Triśūla

Triśūla · tri-śūla, “the three-pointed spear”

The triśūla, also called the śūla, is the divine trident of Bhagavān Śiva. By it he is praised as Śūlapāṇi and Triśūlapāṇi, “trident in hand”, Triśūlī and Triśūladhara, “bearer of the trident”. In the Vāmana Purāṇa the triśūla struck the arm of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa at Badarikāśrama, and Nara was born from that place; Bhagavān Śiva entered the yajñaśālā of Daksha with the triśūla in his hand; as Bhairava he pierced the daitya Andhaka and held him aloft on the tip of the śūla until every pāpa in him was burned away; and once, when Hari and Hara exchanged their weapons to slay the dānava Jalodbhava, Bhagavān Vishṇu bore the śūla. In Vena‘s stotra Bhagavān Śiva is praised as Sahasrodyata-śūlī, he who holds a thousand raised tridents.

In the Agni Purāṇa, Bhagavān Hayagrīva, Bhagavān Śiva and Agnideva teach how the triśūla is held in the sacred images and in the dhyāna of Bhagavān Śiva: in a right hand of ten-armed Mahādeva, in the Harihara mūrti and in the twenty-armed Viśvarūpa of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and in the hand of Īśāna, guardian of the north-east, who rides the bull. Caṇḍa, born of the fire of Rudra, and Mahābhairava bear it, and so does the Devī as Caṇḍī, who slew Mahishāsura with the śūla, and as Kubjikā and Durgā. Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped by the name Śūlapāṇi in the mantras of dīkshā and in the vratas, and the śūla, with the vajra and the cakra, is called upon to protect a king at his abhisheka.

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa the triśūla shines among the emblems of the Trimūrti when Brahmā, Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva give darśana to Atri Maharshi. Vīrabhadra, born from Bhagavān Śiva’s jaṭā, goes to Daksha’s yajña holding aloft a śūla that seems able to slay even Yama, and the hosts of Rudra strike the devas and the ṛtvijas with śūlas. The three-eyed Rudra who appears at pralaya from between the brows of Saṅkarshaṇa holds the triśūla aloft. And when Bhṛgu Maharshi came to test the three Jagannāthas, Bhagavān Śiva raised his śūla against him, until Devī Pārvatī fell at his feet.

In the Bhavishya Purāṇa, Bhagavān Śiva pierced with his śūla the arm of the purusha born from the place of Brahmā’s severed head, and from the blood that fell into the kapāla he created a man. When the tejas of Bhagavān Sūrya was planed, Viśvakarmā made from it the fearsome śūla for Śaṅkara. Devī Durgā in the form of a Kumārī split the heart of Raktāsura with her triśūla. The sign of the triśūla on the forehead is a praised mark in the teaching of lakshaṇas, and a triśūla of gold is given to a brāhmaṇa in the Śivakeśavavrata and the Dīpavrata.

The birth of Nara

When Bhagavān Śiva came to Badarikāśrama as a Mahākāpālika seeking bhikshā (alms), Nārāyaṇa, the son of Dharma, said: “Maheśvara! Strike my left arm with your triśūla.” At once Bhagavān Śiva struck Nārāyaṇa’s left arm hard with his triśūla, and from the place struck by the triśūla three streams came forth. One went to the path of the sky and settled there, adorned by the nakshatras; the second, falling to the earth, was taken up by Atri Muni; and a youth arose, dark and radiant, bearing bow and arrows. Bhagavān Śiva named him Nara.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 2

At Daksha’s yajña

When Daksha performed his yajña at Kanakhala, the Rudragaṇas came forth with Vīrabhadra at their head and surrounded the yajñaśālā: Vīrabhadra holding a terrible śūla in the west and north, Jayā with a gadā in the east and south, and in the middle Śarva, bearing the triśūla, in a terrible form. After Vīrabhadra had fought Bhagavān Vishṇu, Bhagavān Śiva placed Vīrabhadra and Bhadrakālī in their appointed places and himself, triśūla in hand, entered Daksha’s yajñaśālā.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 4

