rampage.

After all, the boy had faced down trampling elephants and venomous snakes.

Maybe he would prove to be brave enough for this.

Prathada wasn't scared.

He walked over to the raging Narsimha and started to sing the songs he knew praising Vishnu.

Slowly, Narsima calmed down and eventually decided not to destroy the world today.

It's a good thing Prahlada knew those songs.

I know, right?

Glad everything is still here.

But that's it for our field trip to the Indian subcontinent today.

But I know we'll be back because they have more amazing epic stories like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and we haven't even touched on those yet.

Breaking Out.

Thanks for listening.

This episode was sponsored by Arusha and the End of Time by Roshni Shakshi, the first book in a complete series based on the Hindu epics the author grew up with.

Next week is one last field trip before the end of this season and then we can tell you about a new podcast we've been working on.

Hope Hope you're ready.

This episode of National Geographic Kids Creaking Out was written by Emily Everhart and hosted by Kenny Curtis with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Roshni Shakshi was our subject matter expert and Emily Everhart is our producer.