In this article we would talk about Lord Shiva as Tripurantaka, the story behind this form, the representation of Tripurantaka in murals and idols and the significance of the story.
The Mural of Shiva as Tripurantaka
Temples in South India have preserved many mythological legends that are lost in North India.
I have spent most of my time in North India, so the shift to South India opened a plethora of new learnings about many incarnations of Gods, their legends, the legend of their ardent devotees and also many lost/(lesser-known) puranic and mythological legends.
The mural of Shiva as Tripurantaka, on the ceiling of the Rangamantapa of the Virupaksha Temple compelled me to read more about this legend.
The Story of Shiva as Tripurantaka
The desire of three demon brothers to become immortal
Once upon a time there lived a demon, Tarakasur, who had three sons – Vidhyunmali, Tarakaksha and Viryavana. The three brothers were gritty and strong-willed.
One day they were discussing the fragility of life, “What is the purpose of life when all of us have to die one day and that too the death would be sudden. We should do something to become immortal”.
They decided that they will not accept death without a fight and agreed to do penance to please Brahma and to become immortal.
Penance of three demon brothers to please lord Brahma
Initially they stood on one leg for many years; then they stopped eating for many years and finally they meditated long in Sheersasana.
The penance was so severe that finally Brahma had to appear and ask them for a boon. “Lord, please make us immortal”. Brahma smiled and replied, “I am helpless, but I can’t make anyone immortal. Please ask for something else”.
The boon of three demon brothers that made them invincible
The three brothers consulted among themselves and replied, “In that case, please bless us with the boon of living in three castles, one in heaven, other on earth and the last one in air.
These castles will be known as Tri-pura. They will keep on revolving and only once in thousand years they will be aligned. When these three castles will be aligned only then they can be destroyed and that too with a single arrow. When these three cities will be destroyed, let the death be destined on us.”
Three demons and the Devas
Lord Brahma was amused at this special request, but anyway granted the three brothers the boon. Maya, the architect of Asuras constructed these three castles, one with Gold in heaven, one in air with silver and the last one with Iron on earth.
The three brothers started to rule righteously. As they become powerful with the special boon of Brahma, they also started to attack and defeat the Gods. This worried Indra, he reached Lord Shiva and requested him to intervene and destroy the demons.
The three Asura brothers were devout Shiva devotees and were ruling in virtuous manner so Shiva denied interfering, and said that the three brothers are not doing anything wrong that requires his attention and intervention.
How Lord Vishnu convinced Indra about their fall
Indra, then went to Lord Brahma and requested him to do something. Lord Brahma replied, “I granted the boon to these three brothers, so I will not do anything against them.”
Helpless Indra then went to Lord Vishnu and requested him to do something.
Lord Vishnu, listened patiently and then replied, “The three brothers can be destroyed only by Lord Shiva.” Indra replied, “Lord, you know that I already approached Lord Shiva, but he has declined to intervene. He has said that the three brothers are following the path of virtue and righteousness and so he does not see any reason to intervene”.
Vishnu, smiled at this and replied back, “Lord Shiva has said no to intervene as the three brothers are following the right path, but he has not said that he will be neutral when they will deviate from the right path.”
Three demons moving away from Vedas
The hint was good enough for Indra to plan his next move.
There are two versions of the story here, according to the first, Indra created a wandering preacher, with a shaved head, a water-pot in his hand. This monk covered his mouth with a piece of cloth.
He then ordered this monk, “Propagate a new religion that is against Vedas; against the concept of Hell and Heaven and tell the adherent of the new religion that hell and heaven exists only on earth”.
The new religion spread far and wide and the monk become so famous that even Narada liked and agreed with his philosophies. Narada then introduced the monk to the trio.
The three brothers agreed with the monk and started to follow the new religion and stopped worshiping Lord Shiva.
A digression here, I wonder that was this episode invented by someone who was against a particular religion – Jainism as the preachers appearance matches that of Jain monk. Coming back, as the three brothers, stopped worshiping Lord Shiva and stopped following Vedas, so they were no more dear to Lord Shiva.
According to another version, “Power corrupts, slowly-and-slowly three brothers stopped following the virtuous path”.
Lord Shiva Agreeing to destroy the three cities
At an opportune moment, when the three cities were about to be aligned, Indra again approached Lord Shiva. This time Shiva had no objections to Lord Indra’s request, but he demanded half-powers of the demigods so that he can destroy the three cities and slay the three demons; all demigods readily obliged to this request of Lord Shiva.
Did Lord Shiva really need support of other demi-gods to destroy the three demons
According to one version, at this request of Lord Shiva, demi-gods started to feel that Mahadeva is nothing without their help and He would be able to defeat demons only because of their powers.
Lord Mahadeva realized their illusion and when the three cities aligned and the demi-gods were getting ready to participate in the war, Lord Shiva smiled and the three cities burnt to ashes.
The smile and burn act of Lord Shiva is known as “Punnagaithu Purameritha Peruman” in Tamil. The God who laughed and burned the three Puras.
