f.3

An illustration of the fourth verse of the first song of the Sanskrit devotional poem Gita Govinda (‘Song of the Cowherd’) by Jayadeva.

तवकरकमलवरेनखमद्भुतशृङ्गम् दलितहिरण्यकशिपुतनुभृङ्गम्
केशवधृतनरहरिरूप जयजगदीशहरे ४

‘Nails on your soft lotus hand are wondrous claws tearing the gold-robed body of black bee Hiranyakashipu. 
Krishna, you take form as the Man-lion. Triumph, Hari, Lord of the World! 4’

A depiction of Vishnu as Narasmimha, the half man-half lion, killing the demon king Hiranyakashipu. For this story see also RCINs 925226-41.

Hiranyakashipu was the elder brother of Hiranyaksha, killed by Vishnu in the previous illustration (see RCIN 1005114.f). Angered by the death of his brother, Hiranyakashipu initiated a reign of terror and considered Vishnu a mortal enemy. Meanwhile, his son, Prahlada, became a devoted follower of Vishnu for which the king decided he must be killed. Sitting on the palace rooftop on the left, Hiranyakashipu watches as Prahlada is subjected to various assaults (all of which he survives thanks to Vishnu's protection): attack by the sword, throwing over a precipice, poison, fire, trampling by elephants, throwing into a well, venomous snakes and drinking poison.

When Prahlada continued to proclaim Vishnu as all-pervading and omnipresent, Hiranyakashipu pointed to a nearby pillar and asked if ‘his Vishnu’ is in it. When the king struck the pillar it cracked and Vishnu appeared there in the form of Narasimha, half man - half lion. In the centre of the painting, Narasimha drags Hiranyakashipu onto his thighs and tears the king's belly open with his long nails. To the left are Prahlada and the goddess Lakshmi, the three-headed god Dattatreya (encompassing the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and priests. To the right stand Prahlada's mother, Kayadhu; Brahma, the patron and his wife; a rishi (sage) and a kinara (half human, half horse). In the centre is a tulsi plant (holy basil), and to the right a small statue of Garuda, Vishnu's mount.

For further information on this series of paintings see RCIN 1005114.

Translation adapted from Barbara Stoller Miller, Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda (1978).