Hiranyakashipu In Hinduism , Hiranyakashipu ( or Hiranyakasipu ) was an Asura , and also a King of Dravida whose younger brother , Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha , one of the avatars of Vishnu . Angered by this , Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing a penance for Brahma . When Brahma appeared before him , Hiranyakashipu asked for the boon of immortality . Brahma refused , and told Hiranyakashipu to ask for something else . Wanting to remain immortal , the rakshasa tried to make his demise practically impossible . So he asked that his death be neither of any natural cause nor by a weapon ; also that his death be caused neither on land , nor in space , nor in fire , nor water ; neither during the day nor at night ; neither inside his abode , nor outside , and neither by a human , nor by a god , nor by an animal . Brahma was pleased with his penance and granted the boon . His son - Prahlad Hiranyakashipu , a Daitya , hated the Devas and most especially , the supreme God , Vishnu , the followers of whom he began to torture . Hiranyakashipu 's son , Prahlad , was a very devoted follower of Vishnu . Hiranyakashipu failed in convincing his son to join him against Vishnu , and tried to kill him , but Prahlada was protected by Vishnu . When asked , Prahlad refused to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe ( though he had used his boon to conquer the entire world ) and claimed that Vishnu was omnipresent . Hiranyakashipu made many attempts to kill his son . Holi One of the attempts was to have Prahlada sit on a burning pyre with his sister Holika . Holika had a special gift that prevented her from being harmed by fire . Prahlad chanted Vishnu 's name and in the battle of good against evil , Holika was burnt down but nothing happened to Prahlad . The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi festival in Hinduism . Narasimha The tradition goes that Hiranyakashipu challenged his son that if `` Vishnu was omnipresent '' He should be in the pillar nearby . Prahlada answered that He was . Hiranyakashipu furious with the answer smashed the pillar , and the ferocious Narasimha emerged from it . Hiranyakashipu tried to fight , but was no match for Narasimha . Narasimha slew Hiranyakashipu by disembowelling him . In slaying the Asura , He made sure that Brahma 's boon was not violated : He was neither human nor animal , nor god ; He killed Hiranyakashipu during twilight ( neither day nor night ) ; He placed him on His thighs ( not on earth , nor in space , nor in fire , nor in water ) to kill him ; He killed him on the threshold of his palace ( neither inside his abode nor outside it ) ; He used His nails ( neither animate nor inanimate ) as weapons . The story of Hiranyakashipu , Prahlada , and Narasimha appears in the Seventh Canto of the Bhagavata Purana . See also Aesir-Asura correspondence Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Itihasa Female Deities : Gayatri | Saraswati | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more ... Male Deities : Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Kartikeya | Hanuman | Lakshmana | Indra | Surya | more ... Texts : Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata This box :   view • talk • edit Categories : Asura In other languages : Deutsch | Português 