Tripura

Tripura · tri-pura, “the three cities”

Tripura means “the Triple City”. It was made up of three great fortress cities of the dānavas (a race of asuras, beings opposed to the devas), built by Maya, the great architect of the asuras, after he received a vara (boon) from Brahmā. There was a city of iron on the earth, given to Tārakāksha; a city of silver in the middle sky, given to Vidyunmālī; and a city of gold in the highest sky, kept by Maya himself.

Together they formed a fortress that could not be conquered. It could be destroyed only by a single arrow from a single being, at the moment of the Pushya yoga, when the three cities lined up. Śiva finally destroyed them with his eka-bāṇa (single arrow). This is the central event of the Tripurāsura Upākhyāna (the account of the asuras of Tripura), and it gave Śiva the names Tripurāntaka (ender of Tripura) and Purāri (enemy of the cities).

The Three Cities

Each city was one hundred yojanas long and one hundred yojanas wide (a yojana is a traditional measure of long distance). They were huge fortress cities, built with Maya‘s unmatched skill. Between each city there was a gap of one hundred yojanas. The three came into a single line only at the Pushya yoga, a rare arrangement of the stars and planets. Only during that alignment could all three be destroyed by one arrow passing through them all at once.

Inside each city were hundreds of thousands of dānava homes. There were huge palaces with jewelled towers, wide royal roads lined with pleasure gardens, lotus pools, Śiva temples built by the dānavas themselves, parks scented with jasmine and campaka flowers, āśramas for visiting ṛshis, inner apartments ringing with the sound of women’s anklets, markets and granaries. In every way Tripura was a copy of svarga, or even better than it in beauty and in wealth.

Per Vāmana Purāṇa, the great-souled Maya built Tripura of gold, copper and iron, with every comfort and beautiful in every part, and lived there happily with his wife and retinue, with Tārakāksha and the daityas. Pulastya Maharshi tells this to Nārada Maharshi at the close of the account of the Vāmana avatāra: after Bhagavān Vishṇu, as Vāmana, had sent Bali to Sutala, given svarga back to Indra and withdrawn, Śālva built his city Saubha in mid-air, Maya built Tripura, and Bāṇa built the fortified city of Śoṇita on the earth (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65).

The Pool of Amṛta

One of the most remarkable things in Tripura was the amṛta-vāpī, a divine pool of revival that Maya made with his māyā (magical power). Any dānava who fell in battle could be carried to this pool, and on entering it he at once came back to life with full health and strength. This made the dānava armies practically deathless in battle. Bhagavān Vishṇu put an end to the pool. Before the final battle he came down in the form of a vṛshabha (bull) and drank the pool dry.

The Destruction of Tripura

When the Pushya yoga came and the three cities lined up, Śiva sat in his great chariot with Brahmā as his charioteer. He released a single arrow made from the joined tejas (fiery power) of Vishṇu, Soma and Agni. The arrow pierced all three cities at once and burnt them to ash. From this deed Śiva received these names:

• Tripurāntaka: Ender of Tripura
• Purāri: Enemy of the cities
• Tripurahara: Destroyer of Tripura

The Inner Meaning

The Matsya Purāṇa says that the story of Tripura holds a gūḍha (hidden) teaching. The three cities stand for three kinds of citta-vṛtti (movements of the mind) that have slipped away from the guidance of the śāstras: tāmasika (the iron city), rājasika (the silver city) and a twisted form of sāttvika (the golden city). Śiva‘s single arrow stands for ekāgra-citta, a perfectly one-pointed mind, which breaks down the threefold fortress of the ego. The pool of amṛta stands for the force of saṃskāra (deep-set habit) that keeps bringing the same patterns back to life. Vishṇu drying up the pool stands for viveka-śakti, the power of discernment, which cuts this cycle of revival.

The Account in the Mahābhārata’s Anuśāsana Parva

The Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata keeps a second, separate account of the Tripura-dahana (the burning of Tripura). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells it to Yudhishṭhira in praise of Śiva, right after the story of Durvāsā’s visit asking for alms (the Durvāsobhikshā).

Rudra had just brought Daksha‘s yajña to its end. The frightened devas begged him to destroy the three flying cities of the asuras, which even Indra with all his weapons could not conquer. Rudra agreed and built his weapon out of the bodies of other devas:

• Vishṇu became the shaft of the arrow
• Agni became its tip
• Yama (son of Sūrya) became its feathered end (puṅkha)
• all the Vedas together became the bow
• the excellent Sāvitrī became the bowstring
• Brahmā became the charioteer

With this weapon of three joints and three barbs, Rudra burnt Tripura and its asuras completely.

Where the two accounts agree: Both describe three cities destroyed by a single weapon made of many parts, in which Vishṇu, Agni and the Vedic order of the universe are all joined into Rudra’s weapon. Both present the deed as the answer to a crisis that the devas and Indra could not solve by themselves.

Where the two accounts differ: The Matsya Purāṇa describes a single arrow made of the joined tejas of Vishṇu, Soma and Agni, shot from a great chariot at the rare Pushya-yoga alignment of the three cities. It gives many details about how Maya built the cities and about the pool of amṛta. The Anuśāsana Parva mentions no Pushya yoga, no pool of amṛta and no building by Maya. Instead it describes exactly how the arrow itself was put together (Vishṇu the shaft, Agni the tip, Yama the feathers, the Vedas the bow, Sāvitrī the bowstring, Brahmā the charioteer), which the Matsya account does not give, and Soma has no part in this weapon at all.

A detail found only in the Mahābhārata: At the height of the burning of Tripura, Umā (Pārvatī) noticed a boy with five tufts of hair (pañca-śikhā) sitting on Rudra’s own thigh, and asked who he was. Neither the devas nor Brahmā could answer, until Brahmā, through meditation, recognised him and bowed to Umāpati (Śiva, the husband of Umā). The text then tells that this boy later became the great brāhmaṇa Durvāsā, who lived for a long time in Śrī Kṛshṇa’s own house in Dvārakā. This links the burning of Tripura directly to the story of Durvāsā’s visit told in the chapter just before. This account of Durvāsā’s origin differs from the one in the Śata Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, where he is born to Atri and Anasūyā as one of three brothers, with Candra and Dattātreya.

Per Agni Purāṇa

The Agni Purāṇa tells the burning of Tripura briefly, as the seventh of the twelve wars fought between the devas and the asuras (Chapter 276). Bhagavān Śiva made the earth his chariot, yoked to it horses that were the Vedas, and mounted it, with Brahmā as his charioteer. Then Śrī Mahāvishṇu gave refuge to Īśvara, himself became the arrow, and burned Tripura.

The Vishṇu-pañjara stotra was first taught for this battle. Long ago, when Bhagavān Śiva was setting out to destroy Tripura, Brahmā taught him the Vishṇu-pañjara for his protection; later Bṛhaspati taught it to Indra when Indra went to slay the asura Bala (Chapter 270).

The destruction of Tripura is also remembered in the mantras that Pushkara gives for the worship of the royal insignia before battle. Addressing the royal flag (patākā), the mantra says: “As you shone in the battles of Kālanemi and the destruction of Tripura, in the battles of Hiraṇyakaśipu and in all the battles with the daityas, so shine today” (Chapter 269).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 269–270, 276

Sources

• Matsya Purāṇa, Chapters 127–139 (especially Chapter 128, Chapters 133–135 and Chapter 139)
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 160
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 269–270, 276