The Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) is traditionally ascribed to the legendary poet-sage Vyasa in the 8th-10th century CE. It stresses the path of devotion (bhakti) to Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu God of Preservation. To fulfill his role as the guardian of the world and savior of humanity, Vishnu appears as a succession of heroic animals and semi-mortal saviors, called avatars, through which he intervenes in times of crisis or unrighteousness.
The tale of Narasimha, the fourth avatar, embodies the sectarian rivalry present in Hinduism from its earliest times and eventually expressed primarily through Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Vishnu manifested as Narasimha (literally, "man-lion") to save the pious Prahlada from his bigoted father, King Hiranyakashipu, to whom Brahma had given a boon making him invulnerable to man or beast, unable to be killed indoors or outdoors, and unconquerable in day or night. To subvert the boon, Vishnu ingeniously assumed a form that was half-man and half-lion (neither man nor beast), and he attacked while his foe was standing on a porch (neither indoors nor outdoors) during the twilight hour (neither day nor night) (Bhagavata Purana 7:8:12-29).
Here, Narasimha emerges from the porch pillar and disembowels the dethroned Hiranyakashipu. Prahlada and Hiranyakashipu’s wife Kayadhu observe the divine act with gestures of devotion.
Another Nurpur rendition is in the Vicoria and Albert Museum, London (IS.104-1954).
