Hinduism 101 - Mandhata Global

• Lakshmi or Sri, the goddess of fortune and beauty, whom Vishnu took to wife
• Sura, the Goddess of wine
• Chandra, the moon, whom Shiva had to entangle in His own matted hair to keep the mischievous Moon-God
out of annoying escapades
• Rambha, a lovely nymph, who became the first of the celestial apsaras
• Uchchaisravas, a beautiful white horse initially given to the demon Bali but later seized by Indra
• Kaustubha, a precious jewel, which Vishnu took
• Parijata, a wishing tree, which was planted in Indra’s heaven and became His consort Indrani’s possession
• Surabhi, the cow of plenty, which was given to the seven rishis
• Airavata, a wonderful white elephant, which Indra took as steed
• Sankha, a conch of victory
• Dhanus, a mighty bow
• Visha, the poison that foamed out of Vasuki’s mouth as he was strained to extract the amrita. This last was
the only reward Shiva reaped out of the churning. To save the world from the extreme venom of the Visha
Shiva took the poison in His mouth and kept it trapped in His throat without actually swallowing it. That is
why Shiva’s throat is blue in color and He is often called Nilkantha (Nil: Sanskrit for blue and Kantha:
Sanskrit for throat.)
Varahavatar:
The third incarnation of Vishnu was in the form of a huge boar - Varaha. This also is borrowed from an earlier
Brahma myth.
Vishnu came down to earth in the form of this avatar to kill Hiranyaksha, an asura (demon) who had become invincible
from an inadvertent boon from Brahma. In asking Brahma to grant him invincibility Hiranyaksha cited all the living
things on earth and in the universe but forgot to mention the boar and Vishnu took this opportunity to defeat him in this
form.
Narasimhavatar:
Vishnu’s fourth avatar is in the form of a man-lion - Narasimha (“Nara” for “Man” and “Simha” for “Lion”) - and He
came down to earth in this form to kill Hiranyakasipu, Hiranyaksha’s brother, who had also got Brahma to grant him
immunity against human, beast and god. He also got Brahma’s assurance that he could be killed neither by day nor by
night and neither inside nor outside his house. Protected by this boon Hiranyakasipu began to conquer and oppress the
entire universe.
One day, while Hiranyakasipu was occupied in his daily favorite ritual of tormenting his own son Prahlad, who was an
ardent devotee of Vishnu and refused to acknowledge his father’s supremacy, Vishnu, to protect His most devoted
follower, came out of the door-jamb of the asura’s house and killed him. Vishnu was in the form of Narasimha, a manlion
and neither human nor beast nor god, the time was evening, neither day nor night, and the place was the door-jamb,
neither inside nor outside Hiranyakasipu’s house. Thus the demon was tricked and the universe was saved from his
terrible oppression.
It must be noted here that Prahlad, son of asura Hiranyakasipu, is one of the greatest devotees of Vishnu for all time.
He remains an example to Vaishnavites of all ages.
Vamanavatar:
Vishnu’s fifth avatar was a vamana a dwarf. Prahlad’s grandson, Bali, was great king and everyone, including the
Gods, loved him for his great kindness and generosity but he had one great defect – an overwhelming ambition to rule
the entire universe. Eventually he gained great strength and power through sacrifice and conquered the universe and
drove the Gods out of Their heavens. So Vishnu came down to earth in the form of the vamana and approached Bali.
Bali could not resist anyone asking anything from him. The vamana asked him to grant him three paces of land. Bali
immediately granted it to him. Vishnu changed from a dwarf to such a gigantic form that in two strides He straddled the
earth and the heavens.