“Prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva” – Verses quoted by Indradyumna Swami

“May the finger-nails of Narahari, who are assuming a reddish color and are thinking, ‘The enemy has only five life-airs while we are ten in number, so how can the enemy win against us?’ protect you all!”

“They have become as reddish as a parrot’s beak due to contact with the blood flowing like a river from the crevices in the broken bones of the demon Hiranyakashipu. They appear curved like the waxing moon on the second day. May those fingernails of Hari, who assumed the form of a lion, protect you!”

“May the fire born out of the friction of the teeth of Hari’s saw against the chest of the demon purify you! On the demon’s skin, this fire made the noise, ‘cata cata’. His flowing blood created the noise ‘chama chama’. The fire burning his fat made a loud, ‘dhaga dhaga’ sound, while the fire burning his bones, created a loud cracking sound, ‘kada kada.’”

[Translator’s note: Lord Nrsimha’s arm is compared to a saw and the fingernails attached to that arm are compared to the teeth of that saw.]

“Even his own fingernails are not able to look at the angry face of Nrisimhadeva, made angrier by the slaughter of Diti’s son in battle. That is the reason why these nails are bent down [as if cowing away in fear]. May the sole hero of the universe named Narahari (Nrisimha) bestow happiness on you!”

“Fearing the destruction of his body, the enemy [Hiranyakashipu] entered into Nrsimha’s nails. Nrsimha, being astounded at this disappearing act, thought ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ and looked everywhere. Not finding him, Nrsimha said, “Oh! It was all in vain!” and banged his palm [on the wall]. Thus the demon fell down like a speck of dust on the ground. Seeing him like this, the Lord laughed loudly. All glories to that Lord Nrsimha!”

“If I throw away the body of this enemy of the demigods, then the oceans will overflow, the earth will drown in the causal ocean, the lower planets will be destroyed, the universe will be shattered into pieces and the heavens will fall down.” Thinking like this, he kept bearing the body of dead Hiranyakashipu on his lap. May that Hari, who appeared as a lion, protect you all!”

[ Translated by Hari Parshad Das from the Subhita-ratna-bhandagaram, Nrsimha section. Compiled by Kashinath Sharma.]

Quoted by Indradyumna Swami in a facebook post from November 25, 2017. To see the original post, please click here.