Shloka 55
Adhyaya 4 — Draupadi and Her Husbands
कृत्वा नृसिंहरूपञ्च हिरण्यकशिपुर्हतः ।
विप्रचित्तिमुखाश्चान्ये दानवा विनिपातिताः ॥
kṛtvā nṛsiṃharūpaṃ ca hiraṇyakaśipur hataḥ | vipracittimukhāś cānye dānavā vinipātitāḥ ||
Assumindo a forma de Narasiṃha, ele matou Hiraṇyakaśipu; e também outros Dānavas—começando por Vipracitti—foram abatidos.
FAQs
When adharma becomes entrenched and oppressive, divine power manifests in a fitting form to restore balance. The verse emphasizes that wrongdoing—however fortified—meets its end, and that cosmic order (dharma) is ultimately protected.
This aligns primarily with Vaṃśānucarita/Manvantara-style narrative material: exemplary accounts of divine interventions and conflicts that occur within the broader purāṇic chronicle of ages, lineages, and world-order maintenance.
Narasiṃha symbolizes a liminal, boundary-transcending force: neither fully man nor beast, appearing when conventional categories fail to contain adharma. The “falling” of Hiraṇyakaśipu and other Dānavas signifies the inevitable collapse of egoic tyranny and the reassertion of a higher, supra-rational order.