Lalitpur, November 12

As part of the annual ten-day-long Kartik Naach festival, the Narasimha Naach, a traditional dance performance, was showcased at Mangalbazaar Dabali, Lalitpur today.

On the same festival that started from November 3 this year, two other traditional dance performances Bastra Haran and Dadhi Lila are staled to be showcased for two days after which the festival will end formally.

Every year locals of Lalitpur celebrate the Kartik Naach festival, where various traditional dance performances that portray the cycle of life and death, and the relationship deities and human beings.

“The Malla King Siddhi Narsingh Malla used the dance performances to deliver a message against wrongdoing and instill fear for god in his citizens,” said Pratap Dhar Sharma, vice president of the Kartik Naach Samrakshan Samiti.

The Bhagwat Purana chronicles that Narasimha is a neither man nor animal incarnation of the Hindu god Lord Vishnu.

According to Hindu mythology, Prahlad, the son of a powerful demon king Hiranakashyapu, refused to accept that his father was the supreme lord of the universe, claiming that Lord Vishnu was omnipresent and benevolent.

The demon king grew angry and attempted to kill his son, but all attempts failed. One day, Hiranakashyapu asked his son if the omnipresent Vishnu was in a pillar at their palace.

When Prahlad said that he was, in his wrath the demon king destroyed the pillar. Narsimha emerged from the pillar, an incarnation of the Lord Vishnu with a fiery lion’s head and the body of a man.

Narsimha killed the demon king by ripping his chest open with his claws.

“The Narsimha Naach is a depiction of the story of Narsimha vanquishing the demon king Hiranyakashyapu,” said Sharma.