In the Hari-Hara form

When the devas could not see Bhagavān Śiva, Śrī Hari told them that because of their pāpa, Śūlapāṇi had taken away their jñāna and discernment. Then he showed them the liṅga upon his own heart-lotus, and took the viśvarūpa in which Hari and Hara are one, holding the cakra, sword, śaṅkha, plough, the bows Śārṅga, Pināka and Ajagava, the śūla, the khaṭvāṅga, the kapāla, the bell and the other weapons of Śiva and Keśava together.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 36

Andhaka on the tip of the śūla

When the daitya Andhaka rushed at Bhagavān Śiva with his gadā, Hara got down from his bull, took the śūla in hand and stood on the mountain ridge. As Andhaka came near, he took the Bhairava form, terrifying to the three worlds, with terrible fangs, the light of a crore of suns, a tiger skin, the jaṭājūṭa, garlands of nāgas, ten arms and three eyes, and pierced him in the heart. Even with his chest split open, Andhaka lifted that Bhairava mūrti together with the śūla and ran off a krośa. Then Bhagavān Śiva drove the śūla through him, gadā and all. The daitya struck him on the head with his gadā and tugged at the śūla, and from the wound flowed four streams of blood, from which the Bhairavas were born: Vidyārāja, Kālarāja, Kāmarāja, Somarāja bearing a śūla, a cakra and a garland, Svacchandarāja holding a śūla, and Lalitarāja, śūla in hand. These are the seven Bhairava mūrtis, and Vighnarāja is counted as the eighth; they are remembered as the Bhairavāshṭaka.

Surrounded by them, the principal Bhairava mūrti, Triśūlī, pierced Andhaka’s body on the tip of the śūla, lifted him up and held him like an umbrella, and Andhaka’s blood covered that śūla-bearing Mahādeva up to the neck. For a thousand divine years Bhagavān Bhairava dried up the blood and flesh of Andhaka with the flames of his eyes of sun and fire, until only skin and bones remained, and in that eye-fire Andhaka burned all his pāpas to ash and became pure. Knowing now the true nature of Mahādeva, he praised him as Śita-śūlapāṇi, with the sharp śūla in hand, and as Triśūladhara, and took refuge in him. Bhagavān Śiva granted him the vara he asked, named him Bhṛṅgi, a gaṇādhipati, lowered him from the tip of the triśūla, and with his own hand healed every wound on his body.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 44

Hari and Hara exchange weapons

On his tīrthayātrā, Prahlāda bathed in the river Madhunandinī and had darśana of Hari holding the śūla and of the one holding the cakra. Nārada Maharshi asked why Śaṅkara held the Sudarśana and Vāsudeva the śūla, and Pulastya Maharshi told him an ancient account that Bhagavān Vishṇu once told the Manu who is to come.

The daitya Jalodbhava gained from Brahmā the varas that devas and asuras could not slay him, that no one could kill him with his own weapon, that the śāpas of the brahmarshis would not touch him, and that he would have the nature of water in water and of fire in fire. He began to destroy yajñas and every act of dharma. The devas, humans and kings cried out to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who took them to the Himālaya, the abode of Hara. There Hari and Hara resolved to slay him for the good of the devas and ṛshis, exchanged their weapons with each other, and took fearsome forms. Jalodbhava dissolved into the waters, and they stood unseen on both banks of the river. When he came out and climbed an inaccessible peak of the Himādri, Śaṅkara and Nārāyaṇa ran to him and pierced him with their weapons, and pierced by the cakra and by the blow of the śūla of Vishṇu, he fell lifeless from the peak like a blazing star falling from the sky. So, to slay that thorn of the worlds, Bhagavān Śiva held the cakra and Bhagavān Vishṇu the śūla. This took place near the Vitastā, the river that destroys pāpa.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 55

