The Half Man-Half Lion

Narasimha. Web Source : Fourth Avatar

“The next story that Vishnu told to the children was the story of how he saved the life of Prahlada. Prahlada was a good friend of mine and would do anything for me,” replied Vishnu.

“It all started with a man named Hiranyakasyapa. He was the great king of the demons, and wished that he could have some kind of power that would make him never die. He wanted to rule the world, having nothing to fear. The Lord Brahma was the only one who would be able to grant this wish to him, but Brahma’s fellow friends were hesitant on letting Hiranyakasyapa have this quality. You see, in Hiranyakasyapa’s previous life, he had killed some innocent people in a war against some land. Because of this, Brahma thought it was not right to have him be immortal. King Hiranyakasyapa thought that he deserved to have his wish granted because he had lived his present life so well.”

"Hello, Mighty Brahma," said Hiranyakasyapa, "I have a request of you. I know that I have sinned in my previous life, but I feel like I have done enough good in this life to be forgiven. Please grant me my one and only wish. I have helped the poor and stayed out of much trouble, and now all I ask of you is this simple wish. Please make me immortal so that I can’t be neither killed by a man or beast, nor in daylight or at night and neither inside or outside a building.” Brahma had been spying on Hiranyakasyapa from heaven and considered the good that he had done for his kingdom. So, finally Brahman granted the wish of the king.

“Since no one could harm the king, he began to brag about his ability to everyone. He pretended to be a big shot, and demanded that his people worship no one else but him! Everyone became scared at how power-hunger Hiranyakasyapa had become. One night, as the king was heading to his royal bed, he heard whispering coming from his son’s room. His son’s name was Prahlada. Hiranyakasyapa listened quietly by the door. What he heard was unbelievable! His own son was praying to me, to Vishnu! Outraged, the king knocked down the door and cursed at his son!”

“You must NEVER pray to anyone but me! You have betrayed me and you will pay for this!” Hiranyakasyapa couldn’t believe what he had just seen! He stomped his way out of his child’s room, and Prahlada began to cry to sleep.

“Over the next few days, the king tried numerous ways of killing Prahlada for his sin. He asked his sister Holika to set Prahlada on fire! It was no use though, because with each attempt, Prahlada escaped unhurt. A week later, Hiranyakasyapa saw Prahlada standing right next to a giant pillar. He tip-toed his way towards the pillar and tipped it over attempting to smash Prahlada. But suddenly, I appeared out of the pillar, and I took a form that was half-man and half-lion. Hiranyakasyapa gasped at the sight of me! It was so awesome to see his face! The pillar was located neither inside nor outside of the house,  and it was evening time - that is, it was not daylight and it was not night. So, Hiranyakasyapa had no protection from me. Then, I took the pillar and lifted it and threw it onto Hiranyakasyapa! He screamed in agony and pain! That was the last we heard of the greedy ol’ king! I went up to Prahlada and he thanked me for saving his life. Then, I took the crown from his father’s head and placed it onto Prahlada’s head.

“Thank you for saving my life, Vishnu. How will I ever be able to pay you back? I promise to rid his kingdom of all demons and restore it back to the way it was before my father came to rule!”

“Prahlada did exactly what he said he would do. I visited him just last week, and the kingdom looks so much better! The grass is much greener, and the people are filled with joy now that the old king is gone! I guess it is true what people say about karma!”

The little girl sitting in the front row interrupted Vishnu.
"What is Karma, Mr. Vishnu?"

"Well, you see, karma is just a fancy word for saying that when you do something bad, something else bad will happen to you! King Hiranyakasyapa wanted to be so powerful that he would kill his own son! Therefore, he was stuck in some bad karma" said Vishnu.

Author’s Note: I kept the story pretty much the same but there were a few changes. In the original story, there is nothing about Vishnu and Prahlada being good friends. I just added that in to show a friendship between the two. The original story was taken from the same website as the Matsya story. The link is located below. I included a story about how Hiranyakaspaya found out about his son being a devotee of Vishnu. One of the attempts to kill Prahlada had the king telling her sister to sit in a fire with Prahlada, but I thought this was an attempt that would sound weird to children. Instead, I had the sister put Prahlada on fire! In the original story, Narasimha did not take the pillar and smash the king with it. It was actually unclear in the original as to how the king was killed, but I thought it would be more intense to have the king get killed by the same pillar he was going to kill his son with. Also, in the original, there was nothing about Prahlada becoming the new king and changing the way of life of his father’s kingdom. I just made that up to add a happy ending to a typical children’s story.
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