Narasimha

Indian mythology · avatar · protection of devotees, divine wrath

The man-lion avatar who burst from a pillar at twilight, neither man nor beast, indoors nor out, to disembowel the demon king Hiranyakashipu on his own threshold, exploiting every loophole in the tyrant's boon of invulnerability.

Stories

Prahlada and the Man-Lion

The demon emperor Hiranyakashipu, unkillable by man or beast, indoors or out, by day or night, tortures his own son for worshipping Vishnu. When he demands to know if this god lives even in a palace pillar, the pillar bursts: Narasimha, neither man nor beast, kills him at twilight on the threshold with claws that are no weapon.