4. The Nr'isinha- or man-lion-Avatizra.—Hiran'yakas'ipu, the brother of the demon Hiraniyakslia just mentioned, had resolved to become a sovereign of the three worlds, and exempt from death and decay. To attain this end, he practiced severe austerities, and ultimately received from Brahman, as the desired reward, a promise that he should become a supreme ruler, and death should not accrue to him from any created being, neither within his abode nor without, neither by day nor by night, neither in heaven nor on earth, nor by any kind of weapon. Possessed of the grant of this boon, he now gave course to the hatred he had conceived against Vislin'u for having killed his brother Hiraniyaksha. He oppressed all the gods, robbed them of their shares in the sacrifices, and threatened their destruction. But he had a son, Prahrdda, or PrahMda. who, through his religious studies and pious conduct, had become a devout worshiper of Vislin'u. When Hiran'yakas'ipn became aware of his son's partiality for this god, he first endeavored to impart to him his own hostile feelings against Visliniu, but failing in this, resolved to kill him. All the means, however, he employed to this end remained vain; and when at last, Hiran'yakas'ipu, about to cut off the head of his son, sneeringly asked him why Vishn'u, who, as he asserted, was everywhere, should not be present also in a pillar in the hall, which he struck with his fist, Vishniu suddenly made his appearance in the shape of a being neither man nor animal, in that of a man-lion of fear ful aspect and size; and after a violent struggle with the demon, killed him in tearing his heart out with his finger-nails. Prahhida was then installed by him as sovereign over the demons, and at the cud of a pious reign, obtained final liberation.
5. The Wirnana- or dwarf-Avatdra.—Prahlada's son was Virochana, and his son was &tli. The latter, after having conquered Indra (q.v.), ruled over the three worlds, and filled the gods with dismay for their future prosperity. They had, in consequence, recourse to Vishn'u; and when, at one time, Bali was celebrating a grand sacrifice, Vishu'u, assuming the shape of a dwarf, humbly approached the demon king. Pleased with the devout and unpretending appearance of the little Brahman, Bali asked him to demand a boon, however costly it might be. The dwarf, however, merely asked for so much ground as he could measure with three paces. The king smilingly granted so modest a request, though his family priest Us' anas, suspecting the true nature of the dwarf, strongly dissuaded him from doing so. But when the dwarf had obtained what he asked for, he strode with one pace over the earth, with a second over the intermediate space (the atrilosphere), and with a third over the sky, thus leaving for Bali only the subterranean regions, which he assigned him for his future abode. The demons endeavored to frustrate this result, after Vislin'u had taken his first two strides, but they were overcome by the followers of Vishn'u; and Bali, when resigning himself to his fate, in reply to a reproach addressed to him by the dwarf for trying to break this promise, uttered—according to the following words, which may serve as one of many instances to show how sacred a promise was held by the Hindus when once given, and even though artfully obtained: "If, renowned chief of the gods, you consider the word which I uttered to be ueceitful, I now do what is sincere, and can be no deception — place your third step on my head. Fallen from my position, I fear not the infernal regions, or binding in bonds, or mis fortune difficult to escape, or loss of wealth, or your restraint, so much as I am.
afflicted by a bad name." (See J. Muir's Original Sanskrit Tezts, vol. iv. p. 128.) For his righteousness, he was then rewarded by Visliniu with the promise, that after a tem porary residence in one of the most delightful places of Pattila (q.v.), he should be born
as the Indra, in the reign of the eighth Mann. In this incarnation as dwarf, Vislin'u is considered to have been a son of the same Kas'yapa who is also the father of Hiran' yakas'ipu and Iiiran'yaksha; but while their mother is Diti, the dwarf's mother is Aditi (space): and since she previously had brought forth Indra, Vislin'u is sometimes called Upendra, or the younger or later Indra. As a son of Aditi, Vislin'u becomes one of the Adityas (see before).—The Vedic conception of the three strides of Vishn'u, as mentioned in the beginning of this article, is doubtless the basis of the idea whence this Avatara arose.
6. The or Vishnu's incarnation as Rama,the son of Jamadagni, armed with an axe (paras'u). Arjuna, a son of Kr'itarirya, and king of the Haihayas, had obtained, as a reward for his piety, a thousand arms, and the sovereignty over the earth. The gods, frightened at his power, had recourse to Vishn'u, and the latter resolved to be born as a son of Jamadagni, that be might slay him. Jamadagni was the son of R'ichika, of the race of Bhr'igu, a pious sage who had married Ren'ulca, the daughter of king Prasenaja, and had obtained five sons by her, the last of whom was Rama, or Vishn'u incarnate in this form. Ren'uka having once, for some supposed impropriety, incurred the anger of her husband, was, at his bidding, killed by her son Rama, but at the request of the latter, again restored to life; and her first four sons were likewise saved from the consequence of the wrath of Jamadagni by the intercession of their brother Mina. After this event had happened, or, as one account goes, previously to it, Arjuna came to the hermita,ge of Jamadagni, and was there hospitably received by the saint, who could treat him and his followers sumptuously, as he possessed a fabulous cow of plenty, that not merely supplied him with the milk and butter required for his sacrificial offerings, but with everything else he wished for. Struck by the precious qualities of this cow, and in spite of the kind treatment he had -met with, Arjuna carried off with him the cow and her calf. When Rama, who, on this occasion, had been absent from home, returned to the hermitage, and learned what had happened, he took up his axe (or, as the Maliabliarata says, his bow), and slew Arjuna, together with his army. The sons of the latter, to revenge their father's death, after some time, attacked the hermitage, and succeeded in killing Jamadagni. Thereupon, Rama made a vow to extirpate the whole Kshattriya or military race; and not satisfied with destroying the sons of Arjuna, he killed every Kshattriya whom he encountered afterward. In this manner, the legend concludes, " be cleared thrice seven times the earth of the Kshat triya caste "—killing the meh of so many generations as fast as they grew to adolescence —"and filled with their blood the five large lakes of Samantapanchaka, from which he offered libations to the race of Bhr'igu." He then performed a solemn sacrifice, and distributed the land and many riches among the ministering priests. The 3Ialiabliarata, which on two occasions relates this legend, in one place enumerates the Kshattriyas who escaped the destruction of their caste, and from whom the lines of the kings hereafter were continued; this account, however, is inconsistent with Puranic lists, in which the royal lineages are uninterrupted. There can be little doubt that a real historical conflict between the Brahman'as and Kshattriyas underlies the conception of this Avatara; one which has its parallel in the history of Vasisht'ha and Vis'watnitra (q. v.).