The Pillar Breaks in Kali
Bala Kanda, Doha 27
Doha 27 · Movement 2 of 2
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Kali towers like Hiranyakashipu, armoured in arrogance and swollen with the claim that no refuge lies beyond his reach. Before him stand those who chant, small as Prahlada in the tyrant's hall, without armies, rank, or visible defence.
Then the Ram Name becomes Narasimha. It does not approach from a distant heaven. It tears through the very pillar the oppressor believed to be empty. Claw, roar, and divine fury fill the threshold where every condition of escape had seemed forbidden.
The chanter is gathered into protection. The tormentor of the gods discovers that the Name has entered Kali from within.
The pillar splits, and the child who remembered Ram is no longer alone.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 27
Separate Narasimha and Prahlada portraits evoke the verse's protective comparison for Rama's Name.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 51 · printed pages 49. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-028. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Rama's Name compared to Narasimha, Kali to Hiranyakashipu, chanting devotee to Prahlada
- Name protects the chanting devotee by destroying the enemy of gods in this comparison
Artistic choices
- Separate Narasimha and Prahlada portraits select protection comparison; no encounter or enacted violent legend
- Lion face, mane, crown, shoulder drape, tilaks, child's age/appearance/tunic, prayer pose, medallions, flowers and colours conventional/imagined
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
राम नाम नरकेसरी कनककसिपु कलिकाल। जापक जन प्रहलाद जिमि पालिहि दलि सुरसाल।।27।।
Ram's Name is Narasimha, the man-lion; the Kali age is Hiranyakashipu. Those who chant the Name are like Prahlada. The Name will protect them, crushing the tormentor of the gods.