NARA-SINHA,
or
Man-Lion-Incarnation.

This was a form from the head to the waist like a lion and the lower parts resembling a man, and was manifested in the Satya Yuga on the fourteenth of the light half of the month of Vaiśákha (April-May), in the city of Hiraṇyapúra now commonly called Hindaun* near the metropolis of Agra. They say that Hiraṇyakaśipu of the Daitya race spent many long years in a life of austerity until the Deity appeared to him and asked his desire. His first prayer was that his death might not take place by night nor by day, and next, he begged protection against all noxious animals which he severally named, and, lastly, that he might obtain sovereignty over the realms above and below. His request was granted. The deities yielded submission to him and the world was filled with the unrighteous. The chief spirits implored aid of Vishṇu through Brahmá and their prayer was heard. It is said that Hiraṇyakaśipu had a son called Prahláda who, like the deities, worshipped the Supreme God and followed the path of truth in spite of his father, who though he subjected his son to much persecution, was unable to turn him from that course. One evening his father asked him where the Supreme Being dwelt. He replied that he was omnipresent and to explain his meaning, pointed to a pillar in which also he declared the Deity to be. The king in folly smote it with his sword, and by a miracle from heaven, the above form came forth from it and tore him to pieces at the interval of time between night and day, and his death was caused by an animal of a specially-created type. It is said that this divine form asked Prahláda to choose some boon. The great-souled youth prayed only for final liberation (jívan-mukti), which is eternal life freed from the defilement of corporal existence and from the bonds of joy and sorrow. This manifestation continued one hundred years.*