Evil but maternal

Both Holika and Putana preferred death to infanticide

Holika was the sister of the demon Hiranyakashipu, who had taken control of the three worlds after his brother, Hiranya, had been killed by Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu was incensed that his only son, Prahlada, insisted on worshipping Vishnu and he tried many different ways to kill the young boy. But Vishnu always saved Prahlada and the boy’s devotion to his god was only strengthened by these acts of grace.

Finally, Hiranyakashipu went to his sister, Holika, and enlisted her help to get rid of the boy. Holika had a boon — fire would not harm her. So, she was persuaded to sit in a burning pyre with the boy in her lap. Of course, Holika died a ghastly death and Prahlada emerged, unscathed, from the flames. In another version of the story, Holika had a garment that protected her from the flames. As she sat in the fire with Prahlada, a great gust of wind tore the garment from her body and threw it over the boy.

Holika brings to mind Putana, another woman who is persuaded to act against the gods and loses her life in the process. Putana had poisoned milk in her breasts (or sometimes, poison-tipped breasts). Kamsa asked her to suckle the infant Krishna who not only remained unaffected by the poison in her breasts, but sucked her life out. In a later version, although Putana comes to the child with evil intentions, she is overwhelmed by her maternal instincts when he starts to suckle and surrenders to Vishnu-Krishna, dying as bhakta rather than as an antagonist of the god.

In one version of the Holika story, it is she who tears off her fire-proof garment and covers the boy, sacrificing herself to save him. Her action makes her worthy of our respect and of Vishnu’s grace and favour because, after all, she has just saved his beloved devotee. Like Putana, at that final moment of crisis, she turns into a votary of the god.

But Holika’s actions do not serve to enhance Vishnu’s glory. They actually intercept his power — she acts before him to make sure that Prahlada is not harmed.

The writer works with myth, epic and the story traditions of the sub-continent