Sahasrodyata-śūlī

At the Sthāṇu tīrtha, King Vena praised Bhagavān Śiva as Sahasraśīrsha, thousand-headed, Sahasracaraṇa, thousand-footed, Sahasrodyata-śūlī, with a thousand raised tridents, and Sahasrābharaṇa, with a thousand ornaments. Bhagavān Śiva, pleased with his stotra, foretold Vena’s coming births: born from Śiva’s own body as the asura Andhaka and raised in the house of Hiraṇyāksha, he would come to desire the Jaganmātā, and then Bhagavān Śiva would pierce his body with the śūla and make him pure; he would praise Śiva again and become famous as the first of the Śiva-gaṇas, under the name Bhṛṅgiriṭi.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 26–27

Per Agni Purāṇa

In the hands of Bhagavān Śiva

In the Śiva-pūjā that Maheśvara teaches to Skanda, the devotee installs Mahādeva on the siṃhāsana and meditates on him: white like camphor, all-pervading, with five faces and ten arms, the half-moon on his head. In his right hands he holds the śakti (spear), the ṛshṭi (a spear-sword), the śūla, the khaṭvāṅga (skull-staff), and shows the varada mudrā, the gesture of granting varas; in his left hands the ḍamaru, the bījapūra (citron), the serpent, the akshasūtra (rosary) and the blue lotus. Remembering Śiva, the devotee bows with the mantra oṃ haṃ haṃ hāṃ śivamūrtaye namaḥ.

Bhagavān Hayagrīva, teaching Brahmā the marks of the sacred images, says that Śaṅkara is shown śūla in hand, riding the bull, going before the Mātṛkās. In the Harihara mūrti, in which Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu are one form, the right hands hold the śūla and the ṛshṭi and the left hands the gadā and the cakra; the right half of the body bears the signs of Rudra and the left half the signs of Keśava, with Pārvatī on the right and Lakshmī on the left. And the Viśvarūpa of Bhagavān Vishṇu, shining with twenty arms, holds the śūla among the ten weapons of his right hands (the cakra, khaḍga, musala, aṅkuśa, paṭṭika, mudgara, pāśa, śakti, śūla and bāṇa), with four-armed Brahmā on his right and the three-eyed Śiva on his left.

In the yāgas of consecration, Īśāna, the guardian of the north-east, is meditated on holding the triśūla and mounted on the bull, and he is invoked with the prayer: “O Īśāna, mounted on the bull, great in strength, bearer of the śūla! Come and protect the north-east of the yajña-maṇḍapa; namaskāra to you.” He is worshipped with Īśānam asya or Īśānāya namaḥ. Before a king marches to battle, the purohita prays to Bhagavān Śiva for a dream: “O three-eyed Rudra, giver of varas! You are lord even of the lords of the devas; you bear the triśūla; you ride the bull. O eternal Parameśvara! Tell me in a dream whether good or harm will come to me in this battle.”

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 49, 50, 56, 74, 96, 236

Śūlapāṇi in the mantras and vratas

Bhagavān Śiva is called upon again and again as Śūlapāṇi, “he with the śūla in his hand”. In the rite of offering the damanaka, the damanaka is offered to him with the mantra oṃ hūṃ maheśvarāya makhaṃ pūraya pūraya śūlapāṇaye namaḥ, “Oṃ hūṃ, to Maheśvara: fill, fill the yajña; to the bearer of the śūla, namaḥ”. In the nirvāṇa-dīkshā, which Bhagavān Śiva himself teaches, the disciples eat the pañcagavya and caru with a mantra to Śūlapāṇi. Among the vratas of the trayodaśī, the devotee worships Bhagavān Śiva in a different form in each month, and in the month of Śrāvaṇa he worships Śūlapāṇi and drinks fragrant water. In the Māheśvara snāna, which Śukrācārya once taught to Bali, the lord of the dānavas, the king is bathed before sunrise, a homa of rice grains is offered, and Bhagavān Śiva, bearer of the triśūla, is bathed with the five nectars and worshipped; this snāna gives victory to kings.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 80, 83, 191, 267

