Balasura - The Demon Prince

Once upon a time there lived a demon prince Balasura who was sick of seeing God's having the upper hand over demons. Every time a demon died at the hands of God it infuriated him. One day he set out for a deep penance to impress the Lord Vishnu. Amidst the disturbance around, he braved the hardships of penance. After a few years, impressed by his unwavering focus, Lord Vishnu materialized in front of him. Balasura paid obeisance to God before venturing to ask for a boon. 

"Oh, Lord! I know you would not break the irrevocable cosmic law to make me immortal. Thereby, my request is to ensure I don't get killed by anyone except for an ant."

A smile beamed on Lord Vishnu's countenance and without any words exchanged between the two, he granted him the boon and disappeared into the skies. Balasura jumped in joy to commemorate the acceptance of a mighty boon. He shrugged off the possibility of an ant killing him. He went to the abode of God to teach them a lesson. The gods were now aware of Lord Vishnu's boon and were terrified by the presence of Balasura. Slowly the demons gained ascendence over the Gods. They pushed the Gods on the back foot. He killed many of them mercilessly to satisfy his cruel cravings. Horror-struck Devas fled the macabre scene in disarray. Balasura usurped God's abode and transformed it into a demon's paradise. No one dared to fight the demon prince who looked unshakable in his resolve to wipe Devas from the world. One day a Deva named Nilesha confronted the demon prince after his son was brutally murdered. Despite being aware of the danger, he decided to fight the demon. Balasura drew out his sword and stood astride the lion. He wielded his sword like a warrior. 

"You fool! How did you gain the courage to fight against an immortal demon?" he laughed.

"You killed my innocent son mercilessly and thereby sinned. You must be punished for your wicked deeds."

"Even God will not be able to save you from death, " he kicked the lion that complied with his request.

The monstrous lion tried to toss itself on Nilesha but the latter who had stood at the edge of the mountain moved aside in nick of time thereby letting the lion jump down. Balasura roared in anger as the lion died. He put his feet on Nilesha and pinned him down and the latter's frantic efforts to escape from his foothold yielded no result. He brought down his sword and with one swing slew Nilesha. The entire God community shook to horror by this incident. The demon prince who is invincible at the moment must be killed or else the demon's dream of wiping out the God community would indeed materialise. All gods went to Lord Vishnu's abode to put forth their grievances. The cruelty meted out to Nilesha and his son was unacceptable. He and his gang had trampled upon many innocent gods in their quest to rule the world. Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara deemed it a necessity to put an end to the demon's domination. They used their powers to create an ant. All God's transmitted their power to the ant so that it was well-groomed to take on the fiery Balasura. The entire world was forcibly made to hail the demon Prince Balasura who ascended the throne in delight. His ego knew no bounds. He proclaimed that the entire world must worship him not the other gods. The grant of boon seemed to have gotten into his head which made him act ruthlessly. 

One day Balasura chalked out a plan to abduct goddesses and make them his slaves. His arrogance and lust for power seemed to have been overflowing to the core. He happened to detect the place where goddesses were hiding. His presence terrified the goddesses who had no power to kill the demon. Balasura grunted and ordered his gang to bring goddesses to his abode. His eye fell on an ant that seemed to have been the guard of goddesses. 

"Oh, you tiny ant! Do you think you can kill this behemoth? Look at your pathetic size. I can pick you up and squeeze the life out of you." 

The ant grew in size which petrified the demon. He recounted the boon endowed by Lord Vishnu in which it was stated that no one could kill him except for an ant. He brushed all the thoughts aside and charged at the growing ant. His futile attempts to swing his sword hard at the ant had no impact. The ant fell on the demon and sucked his blood. The demon rolled over grotesquely. He shrieked in pain as his soul disappeared forever. The goddesses heaved a sigh of relief. The gods were extremely delighted to hear about the death of Balasura. The tyranny of the demon prince had indeed come to an end.