Story of Naraka

(NARAKĀSURA). A valiant Asura.

Birth.

Once the Asura Hiraṇyākṣa was amusing himself by wading through the ocean and beating at the waves with his club. Varuṇa, the god of water, was alarmed at this and ran to Mahāviṣṇu and told him every thing. Hearing this Mahāviṣṇu got up to kill Hiraṇyākṣa. Hiraṇyākṣa who had assumed the form of a Boar carried the earth on his tusks and ran to Pātāla. As the goddess earth had come into contact with the tusks of Hiraṇyākṣa she became pregnant and gave birth to an asura infant of immense might and power. That infant was Narakāsura.

Taking the infant born from impurity the sad goddess Earth went to Mahāviṣṇu and requested him to save the child somehow. Mahāviṣṇu pitied him and gave him Nārāyaṇāstra (Nārāyaṇa’s weapon) and said: "Naraka! So long as this weapon is with you, nobody but me could kill you." Saying this he disappeared. (Bhāgavata, Skandha 10).

Administration.

Narakāsura made Prāgjyotiṣa his capital and ruled over the asuras as their emperor for a long time, all the while terrifying the Devas. Once this asura raped Kaśerū the daughter of Tvaṣṭā. He brought sixteen thousand and one hundred maidens from the women of the earth and the world of gods. He made them captives at Audaka on the top of the mountain Maṇiparvata. He appointed four mighty and fearful asuras: Hayagrīva, Nisunda, Pañcanada and Mura as gate-keepers of Prāgjyotiṣa. As they stood blocking the way up to Devayāna, nobody dared to enter Prāgjyotiṣa. The ten sons of Narakāsura guarded the harem. At the boundary of the country Murāsura had tied six thousand ropes with a sword at the end of each. So enemies dared not come near the boundary. When Sugrīva gave instructions to the monkeys who were sent in search of Sītā, about the route they were to follow, he had mentioned about the city of Prāgjyotiṣa. Mention is made in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa, Sarga 42 that Sugrīva had given them special instructions to search for Sītā in Prāgjyotiṣa. (Mahābhārata Viṣṇu Parva, Chapter 63).

Previous birth of Naraka.

Long ago a king who was the father of Sixteen thousand daughters, ruled over a country. While the father and daughters were sitting in the palace Mahāviṣṇu came there as a hermit. The sixteen thousand damsels gathered round the hermit. Their father got angry and cursed them. The daughters shed tears and entreated their father for liberation from the curse. He gave them remission and said that in the next birth they would become wives of Mahāviṣṇu.

Another version of this story says that the damsels had requested Brahmā for liberation from the curse according to the advice of the hermit Nārada, and that Brahmā had given them liberation from the curse. In some versions it is stated that Nārada himself gave them liberation from the curse.

It was this King, who was the father of the sixteen thousand damsels, who took birth again as Narakāsura. Those sixteen thousand damels who had been born as princesses in different places were taken captives by Narakāsura and were kept in Audaka. (Bhāgavata, Skandha 10).

Death.

Narakāsura who had been causing devastation and terror in the three worlds entered the world of the gods once. The gods were not able to withstand the fury of Naraka, who carried away the ear-rings of Aditi, the mother of Indra, and the large white royal umbrella of Indra to Prāgjyotiṣa. Indra went to Dvārakā and told Śrī Kṛṣṇa of the molestations he had received at the hands of Narakāsura. Śrī Kṛṣṇa rode on his Garuḍa with his wife Satyabhāmā to Prāgjyotiṣa. They flew over the city round and understood the lay-out of the city, and the precautions taken by Narakāsura. The battle began after this reconnaissance. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Satyabhāmā and Garuḍa fought with the asuras. The might asuras such as Mura, Tāmra, Antarīkṣa, Śravaṇa, Vasu, Vibhāvasu, Nabhasvān, Aruṇa and others were killed. At last Narakāsura himself entered the battlefield. A fierce battle ensued in which Naraka was killed. The divine weapon Nārāyaṇāstra of Naraka was given to his son Bhagadatta. After the battle Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Satyabhāmā went to the world of the gods and returned the ear-rings to Aditi and the umbrella to Indra. (Bhāgavata, Skandha 10).