The first two lines of the Pasuram

"alaittha pEzh vaay vALL yeyiRu ohr kOLL ari aay, avuNan
kolaik-kayyALan nenju idantha koor uhirALan idam"

First, salutation is made to the Thiruppathy of the Lord. It is identified as the place of residence of the majestic, matchless Lion (ohr kOLL ari) with the sharp outstretched tongue that is roaming from side to side inside the cave like mouth (alaittha pEzh vaay) and revealing the radiant white teeth (VaaLL yeiRu) over and below that tongue. That Simha roopa Moorthy pulled out the heart of the asuran HiraNyan (avuNan) with His fierce and powerful nails (koor uhirAl nenju piLanthAn) and punished him (HiraNyan) decisively for his many trespasses.

This angry Simham tore apart the chest walls of HiraNyan to check if the heart of HiraNyan had any fear about Him and respect for Him as well as affection for his son, PrahlAdhan. Finding none of the above in the heart of HiraNyan, Narasimha BhagavAn tore out that heart of HiraNyan and threw it out. Thus, Lord Narasimha put an end to HiraNyan, whose sole activity was destroying others for disobeying him (Kolai Kai AaLan). Kaliyan salutes Ahobilam as the dhivya dEsam, where Lord became the HiraNya SamhAra Moorthy as well as Bhaktha PrahlAdha anugraha Moorthy.

While HiraNyan went on a rampage of killing all those, who did not recognize him as the Supreme Being, his young child with extraordinary vivEkam displayed the highest form of VishNu Bhakthi and provided upadEsam for all about the nine kinds of VishNu Bhakthi that they should observe for their salvation:

"SravaNam Keertthanam VishNOr smaraNam Paadha sEvanam
archanam vandhanam dhAsyam Sakhyam aathma nivEdhanam
ithi pumsArpithA VishNou Bhakthi: chEth nava lakshaNA"

When HiraNyan challenged his son and asked him whether his Hari was inside a pillar that he hit with his hand, PrahlAdhan answered that Hari is everywhere including that pillar. Hari jumped immediately out of that pillar so that His parama bhakthan's words do not become untrue and destroyed the mighty asuran in a trice with His nails alone.

HiraNyan had done fierce penance once and had received a set of boons from Brahma Devan that

(1) he should not experience death from a human or an animal;

(2) he should not meet death during day time or night time;

(3) he should not meet death inside the house or outside the house;

(4) he will not be killed on earth or in the sky;

(5) he should not be killed by a living entity or one without life.

HiraNyan thought that he was very clever in seeking such boons to gain freedom from death. Bhagavaan is certainly far cleverer in scheming than the ego-filled HiraNyan.

As He tore out of the Sthampam, our Lord took on the Narasimha Roopam. In that state, He was neither a full human being nor a full animal. He became naram kalantha Singham. His time of appearance was neither day nor night. It was sandhyA kaalam that was in between the two. Our Lord did not kill HiraNyan eit h er insid e or outside the house (palace); He killed the asuran on the door step, which is in between the inside and the outside.

HiraNyan met his death on the lap of the Lord, which was in between the earth and aakAsam. HiraNyan was destroyed with the weapon of nakham (nail) of the Lord, which is neither living nor dead. When it grows, it has life. When it is cut and thrown away, it has no life. Thus the Lord outsmarted HiraNyan, while not violating the boons granted by His other bhaktan, Brahma Devan.

 

He tore out of the Sthampam

 

After HiraNyan was destroyed, Bhagavan invited PrahlAdhan to come near and asked him to choose the boons that he wished to have. PrahlAdhan responded: "Oh My Lord! You can not distract me by granting me boons. I seek only the boon of freedom from attachment to any thing other than Your sacred feet. Lord Narasimhan was immensely pleased with the VairAghyam and Bhakthi of PrahlAdhan. PrahlAdha Sthuthi of Lord Narasimhan with 42 slOkams is one of the most sacred sthuthis. This sthuthi was a favorite of HH InjimEttu Azhagiya Singar. PrahlAdhA's immense bliss on having the sevai of Narasimha BhagavAn is beautifully expressed by Saint ThyagarAjA in his PrahlAdha Bhakthi vijaya Naatakam. Through a Gandha Padhyam, the Saint of ThiruvayyARu describes:

ithadE JeevAdhArudu,
ithadE nAnOmuphalamu IndhrAdhinudhuNDu
ithadE mununanau brOchina-
thithadE SarvEswaruNDuni ithaDE ithaDe

Meaning:

"He alone is the foundation of my life; He alone is the fruit (Phalan) of my vrathams; He alone is the object of the worship of Indhran; He alone is the One, who protected me from time immemorail; He alone is the SarvEswaran. He is the One; He is the Supreme One."

In an Uthpala MaalA meter gadhyam, ThyAga Brahmam describes the blissful mental state of PrahlAdhan after the darsanam of the Lord:

"tallini joosu Bittavala,
tAmara vairiki kalvasanthamE Pallava PaaNi jAruvela,
bhAnudu lEvaka viprureethithA ullamunAsajenthi,
nikilOtthama dEvuni kanna yanthanE jallani bhAshpamulva
- tala saakenu paadhamulayanthu mrOkkagAn "

Meaning:

When PrahlAdhan had the bhAgyam of seeing the Lord of the Universe, his eyes were flooded with tears of joy and he fell at the sacred feet of the Lord. His mind was filled with joy. His joyous status was like that of an infant, which saw its mother, like the Lilly flower that experienced the Moon rise, like the young woman, who met her lover and like the Brahmins who saw the Sun rise (SooryOdhayam).

Such is the glory of Lord Narasimhan, who was eulogized by PrahlAdhan through 42 exquisite slOkams in Srimad BhAgavatham. Ahobilam is the dhivya dEsam, where HiraNya SamhAram and PrahlAdha anugraham happened at the same time. Let us conclude this section with reflection on the first two lines of Kaliyan's second Paasuram with the description of Sri NaarAyaNa Bhattadhiri in SrI NaaraayaNeeyam, which in turn captures the essence of the first two lines of Thirumangai Mannan's second paasuram:

taptha-svarNa savarNa ghUrNadh athirooksha aksham saDAkEsara
prOthkampa pranikumBitha amBaram ahO jeeyAtthatavEdham vapu:
vyAttha vyApthamahAdarIsakha mukham khaDgOgra valkanmAhA
jihvA nirgama dhrusyamAna sumahA dhamshtrAyuga uttAmaram

 — Sri NArAyaNIyam 25.3

Meaning:

What a Wonder! His fast moving (rotating) manes around His neck had the hue of molten gold. His face had the most frightening eyes.The movement of the assembly of His pidari mayir (saDAkEsara) hid the sky as it were with their hugeness. The open mouth had the appearance of a huge cave. His rapidly moving tongue from side to side of His mouth was like a sharp and rotating sword. When the tongue was projected outward, the huge cannine teeth became visible and were frightening to look at. Oh Lord Narasimha! May this firece form of Yours shine radiantly forever! We will cover the next two lines of the second paasuram next.