When Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were born as twins from Diti's womb, the earth trembled. Constellations and other folk in the sky started running from here, big waves arose in the sea and the catastrophic wind started moving. It is known as if the holocaust has occurred. Both Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu grew up as soon as they were born. The children of the demons grow up as soon as they are born and start to shake the earth with their atrocities. Although both Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were strong, they were still not content. They wanted to achieve invincibility and immortality in the world.
Hiranyaksha was a great devotee of Lord Brahma. He worshiped him for years and in return Lord Brahma gave him a boon. According to the boon no God, human, Asura, devta, animal or beast would kill him. Hiranyaksha started torturing the people on earth as he was assured of his immortality. His powers grew by the day. He was such a giant that mother earth trembled when he walked and the sky cracked when he shouted.
He started harassing devtas and invaded Indra’s palace. Fearing for their lives, devtas took shelter in the caves of mountain ranges of earth. To harass devtas, Hiranyaksha grabbed earth and submerged it in paatal lok. Mother Earth sank to the bottom of the ocean.
At this time Manu and his wife Shatarupa was ruling over earth. Seeing this Manu & his wife came to Lord Brahma, bowed and said, “Father, tell us how we may serve you & ensure our happiness in this world & the next. Where should Shatarupa and I live as Mother Earth is submerged in the ocean?”
Lord Brahma became worried and thought that mother earth should be rescued. He said, “Hiranyaksha will not be destroyed by me because I have granted him a boon. Let’s take help of Lord Vishnu!”As Brahma meditated to Lord Vishnu, a tiny Boar fell from his nostrils. Wondering what that creature was, it grew and grew till it was a size of a large Mountain. It was Lord Vishnu and he said, “I will enter into the ocean to lift Mother Earth out of it.” He took the form of a boar to kill Hiranyaksha because while getting the boon from Lord Brahma, among all the animals, Hiranyaksha forgot to mention boar as an animal.
Emitting a terrifying roar, he (Lord Vishnu in the form of Boar) took one mighty leap into the air and tore the clouds with its hoofs and dived to the bed of ocean in search of Mother Earth. He reached the other end of the ocean and discovered in its depths Bhumidevi (Mother Earth). Meanwhile Hiranyaksha rushed to the sea shore where he encountered with Varuna, Lord of the ocean, and challenged him,”O supreme Lord! O guardian of the whole sphere! Come & have battle with me.” Varuna became very angry as he knew that at this moment Hiranyaksha was mightier than him so he curbed his anger and said, “I have given up fighting as I am too old. You must fight with Vishnu; none but he alone would be an equal opponent for you. Go seek him out.”
Suddenly Narad Ji arrived there. Hiranyaksha asked him, “Do you know the whereabouts of Vishnu?” Narad told him that Lord Vishnu was in the ocean rescuing Mother Earth. Angry Hiranyaksha charged towards the ocean-bed. Meanwhile the Boar had just dug his tusk into the ocean-bed and lifted Mother Earth onto it, and began rising towards the surface. Hiranyaksha rushed towards him with a mace in his hand saying, “You fraudulent fellow! Where are you carrying away the earth conquered by me? Stop or I’ll crush your head with this mace!” Hiranyaksha challenged Lord Vishnu in the form of a Boar to have battle with him but Vishnu ignored all his warnings and continued rising to the surface. Seeing this Hiranyaksha gave a chase, but the boar didn’t even looked back.
Hiranyaksha said, “Wait! You impostor! I know you can defeat all with your magic power but at present you are near me and I’ll surely defeat you.” The boar escaped to put mother earth at a safe place. To this, Hiranyaksha became very angry and shouted, “How can you run away like a coward? Return me my earth.” The earth was already frightened but seeing Hiranyaksha it began to tremble more. Lord Vishnu in Varaha avatar brought earth over the surface of ocean and placed it gently on its axis and blessed her. He then turned to face Hiranyaksha. The demon threw his mace at the boar but the boar stepped aside and raised his mace. They fought for a long time with their mace.
Now Brahma warned Vishnu, “You’ve only an hour before the sunset. Destroy the demon before it’s dark so that he gets no opportunity to resort his black magic.” Hearing Brahma’s word’s Hiranyaksha hurled his mace towards Lord Vishnu but later flung it away. Having lost the mace, Hiranyaksha began hitting out with his fists on the chest of the boar. Lord Vishnu in Varaha avatar hit Hiranyaksha hard on his face with his fist and tossed him in the air. He fell over his head and died on the spot. Manu got his earth back and the Gods got back their heaven. In this way Lord Vishnu in Varaha avatar slayed Hiranyaksha and saved Mother Earth from harm.
Since Lord Narayana rescued Mother Earth from the evil hands of the demon, Mother Earth surrendered at his lotus feet and prayed him to accept her. The Lord Married Mother Earth also called as Bhudevi. The iconographic depiction of Varaha Avatar shows The Lord with a wild boar's head and having Bhudevi (Mother earth) seated on his laps. This form is also called Bhuvaraha.
Varaha is the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu following Matsya (fish) and Kurma (tortoise). Varaha incarnation is highly powerful and benevolent. Devotees pray Lord Varaha to overcome fears and troubles. Installed in separate shrines in several Vishnu temples, Varaha is one of the most popular forms of Vishnu blessing the devotees with several boons.
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