The Destruction of Tripura – Pride, Anger and Delusion

You would have noticed Lord Shiva being praised as Tripurantaka, in several shlokas and bhajans. Have you wondered how he got this name, which means the destroyer of three cities, and what the three cities really represent?

After Lord Karthikeya defeated and killed Tarakasura, his three sons – Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali and Kamalaksha – became insecure. They did not want to meet the same end, and undertook severe austerities to please Lord Brahma. Pleased with their penance Lord Brahma appeared before them and asked them what they sought.

They replied: “Oh Lord, we know you will not grant the boon of immortality to anyone, so we will ask for invincibility. Gift us three cities that will be floating in three different realms – earth, sky and heaven. They should align only once in a thousand years, and that too only for a fraction of a second. We seek the boon that the three of us can be defeated only when the three cities are destroyed at the same time by the same arrow.”

Brahma granted them this boon, and ordered Mayasura to build three such cities. The cities were built and the asuras occupied them. For a while they lived peacefully in the prosperous cities. The asuras were also great devotees of Lord Shiva, and worshipped him sincerely.

Mischief by the devas – and the asuras’ onslaught

The devas however were jealous of the prosperity of the asuras, and attacked them. This provocation was enough to bring the asuras back to their old, unrighteous ways. They started attacking the devas, plundering, looting, and carrying out all kinds of misdeeds.

The devas, unable to stand the onslaught, went to Lord Brahma and sought a solution. When Brahma explained the condition to them, they were shocked as they thought it impossible to defeat the asuras as long as they lived in the three cities or Tripura. However, Brahma gave them some hope. He said that Lord Shiva could defeat the asuras as he was all-powerful.

When the devas went to Lord Shiva, he thought for a while and said, “Yes, I can help you, but you need to get a few things ready for me. The Earth should be my chariot, with the Sun and Moon as the wheels. Make me a bow out of Mount Meru and let the serpent Vasuki be the string. Lord Vishnu should be the arrow, so he can steer himself quickly enough to destroy the three cities at one go.” The devas agreed and got all this ready, but they smirked and thought to themselves, “With all this equipment anyone can destroy the cities, what is so special about Lord Shiva?” Lord Shiva sensed this ego, and decided to teach them a lesson.

Iconography of Tripurantaka Shiva - Vintage Mysore Painting

Lord Shiva teaches a lesson – to the devas and asuras

At the opportune moment, just before the three cities were ready to converge, he got into the chariot, and the axle broke! Of course, the devas had forgotten to seek Lord Ganesha’s blessings before they started on this venture. Once that was done, Lord Shiva once again mounted the chariot and set out. As soon as he set sight on the three cities, he simply smiled and the cities instantly started burning without him having touched even a single weapon designed by the devas! The devas understood the greatness of Lord Shiva. They hung their heads in shame, and repented for their egoistic thoughts. Then, just to fulfil the conditions of the boon, Lord Shiva let forth the arrow, which struck through all three cities within a fraction of a second.

That was the end of the three cities and the three asuras as well. Lord Shiva touched the ashes of the burnt cities and made three majestic stripes on his forehead. To this day, Shaivites smear three lines of ash on their forehead to destroy the three evil cities that dwell within humans, namely pride, anger, and delusion (maya)!

A boon to seek every morning

Pride, anger and delusion are negative qualities that all of us need to conquer, because these are at the root of most problems. One who succumbs to these is sure to behave wickedly.

In this story, we could see a great degree of villainy displayed by even the devas as they succumbed to jealousy (which in turn stems out of pride). Not just in this story, we can see this kind of antithetical behaviour by the devas in many other episodes as well. Often, they too had to be taught a lesson! On the other hand, there were gems amongst the asura clan as well like Bhaktha Prahlada, King Mahabali, Vibhishana (born of an asura mother), Hidimbi (wife of Bheema), Ghatotkacha (born to Bheema and Hidimbi), Mandodari (wife of Ravana), and so on.

It is clear that no one can be written off as good or bad – a person’s character evolves based on the thoughts he or she decides to feed.

Given that, purity of thoughts is probably the best blessing to seek in our prayers! Every morning, in your prayers to whomever may be your favourite God or Goddess – ask for a clear mind that shuts out negative thoughts like pride, anger and delusion. Prayers are, after all, nothing but a constant reinforcement of positive thoughts that will bring about a gradual, intrinsic change.

By Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram