Narakasura, the king of Pragjotishpur & devotee of Goddess Kamakhya

The great devotee of Goddess Kamakhya, the ruler of the ancient city Pragjotishpur

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Sculptures on walls of Kamakhya Temple

Pragjyotishpur : The ancient state of Pragjyotishpur is presently renowned as the city of Guwahati in Assam. Pragjyotishpur was once ruled by Narakasura as well as his son, Bhagadatta. Bhagadatta's daughter Bhanumati was married to the eldest of the Kauravas, Duryodhana. Due to this reason, Bhagadatta, along with the Kirat Sena (army of kirats), took the side of the Kauravas in the great battle of Kurukshetra. As mentioned in the Kaalika Puran, Lord Brahma, the creator of the Universe, formed the stars and planets staying in this place only. In the previous times, this place was an important center of studying astrology, tantra and various other secret theories. Narakasur was one of the eminent devotees of Goddess Kamakhya. He killed the Kirat king Ghatak to capture the state of Pragjyotishpur.

Pragjotishpur ancient name of Guwahati, kingdom of Narakasura

Narakasura was the son of Varaha (the boar), the twelfth incarnation of Narayan or Lord Vishnu, who is the caregiver of the universe. Narakasura was reared by the mother Earth, who was earlier protected by Lord Vishnu in the form of Varaha. Narakasura belonged to the community of Asura (the demons), but the teachings and company, that he acquired from the sage kind Janak, inculcated in him all the qualities of a Arya Bhawa (humanities). Narakasura worshiped Lord Vishnu through much hardship and won the boons of immortality as well as overall wellness. In the very beginning, Lord Vishnu had notified him that for the purpose of expanding his kingdom, he would be blessed with a son towards the end of the Dwapar era (the third eon). But he should always pay his regards and respect to the gods and brahmins, should behave decently towards them, should never abuse or insult them by his demonic attitude. He should always devote himself towards the adoration of Goddess Kamakhya, otherwise he might be destroyed. Narakasura never failed to obey Lord Vishnu, and as a result, he was always blessed with the possession of enormous wealth. His kingdom also kept expanding and it existed through the Treta and the Dwapar era (the second and the third eons according to Hindu belief).

His friendship with the son of King Bali Vanasura and cause of fall

Towards the end of the Dwapar era, Narakasura became friends with Vanasura, the son of King Bali. Vanasura had all the inferior qualities of demons and he hated all the gods and brahmins. Such poor nature of Vanausra also affected Narakasura and he also turned malevolent. He started torturing the innocent inhabitants of the three Lokas (Heaven, Earth and Hades) and also killing them. Seeing the awful massacre caused by him, everybody became terrified. He defeated Lord Indra and stole away the Kundala (helix) of mother Goddess Aditi. He defeated Arun to snatch away his disciples. All the gods were so much affected by the terror of the demon that they prayed to Lord Brahma to solve their problem and to restore their normal lives. Lord Brahma advised them to praise Shri Vidya Mata Tripur Sundari or Goddess Kamakhya, so that she could be their savior. This was because she was the protector Narakasura's kingdom and he had ruled under her. Afterwards, all the gods started worshiping the goddess, through which she was quite pleased and assured them to save their lives.

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Curse of Sage Vashishtha

Sage Vashishtha used to worship in the Sandhyachal hills that lay in the kingdom of Narakasura. One day, he came to visit the shrine of the Mother Goddess. Since at this time, Narakasura was entirely under the influence of Vanasura, he expressed his grudge towards the goddess and prevented the sage from visiting the goddess. Consequently, Sage Vashishtha cursed him that the goddess would no longer stay in his kingdom. Narakasura was no longer favored by the goddess. It was true that he was born to Lord Vishnu and grew up under the guidance of the Mother Earth, and Lord Vishnu had also blessed him to rule over his huge kingdom for a long period of time. But later, as he was distracted from the path of honesty, Goddess Kamakhya joined hands with the other gods and punished him by getting him killed by Lord Vishnu alone.

Killing of Narakasura and end of his kingdom

Pragjyotishpur is considered to be residence of Goddess Kamakhya. A magnificent temple has been erected for her worship. Initially, Kaamdev got the temple built by the artist of the gods, Vishwakarma, and it came to be known as the Anandakhya temple. It is also believed that Narakasura had also erected a temple for the goddess in this place, which used to be his place of worship and area of residence as well. The four entrances to the temple, namely, the Vyaghradwar (the tiger door), the Hanumantdwar (the Hanumant door), the Swargdwar (the door to heaven) and the Singhadwar (the door of the lion) was also constructed by him. The construction of these four entrances has also a story behind it. Once, the goddess displayed her spellbinding and attractive hue to Narakasura, as a result of which, the demon was overwhelmed and wished to own her as his wife. Goddess Kamakhya had the only goal of killing the demon, and as a part of her plan, she put forward a strange proposal in his front. She suggested that if the demon could construct four concrete path ways to the four directions of the hills, and also a grand resting place for the goddess, and all these within the time period of only one night, the goddess would agree to become his wife, and failing to do so, he would have to die. The proposal also involved the condition that the work would have to be finished even before the crack of the dawn, i.e., before the crowing of the earliest rooster. The proud Narakasura was pretty confident of his capability and he at once agreed to the proposal. The construction work began at once at lightning speed. The goddess noticed the speed of the work and was alarmed that Narakasura might be able to fulfill the condition quite easily. So she decided to play a trick and ordered the rooster to crow early even before the daybreak. The rooster followed suit. Narakasura was aghast at such a situation and he started chasing the rooster in order to get it killed. Finally, he crossed the river Brahmaputra, got hold of the rooster and killed it. Afterwards, Lord Vishnu, with the aid of the goddess, killed the demon and freed the residents of the three worlds from their extreme fear. Till today, four pathways lead to the Kamakhya temple on the Nilanchal hills, and these were built by the demon Narakasura.

Kamakhya Temple