Caṇḍa and Mahābhairava

Caṇḍa, born from the fire of Rudra, is meditated on at the close of Śiva-pūjā: blue in colour, with four faces, holding the śūla and the ṭaṅka (chisel-axe), the akshasūtra in his third hand and the kamaṇḍalu in his fourth, standing in a maṇḍala shaped like the oṃkāra or the half-moon. In the Yuddhajayārṇava, Parameśvara teaches the Devī a rite that stops the weapons of an enemy: an image of a woman is made of anthill clay on a mountain top with a single tree, or where lightning has struck, and is worshipped with a mantra to Mahābhairava, of fierce form with tusks, tawny-eyed, bearer of the triśūla and the sword. Then all the weapons of the enemy are held still.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 76, 125

The triśūla of Devī Durgā

The Devī too bears the triśūla. Caṇḍī, the slayer of Mahishāsura, is made with twenty arms (or ten), holding first among the weapons of her right hands the śūla, then the khaḍga, the śakti, the cakra, the pāśa, the shield, a weapon, the abhaya gesture and the ḍamaru. Beneath her feet lies the buffalo with its head cut off, and from its neck a man has risen, raising his weapon, vomiting blood; the lion, her vāhana, drinks his blood, and her left foot rests on Mahishāsura. Ten-armed Caṇḍikā holds the bāṇa, khaḍga, śūla, cakra and śakti in her right hands; she rides the lion, and before her lies the body of Mahishāsura, slain by the śūla.

In the Yuddhajayārṇava, Kubjikā Devī, dark like the petal of a blue lotus, with six faces and twelve arms, seated on a lion-throne, holds the triśūla, a mirror, a sword, a garland of gems, a goad and a bow in her right hands. In the nyāsa of the Mālinī mantra that follows, the śakti Dīpanī is placed on the shaft of the śūla and the śakti Jayanī on the triśūla. In the Mahānavamī vrata, eighteen-armed Durgā holds in her right hands the śakti, mudgara, triśūla, vajra, khaḍga, kuntaka (lance), śaṅkha, cakra and śalākā (rod), and these weapons too are worshipped.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 50, 52, 144, 145, 185

Called upon to protect the king

In the mantras for the abhisheka of a king, which Pushkara teaches to Paraśurāma, the śūla is called upon with the other divine weapons: “May Uccaiḥśravas the king of horses, Dhanvantari, the Kaustubha maṇi, Pāñcajanya born of the conch, and the weapons vajra, śūla, cakra, the Nandaka khaḍga and the rest protect you.” These mantras remove all pāpas.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The emblem of Bhagavān Śiva

Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura how the Trimūrti came to Atri Maharshi. Urged by Brahmā to carry out creation, Atri went with his wife Anasūyā to the kula-parvata Ṛksha, where the palāśa and aśoka trees were full of flowers and the sound of the river Nirvindhyā filled the mountain. Beyond cold and heat, joy and sorrow, living on air and mastering his mind with prāṇāyāma, he stood on one foot for a hundred years, taking refuge in Parameśvara, Jagannātha, and praying for progeny equal to him. Fire went forth from his head and scorched the three worlds. Then Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra came to his āśrama, while apsarases, maharshis, gandharvas, siddhas, vidyādharas and nāgas sang their glory. They rode the haṃsa, Garuḍa and the bull, and shone with their own emblems, the kamaṇḍalu, the cakra, the triśūla and the rest; their glances spread compassion, and a smile played on their faces.

Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit how King Rahūgaṇa of Sindhu-Sauvīra, humbled by the words of Jaḍabharata, got down from his palanquin and bowed at his feet. “I do not fear the vajra of Indra, king of the devas,” he said, “nor the śūla of the three-eyed one, nor the mṛtyu-daṇḍa of Yama, nor the astras of Agni, Sūrya, Candra, Vāyu and Kubera. But I greatly fear that dishonour may come to brāhmaṇas.” And he asked forgiveness: one who has dishonoured mahātmās, even if he were Rudra himself, holder of the śūla, quickly meets destruction.

