(O janamejaya!) Thus I told you about the varAha manifestation (of viShNu). Now hear about the man-lion manifestation in which viShNu, taking the form of the king of animals, killed hiraNyakashipu.

O king! (janamejaya! vaishampAyana continued) Long ago in the kR^ita era, lord hiraNyakashipu, the first among demons, performed an auspicious and great penance.

For ten thousand years and fifteen hundred years, he performed penance staying in water and observing the vow of silence.

Because of absence of passion, self control, celibacy and penance as well as restrictions, lord brahma became pleased.

Then the self born lord (brahma) himself came there (where hiraNyakashipu was performing the penance) in an aerial vehicle, yoked with swans and shining with the colour of sun,

accompanied by Aditya-s, vasu-s, sAdhy-s, marut-s, group of deva-s, rudra-s who help the world, as well as yakSha-s, rAkShasa-s and kinnara-s,

directions and sub-directions, rivers, oceans, stars, moments, those who travel in the sky and the great planets,

deva-s, brahma sages, as well as siddha-s, the seven sages, royal sages performing sacred tasks, gandharva-s and the group of divine women.

The preceptor of the moving and fixed beings, the auspicious lord brahma, along with the surrounding group of deva-s, the best among those who know about Brahman, spoke the following words to the demon.

O the one who performs good penance! I am pleased with your penance with devotion. Accept a boon from me. Let there be good to you. Take what you desire as you like.

(vaishampAyana continued) Then hiraNyakashipu, the best among demons, the auspicious one, with his soul pleased, with folded hands spoke as follows.

Neither the deva-s, nor the demons, gandharva-s, yakSha-s, serpents, rAkShasa-s, nor the men, demons who prefer flesh, shall never ever kill me.

O the grandfather of all the worlds! The sages shall never get angry with me and curse me. This is the boon I want, suitable for my penance.

No one shall never ever kill me with a weapon, arrow, mountain or tree, dry or wet or any other things.

No one shall never ever kill me in heaven, netherworld, sky, any place on earth, inside, outside, night or day.

The one who is capable of killing me, along with my servants, army and vehicles with a single strike of hand, may become my death.

I shall be the sun, moon, wind, fire and water, atmosphere, stars, all the ten directions. I am the anger, the god of love, varuNa (god of water), vAsava (indra) and yama.

I shall be kubera, the lord of wealth. I shall be the king of yakSha-s and kimpuruSha-s. All the divine weapons and arrows shall become embodied for me in great battles. O the lord of deva-s! O the grandfather of all worlds! Let it be established thus.

O my son! I grant you all these wonderful divine boons. There is no doubt that you will achieve all the desires with little splendor.

(O janamejaya!) Saying thus, the lord brahma went to the sky, and reached the abode of brahma, the world of brahma, served by groups of brahma sages.

Then, hearing about the grant of boons by brahma (to hiraNyakashipu), the deva-s, serpents, gandharva-s along with sages, approached the great grandfather.

O lord! Because of your boon, the demon can not be killed by us. O lord! Be pleased and think about his death as well.

(O janamejaya! The lord, the self born lord, the original creator of all beings, the creator of sacrificial oblations and oblations to ancestors, the un-manifest, the one of fundamental form, the eternal one,

hearing the words, beneficial for all the beings of the world, the lord, the lord of beings, consoled the deva-s with a shower of cool words.

(brahma said :) O the residents of heaven! He ( hiraNyakashipu) shall definitely obtain the fruits (benefits) of his penance. When the benefits (of the penance) cease, lord viShNu shall kill him.

(vaishampAyana continued: O janamejaya!) Hearing the words of the one who was born from the (blue) lotus (puShkara), all the deva-s happily went to their own divine places.

As soon as the boon was received, the demon hiraNyakashipu, proud due to the receipt of the boon, started to torment all subjects.

The valiant hiraNyakashipu oppressed all the sages from hermitages, the brAhmana-s observing penances, those who live by truth and dharma and the liberals.

The great demon (hiraNyakashipu) defeated the deva-s and ruled the three worlds. Bringing the three worlds under his control, the demon hiraNyakashipu started residing in heaven.

