Prahlada was born Hiranyakashap and Kayadu. Hiranyakashap
and his younger brother Hiranyaksha were basically Lord Vishnu’s gatekeepers
Jaya and Vijaya, born on earth as the result of a curse from the Four Kumaras
in Satya Yuga, according to Bhagavate Purana.
Hiranyaksha was slain by Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu. Thus Hiranyakashap
was furious of Lord Vishnu and started hating Him. He decided to gain magical
powers through penance to defeat Lord Vishnu.
Hiranyakashap did penance of Lord Brahma and got a boon of
not to be killed of anything born from living womb, neither be killed by a man
or an animal, neither during the day or night time, neither indoors nor
outdoors, neither on land, not in the air nor in water and of no man made
weapon. In Puranas, many variations of the boon are given.
Hiranyakashap also performed another penance to please Lord
Shiva. Lord Shiva granted Hiranyakashap the boon that he would have unrivalled
combat prowess, exceeding skill in the use of bow and other weapons as well as
the powers of all Gods, including Indra, Yama, Kubera,Surya, Agini and Varuna.
Hiranyakashap with these two boons become so mighty that he
was able to shake Himalayas down to their roots. Even once Ravan tried to lift
Hiranyakashap’s earrings but he failed just because those were too heavy.
Prahlad while being in his mother’s womb, heard Sage Narada’s
chants and got affected by his transcendental instructions. Later, growing as a
child, Prahlad begins to show the sumptons of Narada’s prenatal training and
gradually becomes a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. It’s also being said that
while being with his wife Kayadhu, Hiranyakashap was thinking of Lord Vishnu (as
he hated Lord so much that all the time he used to think of revenge), as a
result or as a Maya of Lord Vishnu the baby Prahlad becomes His great devotee.
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