Thirty thousand yojanas beyond Pātāla dwells Ananta, a kalā of Śrī Hari, whom his bhaktas call Saṅkarshaṇa, the one who makes one the witness who sees and all that is seen. At the time of pralaya, to withdraw the world, Saṅkarshaṇa drew together his beautiful brows, and from between them the three-eyed Rudra appeared. This Rudra has eleven forms and is famed as Sāṅkarshaṇa, “born from Saṅkarshaṇa”; he holds a triśūla aloft.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1; Skandha 5, Chapters 10, 25

At Daksha’s yajña

Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura what followed when Satī Devī gave up her body at Daksha‘s yajña. Bhagavān Śiva learned of it from Nārada, tore one jaṭā, shining like lightning and like flames of fire, from his jaṭājūṭa, and cast it on the ground with a deep roar. From it arose Vīrabhadra, a Purusha of huge body, with a thousand arms and three eyes like the sun. Bhagavān Śiva told him to destroy Daksha’s yajña and made him the leader of his followers. Vīrabhadra did pradakshiṇa to the Devadeva; the anklets on his feet jingled, Rudra’s servants roared behind him, and he let out a fearful lion’s roar. Holding aloft a śūla that looked as if it could kill even Yama, who ends all beings, he went forward with great speed.

In the yajñaśālā, Prasūti and the other women saw the great dust rising in the north and spoke of Bhagavān Śiva at pralaya: then he spreads out the mass of his jaṭās and impales the great dig-gajas, the elephants of the quarters, on the points of his śūla; his loud laughter bursts the directions like a thunderbolt; and holding astras in his arms, stretched out like banners, he dances.

The armies of Rudra struck the hosts of the devas, the ṛtvijas and the members of the yajña assembly hard with weapons: śūlas, cross-blades, swords, gadās, iron clubs and sledge-hammers. With their limbs cut and broken, the devas went to Brahmā, the Svayambhū, and told him everything that had happened.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 5–6

Bhṛgu tests the three Jagannāthas

Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit that the maharshis performing a satra-yāga on the bank of the Sarasvatī wished to know which of the three Jagannāthas is the greatest, and sent Bhṛgu, the son of Brahmā, to find out. Bhṛgu offered Brahmā neither namaskāra nor stotra; Brahmā’s tejas blazed up, and by his discerning buddhi he stilled it within, as fire is quenched by water born of fire. Then Bhṛgu went to Kailāsa. Maheśvara rose in joy and came forward to embrace his younger brother Bhṛgu, but Bhṛgu refused the embrace: “You are one who transgresses the bounds of propriety.” Bhagavān Śiva‘s eyes blazed red; he raised his śūla and made ready to slay Bhṛgu. Devī Pārvatī fell at his feet and spoke soothing words to him. Then Bhṛgu went on to Śrī Hari in Vaikuṇṭha.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 89

Per Bhavishya Purāṇa

The piercing of the purusha’s arm

Sumantu Muni tells King Śatānīka how the skull came to the hand of Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva took off Brahmā‘s fifth head, a horse-head, with the tip of his nail, and it stayed in his hand. He came to the abode of Hari, and then stayed in tapas on Mount Meru, holding Nārāyaṇa within him.

From the place of the severed head there came forth a purusha, very angry, with kuṇḍalas of silver, armour, a helmet, a bow and arrows, a huge body and garlands of flowers. Brahmā sent him against Rudra, and he ran swiftly to that place. Seeing Bhagavān Śiva in supreme tapas, the purusha considered his task and said to him, “Pierce my arm with the śūla.” Hara of great tejas pierced his arm with the śūla.

