G4-MYTHOLOGY--STORY OF A WICKED KING-1

By PragyanSharma Polavarapu

 Lord Vishnu is the name by which the one great god amighty of universe is called by hindus. he is like a most hansome warrior-prince living in palaces of gold and cystal in the clouds . but he is so compassionate that he flies to aid of poor and helpless people leaving all his pleasures. he considers it a great privelage to serve the poor and helpless people of earth. he occassionally incarnates himself on earth as an unconquerable warrior ,sometimes as a very fierce warrior-- specially to eliminate the wickedest most unconquerable villains and saves the poor and weak. Lord narasimha the fierce hal lion and half human god is one such incarnation . after eliminating a most wicked unconquerale king( a mighty king who could not be conquered even by gods) he entirely cooled down and transformed himself into a most kind and smiling lion god! But he possessed a remnant of vexation dejected by the feeling that human beings could be so cruel towards fellow men. ****** Let us go straight to the most holy thrilling story of Lord Narasimha. He is the angriest and fiercest form of Lord Vishnu but,as already said, the gentlest god playing with little children.The story of Lord Narasimha is most popular throughout India among traditional people since two thousand years and it is contained in the ancient “Puranas” i.e. mythological histories of gods. There are many fine films in Telugu language and also in most Indian languages about Lord Narasimha . Once there was a mighty king hiranyakashipu who could conquer entire earth and conquer even gods. He was an efficient administrator but was so extremely arrogant that he entirely denied existence of any god. earlier he was immersed in centuries long meditation praying to Lord Brahma the creator and obtained a boon that he cannot be killed by any man or any wild animal. He got those boons from the kind-hearted Lord Brahma but soon after getting the boons he became very arrogant and declared that there is no god other than himself and that even if any god existed the god would have to fear him. unfortunately for him, his son who was still a sweet child much loved by the king, condemned his father's thinking ( about denying existence of god ). He condemned his father's thinking and would repeat to his stunned father every day that a great god almighty Lord Vishnu rules the universe, that the god almighty helps the good, weak and innocent people and punishes and defeats the wicked people. The king his father would laugh away all such talk as boyish talk of his little son. But he was becoming irritated and angry when his son sang hymns in praise of Lord Vishnu . The little boy often sang hymns in praise of Lord Vishnu in complete defiance of his father and greatly irritated his father . The ministers and teachers secretly felt that the very frequent praise of god coming from lips of the little boy was not learnt in this birth but came as heritage from previous births and that they were unable to stop his praise of god in spite of their severe warnings. This situation was slowly leading to a serious quarrel between father and son. Though the king had very great affection for his sweet-mannered little son in his heart and heaped praise on his son before the queen he would became red hot with anger whenever his son praised Lord Vishnu. There developed a kind of underground enmity between father and son. The queen pleaded with the king not to take the boy’s praise for Lord Vishnu seriously and not to treat the little boy as an enemy. But the king became angrier and angrier towards his son as time passed. He asked the teachers to beat and severely punish the boy .Still the boy openly sang praises of Lord Vishnu . The boy even advised the mighty king fearlessly to stop scolding Lord Vishnu but instead to pray to Lord Vishnu! The king became so angry that he asked his soldiers to torture the boy ,leave him in deep forest to be killed by wild animals and to tie hands and feet and push him down mountain precipices. The boy always returned unharmed and healthier than before (being protected unseen by Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi)and would soon after coming home carry on with his worship of Lord Vishnu! The king was unable to bear the teachings and insults from his sweet smiling little son any longer. He told the boy angrily that he (the king ) alone is the greatest and mightiest force in the universe and that there was in reality no Lord Vishnu or any other god. He said that Lord Vishnu if he existed was absolutely frightened of him(the king) . But the boy fearlessly asked his father the mighty king to apologize, to realize his mistakes and become a devotee of Lord Vishnu. The king could not bear his anger and gave to his son a golden cup full of concentrated poison with his own hands and ordered the boy to drink it. The boy drank the poison chanting name of Lord Vishnu and came out unscathed ! Now at last the king suspected that his son was actually his greatest enemy living in his own palace and truly an agent of Lord Vishnu his enemy staying in his own house. He dragged the boy to the outer chambers and unsheathed his sword to kill the boy . But before that he had a thought. He (the king) pointed at a heavy stone pillar beside him and mockingly and angrily asked the boy whether Lord Vishnu was in that pillar.