Excited by the pride of boon (granted by brahma) and prompted by dharma of time, hiraNyakashipu directed all sacrifices to be done for demons and stopped the sacrifices for deva-s.

Then the Aditya-s, sadhya-s, vishvadeva-s, vasu-s, rudra-s, the group of deva-s, yakSha-s, the deva sages and other sages

seeking the refuge of viShNu, went to the highly powerful viShNu, the refuge, the lord, the eternal lord, the lord of brahma, the lord of sacrifices,

the soul of the past, present and future, the lord gratified by the world of beings.

O narAyaNa! O lord with great aishvarya-s! O lord! We have come to your refuge.

You are our supreme creator. You are our supreme preceptor. O the best among deva-s! You are our supreme lord, among the deva-s such as brahma.

O the lord with eyes beautiful and wide as the petals of lotus! O the lord who creates fear for the enemies! Please become the cause for the decline of the race of diti and the progress of ours.

O lord! Protect us and kill the indra (king) of demons, hiraNyakashipu.

O those who do not die (deva-s)! Abandon the fear. I shall provide you the refuge.

In the same way, O deva-s! You will regain the heaven without any delay.

I shall kill the demon (hiraNyakashipu), who cannot be killed by the indra of deva-s, along with his followers, the indra (king) of demons, who is proud due to the boon given (by brahma).

(O janamejaya!) Saying this, the lord (viShNu) sent the residents of heaven (deva-s) away.

Then the lord (viShNu) thought about (the ways) of killing hiraNyakashipu.

Without much delay of time, the lord (viShNu) reached the side of himavat (mountain and thought): Taking which form shall I kill the great demon (hiraNyakashipu)?

What is to be accomplished for killing the enemy of deva-s (hiraNyajashipu)?

Then viShNu took up a form, that never occurred before,

the form of man-lion (narasiMha) that was never seen, the form which destroys the demons. The one with powerful arms (narasiMha, man-lion) took up o~NkAra for assistance.

Lord viShNu, the one who does not have any decline, the lord, the supreme god, assisted by o~NkAra went to the place of hiraNyakashipu.

He had the form of sun with splendor. With beauty, he was looking like another moon. The lord's half body was that of man and the other half was the body of lion.

Taking the body form of man-lion, he rubbed his hands with each other.

Then he saw the vast, divine, beautiful, mind-stealing, white assembly hall of hiraNyakashipu, satisfying all the desires of mind.

It was having one hundred yojana (1 yojana= 9 miles) area and one hundred and fifty yojana height. It was capable of extending upto five yojana in the sky.

The place was devoid of decrepitude, sorrow and fatigue. It was without trembling. The place was fortunate and auspicious. The assembly had beautiful, auspicious seats, appearing as if they were blazing with splendor.

The assembly, ordained by vishvakarma, had water inside and it was full of divine jewels. The assembly had trees having flowers and fruits.

The assembly had blue, yellow, white, black and red covers, tree clusters, and hundreds of clusters of blossoms.

The assembly was seen as a white rain bearing cloud, moving, floating in water. The beautiful assembly, with blessed seats, appeared sparkling with splendor. The assembly dazzled with splendor. With divine fragrance, the assembly stole the minds of the spectators.

Those who reached the assembly were not affected by happiness, sorrow, cold, heat, hunger, thirst and tiredness.

Many beautiful and highly sparkling figures were drawn (on the walls of the assembly). The pillars of the assembly were decorated with divine jewels, permanent without having any decline.

Dazzling with its own splendor exceeding that of the moon, sun and the fire god, the assembly shone at the backside of heaven, as if mocking the sun.

The assembly fulfilled all common desires, divine as well as human.

The assembly provided endless varieties of tasty food that may be eaten with or without mastication. The assembly had trees, eternally flowering with divine fragrances as well as fruits.

The assembly had cold water during summer and warm water during winter. The assembly had trees having huge branches full of buds, tender leaves as well as flowers.

There, in the assembly, the lord saw many mind-stealing (beautiful) rivers as well as lakes covered by plenty of creepers.

In the assembly, the indra of animals (man-lion) saw many varieties of trees, having fragrant flowers and tasty fruits.

In the assembly, the lord saw hundreds of holy places for bathing as well as lakes having cold water.