From the piercing the blood spouted upward as if to cover the sky and the earth, and came down and fell into the kapāla. It grew to the measure of a forefinger. Bhagavān Śiva turned to the west and created water, and the blood and the water mixed in the kapāla. From that blood he created a man, red in colour, wearing kuṇḍalas of red copper and armour. The purusha also created a man, wearing white kuṇḍalas. The two fought for longer than one pralaya, with victory for neither, until a voice from the sky spoke; then Bhagavān Vishṇu gave the man of the white kuṇḍalas to Sūrya, and the man of the red kuṇḍalas went with Indra.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 22

Made from the tejas of Bhagavān Sūrya

Sumantu Muni tells King Śatānīka what Brahmā told the ṛshis of the Parīlekhana, the planing of Bhagavān Sūrya. When the tejas of Bhagavān Sūrya blazed beyond measure and the worlds were perishing by it, the devas took refuge in him and praised him, and he gave his consent. Viśvakarmā set the śātana-yantra upon him and planed his tejas up to the knees. From the tejas left over after the cakra was made, Viśvakarmā made śūlas and the other weapons and gave them to the devas.

When the devas and devarshis of the three lokas praised him again, Bhagavān Sūrya let go a part of his tejas. From the fifteen parts planed off, the great Viśvakarmā made for Śaṅkara the fearsome śūla, and for Bhagavān Vishṇu the cakra, for the Vasus weapons, for Kārttikeya the śakti weapon, for Kubera a palanquin, and for the yakshas, the vidyādharas and the other devatās many kinds of fearful śastras.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 123

The emblem of Bhagavān Śiva

Sumantu says that the Vyoma is to Bhagavān Sūrya what the pāśa is to Varuṇa, the huṃkāra to Brahmā, the cakra to Bhagavān Vishṇu, the triśūla to Bhagavān Śiva and the vajra to Indra.

In the pratishṭhā of Bhagavān Sūrya that Nārada Maharshi teaches Sāmba, when bali is offered to the guardians of the directions, Bhagavān Śiva is saluted as Īśāna: the deva of four faces, seated in padmāsana on the black antelope skin, Lambodara, master of the pramatha gaṇas, Nīlakaṇṭha, bearer of the śūla, Virūpāksha, Rudra, master of the three worlds.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 125, 136

The triśūla of Devī Durgā

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells of the Dhvaja Navamī vrata. Raktāsura, son of Mahishāsura, pleased Brahmā with fierce tapas and received the rule of the three worlds. He attacked Amarāvatī, drove out the devas and ruled there. The devas fled to Karachatrāpurī, where Devī Durgā dwells with Cāmuṇḍā and the nine Durgās, and prayed to her. Bhagavatī Durgā appeared in the form of a Kumārī with the nine Durgās, mounted on a lion, holding various weapons in her twenty arms. The daityas rained weapons on her, and blazing, she destroyed them. She seized Raktāsura by the throat, dashed him to the earth and split his heart with her triśūla.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 61

The sign of the triśūla

In the teaching of lakshaṇas that Brahmā gives, a man on whose forehead the sign of a triśūla or of a broad cutting blade is seen is to be known as a master, a bhogī and a man of fame. Among the praised marks of a woman, Brahmā says to Kārttikeya: a woman on whose forehead, by daiva, the sign of a triśūla is seen is to be declared the mistress of many groups of women.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 26, 28

The triśūla of gold in the vratas

Among the prakīrṇa vratas that Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches, two give a triśūla of gold to a brāhmaṇa.

• Śivakeśavavrata, for Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu: keeping nakta, the single night meal, one gives a cow, cloth, and a golden Sudarśana cakra and triśūla to a gṛhastha brāhmaṇa, bows to him and says śivakeśavī prīyetām, “may Śiva and Keśava be pleased”. This vrata destroys even the mahāpātakas.
• Dīpavrata: every day at sandhyā one offers a lamp for the fixed time, avoiding forbidden food and oil. When the vrata is complete one gives a brāhmaṇa a lamp, a cakra and a triśūla of gold, and two cloths. One becomes greatly radiant; this vrata gives kānti.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 121

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 4, 36, 44, 55; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 26–27
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 49–50, 52, 56, 74, 76, 80, 83, 96, 125, 144–145, 185, 191, 219, 236, 267
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 1, 5–6; Skandha 5, Chapters 10, 25; Skandha 10, Chapter 89
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 22, 26, 28, 123, 125, 136; Uttara Parva, Chapters 61, 121