Maya

Maya is the great architect of the dānava world. His skill in building was unmatched in the three worlds, and he was a master of māyā (the power of illusion). He was called the Viśvakarmā of the dānavas, as Viśvakarmā is the architect of the devas.

After the dānavas were beaten in the Tāraka war, Maya, with Tārakākṣa and Vidyunmāli, performed hard tapas (austerity). From Brahmā he won the vara (a boon) to build the Tripura, three strong cities. Bhagavān Śiva later destroyed the Tripura with a single arrow.

Tapas and the vara of Brahmā

After the dānava armies were crushed in the Tāraka war, Maya, Tārakākṣa and Vidyunmāli took up severe tapas. Like three fires, their joined austerity scorched the three worlds. Brahmā appeared and gave Maya the vara he wanted: the right to build the Tripura, a triple fortress that could be destroyed only by a single arrow shot by a single being. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Chapter 127.

The Tripura

Maya designed and built the three cities with great skill.

• An iron city on the earth, for Tārakākṣa.
• A silver city in the middle sky, for Vidyunmāli.
• A golden city, Sauvarṇa-pura, highest in the sky, for himself.

Each city was a hundred yojanas (a measure of distance) across. Each was richly furnished, with temples of Śiva, parks, pools and homes for crores (tens of millions) of dānavas. The cities were set so that they came into one line only at the rare Puṣya yoga (alignment). Inside the Tripura, Maya also used his māyā to build the divine amṛta-vāpī, the pool of amṛta (the nectar of life) that brought the dānavas back to life in battle. It made them effectively immortal there.

The Tripura was in the end destroyed by Śiva’s single arrow (eka-bāṇa). The Tripurāsura Upākhyāna tells this.

The warning to the dānavas

When the dānavas began to fall away from right conduct, Maya had a dream of warning. Six terrible figures entered the fortress. He told the assembly of the dānavas to give up kāma (desire) and krodha (anger) and to worship Mahādeva. By then the dānavas would not listen to him. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 127–131.

Maya in other texts

Maya is named in the Mahābhārata, in its Ādi Parva, as the architect of the great hall of the Pāṇḍavas at Indraprastha. His skill was known and used beyond the account of the Tripura.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 127–139 (Chapter 127; Chapters 127–131)
• Tripurāsura Upākhyāna
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva