Incarnations of Lord Visnu - Page 2

Originally posted by: akhl

Hi mahimn,
Please check once again. Did you read that Lord Shiva gave Lanka to Kuber or did you read that Shiva gave Lanka to Ravan.

I read right and also the story is one that has been passed on for centuries now. Of Lord Shiva donating Lanka to Kuber but there are so may discrepancies in each new story that it is relatively impossible to trace the correct one.

As per the Ramayana that we read Brahma granted Ravana Lanka apart from the boon of invincibility. As per Sunderkand Lankini was send on Earth by Brahma to protect Lanka and was told that the day you are defeated by a monkey (vaanar/Kapi), take it as a sign of Ravana's destruction and death.It is so difficult to find out which one to trust.

Originally posted by: mahimn

As per the Ramayana that we read Brahma granted Ravana Lanka apart from the boon of invincibility.

Valmiki Ramayan says that Ravan took Lanka from Kuber. Ravan got Lanka from Kuber. This means Kuber had Lanka before Ravan got it.
Here is what Valmiki Ramayan, Uttar Kand says about Vaishravan i.e. Kuber.:-

Vaishravan gave himself up to asceticism in great forest and practising severe austerities, performed heavy penances, whereupon the mighty Brahma, accompanied by the hosts of the gods and their leaders, came to the hermitage and said to him:
"I am highly gratified with your accomplishments, O devoted son, now choose a boon! May prosperity attend you; you do merit a favour , O Sage!"

Then Vaishravan answered the grandsire of the world (Brahma), who stood near and said:
"O Blessed One, I desire to be the saviour and protector of the world!"

In the satisfaction of his soul, Brahma, who was accompanied by the celestials, joyfully answered:
"So be it! It is my desire to create four guardians of the Worlds. Now there shall be the region of the Yama, the region of Indra, the region of Varuna and the one sought by you. Go, O virtuous ascetic, and reign over the dominion of wealth! With Shakra, Varuna the lord of the waters, and Yama (lord of death), you shall be the fourth. Receive as your vehicle this chariot named Pushpaka, which is as bright as the sun, and be equal to the gods. Be happy. We shall now return from whence we came, having accomplished that which we had to do by conferring this gift, O dear son!"

With these words, Brahma withdrew to the region of the gods and when the celestials, with the grandsire at their head, had gone to the heavenly region, Vaishravan, having become the Lord of Wealth, humbly addressed his sire with joined palms and said:
"O Blessed One, I have received a rare boon from the grandsire of the World, but the divine Prajapati (Brahma) has not assigned me a dwelling place. Do you therefore counsel me, O Blessed One, O lord, as to where an agreeable retreat may be found where no suffering comes to any living being."

At these words of his son Vaishravan, the foremost of the ascetics answered saying:
"Hear, O most virtuous of men! On the shores of the ocean, in the south there is a mountain named Trikuta. On its lofty summit, which as great as the capital of the mighty Indra, the Ravishing city of Lanka was constructed by Vishvakarma for the Rakshasas and it resembles Amravati (capital city of Indra, the king of heaven). Do you dwell in Lanka and be happy! Do not hesitate! With its moats, golden walls, engines of war and the weapons with which it is filled, with its gold and emerald archways, that city is a marvel! The Rakshasas left it formerly in fear of Vishnu and it is deserted, all the demons having gone to the nethermost region. Now Lanka is empty and has no protector. Go and inhabit it , my Son, and be happy!"

So, as you can see, Valmiki Ramayan says that Vaisravan(Kuber) ruled in Lanka as suggested by his father. It also says that Vishwakarma built Lanka for rakshasas. However, if some story says that Brahma granted Ravan boon that one day in future he would get Lanka, then it is fine and does not contradict Valmiki Ramayan.

As per Sunderkand Lankini was send on Earth by Brahma to protect Lanka and was told that the day you are defeated by a monkey (vaanar/Kapi), take it as a sign of Ravana's destruction and death.It is so difficult to find out which one to trust.

Yes, it is written in Ramayan that Ravan's destruction had to take place if a monkey defeated Lankini. But Ravan took Lanka from Kuber.

Thanks Akhl. It was helpful. You know so much . I felt really good that poeple now a days do take interest in our mythology

Shiva Puran says that Vishwakrma made palace in Lanka for Lord Shiva. But Valmiki Ramayan says that Vishwakarma built Lanka for the three rakshasa brothers Malyavan, Mali and Sumali. The question is which one is correct. Both can be correct.
Here is how:-
We know that once a city is built, then after that also new and new constructions are added to it. People make new houses. Roads are added. And various other kinds of constructions are added.
On command from the three rakshasa brothers, Vishwakarma built the city of Lanka. In other words, he built the palace where the rakshasas and their family could stay. He made many other constructions as well. Over time, more and more constructions were added in Lanka as people started living there. The house that Vishwakarma built for Lord Shiva was one of these new constructions:-
Shiv Puran says Parvati wanted a house. Therefore, Lord Shiva asked Vishwakarma to make a house. Lord Shiva did not say that the house must be magnificent. But Vishwakarma thought that a house for Lord Shiva must be very beautiful. Therefore, he made a magnificent palace.

It is worth noting that according to Shiva Puran, Vishwakarma did not build the city of Lanka for Lord Shiva but he built a palace inside the city for Lord Shiva.

Kapil rishi burns the sons of Sagar
Descent of Ganga
After explaining Sankhya to his mother, Kapil rishi left house and went to north-east and started doing tapasya there. Devhuti's father had already left house and beccme a sanyasi. Now, her son also left house. She spent her time always remembering God and passed away one day. Kapil rishi continued to do tapasya.

Many years after that, there was a king named Sagar. He had two wives Sumati and Kesini. Sumati had 60,000 sons and Kesini had one son named Asmanjas. Being the eldest son, Asmanjas had to inherit kingdom from his father, but he did not want kingdom. Therefore, he acted as if he was of evil character. He used to kill children. King Sagar got so angry that he exiled Asmanjas from his kingdom. Before leaving, Asmanjas used his mystic power and brought to life all the children he had killed. Then he left house. Sagar now felt sad, but it was too late.

One day, king Sagar decided to do ashvamedh yajna. King of heaven, Lord Indra did not want Sagar to complete the yajna because the yajna was going to give Sagar great spiritual merits. Indra was afraid that Sagar may try to take Indra's position after accruing spiritual merits. Therefore, he stole the hourse of the ashvamedh yajna and tied the horse in Kapil's ashram. Sage Kapil was busy in his tapasya with his eyes closed.

The 60,000 sons of Sagar went in search for the horse. They searched all over the Earth. When they went to north-east, then they saw the horse tied in the ashram of Kapil. They thought that sage Kapil had stolen the horse. They grew angry and rushed towards Kapil to kill him. Kapil opened his eyes and looked at the 60,000 princes. When sage Kapil looked at them, the princes burnt to ashes.

When they did not return, then Anshuman went in search for them. Anshuman was Asmanjas's son and hence Sagar's grandson. Anshuman searched for his uncles in various places. Finally he reached Kapil rishi's ashram. Anshuman propitiated Kapil. Being pleased, Kapil rishi gave the horse to Anshuman and pointed towards ash of Anshuman's uncles. Kapil told Anshuman that his uncles would get liberation and go to heaven only after their ashes were washed by ganges water. At that time, Ganga was in heaven.

Anshuman took the horse and came back to King Sagar. Sagar finished the yajna. One day, he gave the kingdom to Anshuman and left the kingdom to spend the rest of his life doing tapasya. After some years, Anshuman gave the kingdom to his son Dilip and did tapasya to bring Ganga on Earth. But he did not succeed and, one day, he passed away. Anshuman's son Dilip also did severe tapasya but he also could not bring Ganga on Earth and passed away. Then Dilip's son Bhagirath did tapasya. Now, Ganga was pleased. She appeared before Bhagirath and put two concerns. One concern was that many sinners would take bath in Ganga. Another concern was who was going to check her tremendous speed. She said that if her speed was not checked, then Earth would be pierced. Bhagirath replied that not only sinners, but many saintly people would also take bath in Ganga. The effect of saints would counteract the effect of sinners. He also said that he would ask Lord Shiva to check Ganga's speed.

Then Bhagirath did tapasya to please Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva became pleased and agreed to slow down the speed of Ganga. Now was the time for Ganga to come on Earth. When she saw Lord Shiva, she laughed. She thought she will go to inner regions of Earth and take Lord Shiva also in her current. saying thus, she laughingly jumped with full speed. Lord Shiva captured Ganga in his locks. On being requested by Bhagirath, Shiva released a part of Ganga. Bhagirath moved with Ganga(i.e. part released by Shiva) and reached sage Kapil's ashram. The journey was very eventful. When Ganga water washed the ashes of king Sagar's sons, then they got rid of their sin and went to heaven.

What incarnation shall I cover next? I am thinking of writing story of Nrisimha avatar. Is that OK? Or, do you want some other incarnation before that?

WOW..These are great. I would like to know about Nrisimha. I have not heard of that and I would like to know more about that.

Narasimh(man-lion) incarnation

There was a demon king named Hiranyakashipu. In a previous birth, he was Jaya, a doorkeeper of Vishnu and became demon because of a curse from Kumara brothers. He was brother of Hiranyaksh, whom Vishnu had killed in his Varah(boar) incarnation. His prople caused terror all over Earth.
Hiranyakashipu wanted to be unconquerable, free from effect of old age on his body, wanted mystic powers, wanted to rule all over the universe and also wanted to be deathless. He did very tough tapasya to please Lord Brahma. When Brahma appeared in front of him, then Hiranyakashipu said:-
"Let me not meet death from any of the living beings created by you, humans, animals, snakes, gods, demons. Let me not die either inside a house or outside. Let me not die in the day time or in the night time. Let me not die on the ground or in the sky. Give me sole lordship over all the living beings and deities. Give me all the mystic powers.
Brahma gave him these boons.
Now, Hiranyakashipu defeated everyone and became their king. He occupied Indra's palace and ruled from heaven. Being terrorised by Hiranyakashipu, gods requested Vishnu to do something. Vishnu promised that he would kill Hiranyakashipu.
One of the sons of Hiranyakashipu was Prahlad. Prahlad was of highly good character and he was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tried a lot to prevent Prahlad from worshipping Vishnu. He even tortured Prahlad a lot, though Prahlad was his own son. But Prahlad continued to worship Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu became so angry that he ordered that Prahlad be killed. Demons tried all options to kill Prahlad, but Prahlad survived.
One day, Hiranyakashipu said to Prahlad(pointing towards a pillar), "If your God is present everywhere, he should be present in this pillar. I am going to kill you. Let your God come and save you."
Saying this, he hit the pillar hard. Vishnu came out of the pillar in His Narasimh(also called Nrisimh) incarnation. His form was of half man and half lion. He took Hiranyakashipu at the door of the palace. So, it was neither inside nor outside. It was time between day and night, so neither day nor night. Narasimh dev was neither man nor lion; He was not created by Brahma. He kept Hiranyakashipu in His lap(so neither on ground nor in sky) and killed him with His sharp nails.

Narasimh was looking so terrible that nobody dared to go near Him. Even goddess Laxmi was afraid to go near Him. Then, Lord Brahma asked Prahlad to go near. Prahlad went to Narasimh and bowed to Him. Narasimh took Prahlad in lap and showered affections on him. His anger melted after hearing Prahlad's sweet words.

Next I will post Matsya(fish) incarnation.

Great. After reading the Man-Lion one, I knew about this but didn't know the name!! 😳

Great job! 👏