Hiranyakashipu - The Child Prodigy

Kashyapa once organized an ashvamedha yajna (horse sacrifice). All the gods and the sages came to attend this sacrifice. A golden throne had been prepared for the chief priest. Diti was also present on the occasion then. She had, at the time, been bearing a baby for ten thousand years in her womb. When all arrangements had been made for the sacrifice, the baby was born. The newly born baby ascended the throne reserved for the chief priest and immediately began to recite the Vedas. It was this baby who came to be known as Hiranyakashipu.