Lord Vishnu is the part of the Hindu Trinity and is responsible for smooth operation of the Universe. He is the preserver and responsible for maintaining cosmic balance. Whenever this balance is disturbed and negative or evil forces dominate the world putting goodness and righteousness at risk, Vishnu descends from his planet Vaikunta to Earth. He takes up an avatar form and slays the prevailing demonic force. Our scriptures mention him as Dashavatara as he takes 10 different avatars in different eras, to protect Goodness against Evil. These Avatars come with a purpose to teach mankind the path of righteousness.
Varaha Avatar – The Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu is the 3rd among the Dashavatara. In this form Lord Vishnu emerged in the form of a Boar to rescue Earth from the clutches of demon Hiranyaksha. This event happened during Sat Yuga. Hiranyaksha was a powerful demon during that era. He was a devotee of Lord Brahma. By undergoing strict penance he pleased Lord Brahma to bless him with a boon that made him invincible. Brahma blessed him that no God, human, Asura, Devata, animal, or beast would kill him. The demon became super powerful after this. He started misusing his power and torturing innocent beings. His greed for power made him create havoc in all the three worlds. He even attacked the planet of Heaven and conquered Indra’s position as the King. The Gods devastated with his attack started living in the mountain caves on Earth. To trouble the Gods further and establish his power over them, Hiranyaksha decided to move Goddess Earth (Bhudevi) from her position in space and moved her into the planet of Hell (Patal Lok). Mother Earth sank into the bottom of the ocean because of this. Gods and people inhabiting Earth became homeless.
This was during the period when Manu (1st Man on Earth) and his wife Shatrupa ruled over Earth. They decided to visit Brahma and seek a solution for this. Lord Brahma was unable to help as it was his boon that made Hiranyaksha so powerful. He decided to meditate on Lord Vishnu for help. During meditation, a tiny little boar fell from Brahma’s nostrils. Brahma realized that it was Lord Vishnu himself. The boar started growing in size. The Boar declared that he was Varaha and had come to save Mother Earth. Varaha left Brahma’s abode in search of mother Earth. Lord Varaha dived into the bed of the ocean. He found Mother Earth deep inside the ocean. He lifted her onto his tusk.
Meanwhile Hiranyaksha got to know of this and went straight into the ocean to fight Lord Varaha. When Hiranyaksha encountered Lord Varaha lifting Earth, he was furious as he considered Earth to be his possession now. He threatened Varaha and challenged him to fight. Lord Varaha did not even look at Hiranyaksha as he was completely engrossed in lifting our mother Earth from this darkness. Earth (Bhudevi) trembled looking at Hiranyaksha’s rage. Lord Varaha calmly lifted her and carried her back to her original position.
After placing Earth back, Lord Varaha turned towards Hiranyaksha. He hit him so hard that Hiranyaksha immediately fell on the ground and died on the spot. After this the Gods got back their heaven and harmony were restored on earth as well.
Art Credit: Devianart
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