Tripura Dahana (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)
The Tripura Dahana is told in the Seventh Skanda, Chapter 10, of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. Bhagavān Rudra destroyed the three flying cities of Maya the dānava. The cities were made of gold, silver and iron. Rudra burned them with a single arrow, and in that arrow Bhagavān Vishṇu himself became the shaft.
Where the account comes in
Nārada tells this account to Yudhishṭhira. It comes straight after the account of Prahlāda’s coronation and his teaching on nishkāma bhakti (devotion without desire for reward), in Chapter 10. Nārada says that even Rudra’s great deed of destroying Tripura was done only because Bhagavān Vishṇu entered into the arrow. Bhagavān Vishṇu is the support of all dharmic action in creation.
Maya’s three cities
Maya, the great dānava and the most skilled builder in all creation, made the three cities (Tripura) for three asura brothers:
- A city of gold, in svarga (heaven)
- A city of silver, in the sky (the middle space)
- A city of iron, on the earth
The cities moved through the sky. This is why they are called Tripura, “three fortresses”, and also Tripurī. The asuras who lived in them had gained great power, and they were doing great harm to the devas and to the order of the world. No ordinary weapon could destroy the cities.
The cities could be destroyed only when all three stood in one straight line. This happens only once in a very long age. At that exact moment a single arrow could destroy all three together.
The chariot of Rudra
The devas could not overcome the Tripura asuras by any ordinary means, so they went to Rudra. Rudra agreed to destroy Tripura. He said that for this deed he needed a weapon and a chariot as large as the whole world.
The chariot made ready for Rudra was this:
- The chariot itself: the earth, as the frame
- The horses: the four Vedas
- The charioteer: Brahmā
- The bow: Mount Meru
- The bowstring: Ananta Śesha (Vāsuki in some accounts)
- The arrow: Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, who entered the arrow and became its power
Vishṇu as the arrow
Bhagavān Vishṇu himself became the arrow that Rudra shot. Rudra is the greatest of the destroyers, and the Bhāgavata says that even his destruction of Tripura needed Bhagavān Vishṇu as the force within the arrow. The arrow is the weapon, and Bhagavān Vishṇu is what makes it work.
The destruction
The three cities came into one line. Rudra sat in the chariot of the world. Brahmā drove it. Meru was his bow, strung with Ananta, and Bhagavān Vishṇu was his arrow. He let go the single shot. The arrow struck all three cities at once. The three fortresses of gold, silver and iron blazed and burned. The fires joined into one great fire, and Tripura was destroyed completely.
The asuras who had terrorised the three worlds were destroyed. Order was restored, and the devas rejoiced.
What Nārada teaches Yudhishṭhira
Nārada draws a lesson for Yudhishṭhira from the Prahlāda account. Bhagavān Narasiṃha appeared to answer Prahlāda’s bhakti. In the same way Bhagavān Vishṇu entered Rudra’s arrow so that Tripura could be destroyed. The power of Bhagavān Vishṇu is behind all dharmic action in creation, whether it is done through Indra, Rudra, Brahmā or any other deva. The devas are not independent sources of power. The śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu flows through them when what they do is in line with dharma.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Seventh Skanda, Chapter 10