Prahlada

Prahlada is an asura king in Hindu mythology. He is known for his staunch devotion to the preserver deity, Vishnu. He appears in the narrative of Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, who rescues Prahlada by slaying his wicked father, Hiranyakashipu. Prahlada is described as a saintly boy, known for his innocence and bhakti towards Vishnu. Despite the abusive nature of his father, Hiranyakashipu, he continues to worship Vishnu. He is considered a mahājana, or great devotee, by followers of Vaishnava traditions. A treatise is attributed to him in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Prahlada describes the process of his loving worship towards Vishnu. The majority of stories in the Puranas regarding him are based on the activities of Prahlada as a young boy, and he is usually depicted as such in paintings and illustrations. Legend Prahlada was born to Kayadhu and Hiranyakashipu, an evil daitya king who had been granted a boon that he could not be killed off by anything born from a living womb, neither by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land nor in the air nor in water, and with no man-made weapon. However, after repeated attempts of filicide by Hiranyakashipu against Prahlada, Prahlada was finally saved by Narasimha, the fourth avatar of Vishnu, who descended to demonstrate the quality of divine rage and redemption by killing the demon king. The word "Narsimha" is derived from the Sanskrit words "nara", meaning man, and "siṃha", meaning lion. Thus, the preserver god took the form of a part-man, part-lion to kill the asura.