Srimadbhagavatham-skandha3-chapters10and11

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Chapter13-Varahavathara

 

Once Svayambhuva Manu perceived that the earth was drowned in the sea and sought Braham for protection. Brahma meditated and from his nostril a baby boar of the size of thumb came out and while he was looking it grew to a size of an elephant and still grew till it touched the sky. Brahma and his sons were wondering what it was when the Boar gave a roar which made the rshis living in the lokas Jana and Thapa delighted and they responded with vedic chants, knowing that it was the yajnavarahamurthy. Then the Lord Varaha entered the waters.

 

The Varahamurthy was described as follows:

 

He entered the ocean smelling the whereabouts of the earth, the Lord who was yajnamurthy in the form of a boar, with fierce fangs but soft eyes looked at the Brahmins chanting the Vedas. When he fell into the ocean with the force of the vajra of Indra, he agitated the ocean and the high waves which resulted seemed to be long arms of the ocean crying `Oh Lord protect me.'

 

The Lord took the earth easily on His tusks and emerged out of water and killed the asura Hiranyaksha who tried to fight with Him, as easily as a lion killing an elephant.

 

The size of Varaha was indicated by `khuraiH kshurapraiH dharyan thadhaa aapa,' He waded in the waters with His hoofs and saw the earth. Hence the ocean was only up to His hoofs.

 

The rshis praised the Lord thus:

 

Oh Lord you are victorious and invincible. You are the personification of the Vedas and your hair holes contain the seas, You have assumed the form of a boar for uplifting the earth and to kill the demon. You are the manthras and the deities to whom the manthras are addressed, You are the yajna and the rites of the yajna. You could be understood only by those who have devotion and detachment. Oh Sustainer of the world, the earth sitting on your tusk with the mountains on it intact, looks like a lotus with leaves stuck to the tusk of an elephant coming out of a forest.

 

Then the Lord put down the earth on the waters as before and returned to His abode.

 

Chapter14- The birth of Hiranyaksha and Hiranya kasipu.

 

Vidura asked Maithreya the reason for the fight between the Lord and Hiranyaksha. Maithreya explained the birthos the asuras, Hiranayksha and Hiranyakasipu.

 

Dhithi , one of the wives of kasyapa prajapathi, wanted to have union with her husband on one evening . He told her that the time was not suitable because it was pradosha and belonged to Lord Rudra. But she insisted and the sage knowing that it was her destiny fulfilled her wish and afterwards took bath and die prnayama and gayathri to purify himself. Later dhithi was ashamed and prayed that Rudra should not harm the foetus. Kasyapa told her that she will get two sons who would terrorize the whole world and would be killed by the Lord Hari but one of her grandsons would be a great bhagavatha.

Then comes the narration of the dvarapaalakas of the Lord who were cursed by the Sanakaadhi and were told by the Lord to be born as his foes for three births and return to vaikunta and the episode of Hiranyaksha is retold. But the story of Hirnyakasipu and Narsimhavathara comes much later in the epic.