The Queen in His Hermitage

When the demon king Hiraṇyakaśipu went away to Mount Mandara to do austerities, the gods made war on the demons, and the demons fled in every direction without looking back at their wives or sons or wealth. The gods plundered the demon king's palace, and Indra, king of the gods, seized his chief queen, Kayādhu, and led her away, shaking with fear and crying like an osprey.

Nārada happened to come along the road and saw her. Lord of the gods, he said, you must not take her. She has done nothing wrong. Let her go; she is a faithful wife, and another man's. Indra said that in her womb was the seed of the gods' enemy, and that he would keep her until the child was born. Nārada said, This child is without sin. He is a great devotee of the Lord, and strong, and you will not be able to kill him. Indra honoured the sage's word and let her go, and out of his own devotion to the Lord he walked around her and went back to heaven.

Nārada took the queen to his own hermitage, comforted her, and said, Stay here, child, until your husband comes back. She lived near him without fear for as long as Hiraṇyakaśipu was away at his austerities, and served the sage with devotion for the safety of the child in her womb. Nārada, full of pity, taught her what dharma truly is, and the pure knowledge, and he taught it with the child in mind. In time the mother forgot it. But the child in her womb was Prahlāda, and by the sage's grace he never forgot. He grew up in the demon king's house a devotee of the Lord, as Nārada had said, and as a boy he told this story himself to the sons of the demons, so that they too might learn what the sage had taught him.