The lakes and bathing places had fragrant white lotuses, red lotuses and lotuses having hundred petals along with blue water lilies and white water lilies (Nymphaea esculenta, Nymphaea Rubra).

In the lakes, there were dhR^itarAShTra birds (geese) with male birds and rAjahaMsa birds (flamingoes) dear to the deva-s, kAdamba birds (goose with grey wings), chakravAka birds (Anas Casarca), cranes (Ardea Sibirica) as well as kurara (ospreys) birds.

The lakes were with pure glass like water having white lotus flowers with eight petals. The atmosphere was filled with sounds of the swans singing and the sArika (Turdus Salica) birds cooing.

The lord saw that the tips of the trees were full of creepers having fragrant and auspicious flowers.

The assembly had the trees ketaka (Pandanus Odoratissimus) , ashoka (Jonesia Asoka Roxb), sarala (pine tree, Pinus Longifolia), punnAga (Mesua Roxburghii), tilak (Clerodendrum Phlomoides), arjuna (terminalia Arjuna), chUta (mango), nIpA (Nauclea Cadamba), nAgapuShpa (Rottiera Tinctoria, Michelia Champaka), kadamba (Nauclea Cadamba), bakula (Mimusops Elangi) and dhava (Grislia Tomentosa),

priya~Ngu (Agalia Odorata, Sinapis Ramosa), pATalI tree (Bignonia Suaveolens), shAlmalya, haridraka (yellow sandal tree), shAla (Vatica Robusta), tAla (Palmyra tree), priyAla (Buchanania Latifolia) and the champaka (Michelia Champaka) tree, making the mind happy.

Also there were other trees with flowers, beautifying the assembly. The rows of trees dazzled with the brightness of forest fire.

Along with trunks, good branches and tall as many palmyra trees, with the black colour of a~njana (black pigment or collyrium) and ashoka (Jonesia Asoka Roxb), the va~njulaka tree (Oldenlandia Herbacea) dazzled in the assembly.

(The assembly had) the trees, varaNa (Crataeva Roxburghii), vatsanAbha (Aconitum ferox), panasa (bread fruit tree), chandana (sandal, Sinium myrtifolium), nIla (Nauclea Cadamba), sumanasa, pIta (Carthamus tinctorius), amlA (Oxalis Corniculata), ashvattha (Tespasius Populneoides) and tinduka (Diospyros embryopteris),

prAchInAmalaka (Flacourtia Cataphracta), lodhra (Symplocos Racemosa), mallika (Jasminum Zambac), bhadra (Tithymalus Antiquorum), dArava, AmrAtaka (Spondias Mangifera) jambU (rose apple tree), lakucha (Artocarpus lacucha), shailavAluka (Cucumis Utilissimus),

sarjArjuna (Terminalia arjuna), kandurava, pata~Nga, kuTaja (Wrightia Antidysenterica), the red kurabaka (amaranth, Narleria), nIpa (nauclea Cadamba), agaru (Agallochum, Amyris Agallocha),

the pleasant kadamba (Nauclea Cadamba), dADima (pomegranate tree), bIjapUraka (Citrus Medica), kAlIyaka (Curcuma Xanthorrhiza), dukUla, hi~Ngava, tailaparNika (sandal tree),

kharjura (date tree), coconut trees, betel nut trees (Areca Catechu), harItakI (yellow Myrobalan, Terminalia Chebula), madhUka (Bassia Latifolia), saptaparNa (Alstonia Scholaris), bilva (Aegle Marmelos) and pArAvata (Diospyros Embryopteris).

The assembly had panasa (bread fruit tree, Artocarpus Integrifolia) and tamAla (Xanthochymus Pictorius) trees. The place was covered by many varieties of creepers and thickets having many forms of leaves, flowers and fruits.

These, as well as many other types of forest trees having varieties of flowers and fruits were found to be shining in the assembly.

chakora birds (Greek patridges, Perdix Rufa), shatapatra-s, excited cuckoos and sArika birds (Turdus Salica) are alighting on the great trees which are full of flowers and fruits.

On the tips of the trees, birds of red, yellow and reddish brown colours could be seen, looking at each other happily, enjoying long life.