The evil demon king Hiranyakashipu returned to his kingdom after been granted a boon that he could not be killed of anything born from a living womb, neither be killed by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land, nor in the air nor in water and of no man made weapon!

He was then informed from one of his generals that his brother Hiranakshya was killed by Lord Vishnu. Hearing this, Hiranyakashipu gave order to totally forbid to worship Lord Vishnu in his kingdom.

But Hiranyakashipu's son Prahlad, a young boy, was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and when Hiranyakashipu came to know about this fact, he tried to change Prahlad's mind. Unable to do so, he repeatedly attempted to kill Prahlad. Every time Prahlad was saved by Lord Vishnu.

At the end when Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlad where is his lord, Prahlad said he is everywhere, even within one of the pillar of Hiranyakashipu's palace, then Hiranyakashipu broke the pillar and from there “Narasingha”, a prominent avatar of Lord Vishnu, who is half lion and half human, appeared and killed Hiranyakashipu.