“Produce it,” responded Vishnu. “Give me the seed so that I can sow it. You continue with your ploughing.”

Kuru stretched out his right arm and Vishnu sliced the arm into a thousand pieces with his bladed discus. Kuru next stretched out his left arm and this also met with the same end. The king Offered his thighs and again Vishnu cut them up. Finally, Kuru offered his head. This pleased Vishnu no end and he wished to grant Kuru a boon.

“I have already ploughed part of the land,” replied Kuru. “If you desire to grant me a boon, let it be that the ploughed part of the land shall henceforth be a holy place. Religious rites and ceremonies will be observed here and from now on, the place will be known as Kurukshetra.”

Vishnu granted the boon. He also informed Kuru that the king himself would perform thousands and thousands of yajnas in Kurukshetra. This is how Kurukshetra became a sacred place and sinners are not permitted entry there. In Kurukshetra there flows the holy river Prithudaka, after which the tirtha to which Vishnu referred is named.

It was in Kuruksheta that the sage Lomaharshana recited the story of the vamana (dwarf) incarnation to the other assembled sages. The story is as follows.

Vali

Hiranyakashipu was the ancestor of all demons(daityas). Hiranyakashipu’s son was Prahlada, Prahlada’s son Virochana and Virochana’s son Vali.

After Hiranyakashipu’s death, the power of the demons was not diminished. They continued to rule the three worlds and drove the gods out of heaven. Two demons named Maya and Shambara kept on conquering new kingdoms for the daityas. The demons performed yajnas and prospered. This was because Prahlada. Maya and Shambara were good demons, not sinners.

Eventually Vali became the king of the daityas. The goddess Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, blessed Vali and began to live in his house. Thus Vali prospered and everyone was happy.

The only person who was unhappy was Indra. The gods, after all, no longer had a place to live in. Indra therefore went to Mount Sumeru. There lived Aditi, the mother of all the gods. Indra and the other gods went and complained about Vali to their mother.

“The gods can do nothing about Vali,” replied Aditi. “The only one who can destroy Vali is Vishnu. Why don’t you go and see what your father Kashyapa has to say on this?”

The gods went and recited their woes to Kashyapa.

“I can’t really do anything,” said Kashyapa. “What you should really do is go to Brahma and ask for his opinion”.

The gods went to Brahma.

“The solution lies with Vishnu,” said Brahma.

“Go to the shores of the northern ocean and pray to Vishnu. Ask Kashyapa and Aditi to pray as well.

When Vishnu is pleased, he will grant Kashyapa and Aditi the boon that he will be born as their son. It is this son who will destroy Vali”.

The gods went to the shores of the northern ocean and started to pray. Kashyapa and Aditi joined them in their meditations. Vishnu was pleased and agreed to be born as the son of Kashyapa and Aditi.

As soon as Vishnu agreed to do this, the power of the demons began to decrease. They saw ill omens everywhere.

“Why is all this happening?” Vali asked his grandfather Prahlada.

“This is because the great Vishnu has agreed to be born as the son of Kashyapa and Aditi,” replied Prahlada.