Hiranyaksha is a great demon of Hindu myth — the mighty asura who dragged the earth-goddess down into the cosmic ocean, threatening creation, and was slain by Vishnu's boar avatar Varaha, the brother of Hiranyakashipu. The golden-eyed demon, Hiranyaksha is the asura who seized the earth and was slain by the cosmic boar.
The Golden-Eyed Demon
Hiranyaksha (Sanskrit Hiraṇyākṣa, “golden-eyed”) is a great and powerful asura (demon), the brother of Hiranyakashipu (whom Narasimha would later slay). The two brothers were demons of immense power and hostility to the gods and the cosmic order. Hiranyaksha was a mighty warrior-demon, proud and powerful, an enemy of the gods who terrorised the cosmos.
The Seizing of the Earth
Hiranyaksha's great and terrible deed was to seize the earth itself — the earth-goddess Bhumi (Bhudevi) — and drag her down into the depths of the cosmic ocean, plunging the world into the primordial waters and threatening all of creation with destruction. By taking the earth down into the deep, the demon threatened to undo the ordered world, drowning creation in the cosmic waters. This was a catastrophe that threatened the very existence of the world, and it called forth a divine response.
The Battle with Varaha
To rescue the earth and destroy the demon, the god Vishnu took the form of Varaha — the colossal boar avatar — and dived into the cosmic ocean to recover the drowning earth. There, in the depths, Varaha confronted Hiranyaksha, and the two did battle in a tremendous combat that raged (in the tellings) for a thousand years, the mighty boar against the mighty demon, deep in the cosmic waters. At last, Varaha slew Hiranyaksha, destroying the demon, and then lifted the earth-goddess Bhumi up upon his great tusks, raising the world out of the depths and restoring it to its place in the cosmos. Through the slaying of Hiranyaksha, Vishnu (as Varaha) saved the earth and creation from the demon who had dragged the world into the deep.
The Demon Who Seized the Earth
Hiranyaksha endures as a great demon of Hindu myth — the golden-eyed asura who dragged the earth-goddess into the cosmic ocean and was slain by Vishnu's boar avatar Varaha, the brother of Hiranyakashipu. He embodies the demonic power that threatens to undo creation and drown the world, and his deed called forth one of the great avatars of Vishnu the preserver; and he stands as the demon who seized the earth — the mighty asura whose dragging of the world into the deep was answered by the cosmic boar Varaha, who slew him and lifted the earth back to safety. (With his brother Hiranyakashipu, the two demons are said in some traditions to have been the gatekeepers of Vishnu, cursed to be born as demons and slain by Vishnu's avatars across successive lives.)
The golden-eyed demon who dragged the earth-goddess down into the cosmic ocean, threatening to drown all creation — until Vishnu's boar avatar Varaha dived into the deep, slew him, and raised the world to safety.