It made the demigods realize that Lord Shiva involved them only to make them feel important and it shredded their figment of imagination of self-importance.
Preparation of war with support of All
According to another version everyone prepared for this war, Indra directed Vishwakarma to build a chariot for the Lord.
The mural on the ceiling of the Virupaksha Temple depicts this version of the story and several Gods can be seen helping Lord Shiva for the war.
The massive bow Shiva is handling is made of Mt Meru and the bowstring is the great serpent Vasuki. The arrow that Lord Shiva has kept ready to release has five headed Vayu in the end (towards Shiva), Lord Vishnu, with his Purandar mark, can be seen in the middle and the Agni is forming the barb.
Shiva is standing on a chariot yoked by four horses representing Four Vedas, the fifth horse represented here is an artistic imagination; the driver of the chariot is Lord Brahma, the Sun and the Moon are its two wheels, and the rein of this ratha is Sheshnaga.
Description of the Mural with Shiva as Tripurantaka
In this mural, chaturbhuja (four-armed) Shiva is shown in Sahanrak (destroyer) pose with his right leg in front and the left leg behind and raised.
The left hand is holding the bow string on which the arrow is set. The right hand is holding the arrow in horizontal position, which is about to be released.
Siva is sporting a fashionable attire – a blue dhoti, loin cloth and he is jeweled with Munadmala (a garland of skull).
Behind him is a Nagini holding an umbrella and above his shoulder is a kinnar carrying a bell. The sun and the moon at the top of the picture represents twilight.
The puras are represented with three circles. In the two circle are shown the demons while in the third circle (that represents the city of Gold), Agni is shown destroying the city.
It is believed that when this deadly ensemble was ready to proceed, the wheel of the chariot got stuck in the sand due to the weight of so many Gods, and was not coming out even with Lord Shiva’s efforts.
So the Lord Vishnu, as can be seen in the picture as well, took the form of a bull, dug the earth, brought the chariot out and then resumed his position on the arrow.
Shiva as Tripurantaka, Murals of rangamandap in Virupaksha temple, Hampi (close-up)
How Shiva saved Maya as Tripurantaka
Shiva did not hate the three demons as he was aiming to destroy them. He identified them as folks who got ensnared in their own delusions.
As Lord Shiva released the arrow, he realized that in one of the the three castles also lived Maya – Asur who was still just and felt bad about it, as this arrow would kill him too.
When Nandi saw Lord depressed and understood the reason, he ran faster than the arrow and warned Maya about impending disaster; Maya immediately acted on the advice, fled and saved himself.
It is believed that after destroying Tripura, Shiva smeared his forehead with three strokes of ashes, Tripundra, which is a prominent symbol of Shaivism even today; after this event, Shiva also started to be known as Tripurantaka.
Some other interesting observations about this story
There is another interesting observation to this story.
Shiva’s son, Lord Kartikeya, killed Tarakasur; while Tarakasur’s sons were killed by Lord Shiva.
I am not sure that the Tarakasur who was the father of the trio was the same Tarakasur who was killed by Lord Kartikeya, but this combination of father-son and son-father duel looks interesting.
Attributes in Idols of Shiva as Tripurantaka
This is a mural in the Virupaksha temple, let me also share how Shiva is depicted and carved as Tripurantaka in stone or bronze statues.
Shiva as Tripurantaka is recognized by following attributes, in his right hand he can be seen carrying a Parshu, in left hand a deer.
When the statue is four-armed it carries a bow and arrow as well. Shiva in this form is usually adorned with Jatamukha. He is shown with three eyes and Makar-kundala in his ears and wearing red ornaments.
The bends on Shiva’s statue adds to his masculine beauty. He is sometimes represented with Tripura Sundari, his consort.
Significance of the story of Shiva as Tripurantaka
Now, let us do a quick Tatva-Chintan of this mythical story. It is possible that the three cities represents desire, anger and greed in every human being.
These are three Puras created by Maya – the Illusion. Desire is the fuel that propels a man in all the direction all the time for whole life. When desire is not fulfilled or obstacles arise in fulfilling the desire, men become angry.
If desire is fulfilled, it creates desire for more and men becomes greedy. He also becomes prideful of his success and his abilities and efforts. Further, he gets attached to the success and things achieved from it.
Desire, anger and greed are the three most demonic facets of human nature. These three are always revolving to create a vicious cycle.
When a person starts walking on the path of Lord or spirituality, these three get aligned to that path which are then destroyed by the arrow of gyan or love, depending upon the path you choose. However in this battle Maya escapes and again builds these three castles, So a human being has to be careful and work continuously to keep on destroying these three Puras.
A poem by Srinatha describing Shiva as Tripurantaka
Below is a Bonus, a verse of famous Telugu Poet Srinatha. Enjoy:
Lotus-born Brahma
eagle-borne Visnu, Indra of the thousand eyes,
and all other gods: I’ve been thinking for some time
about the troubles you are having. I am ready to destroy
the arrogant antigods. Get ready
for war.”
The lord of Daksârama, emperor of the gods,
foe to Desire and to Darkness,
thought for a brief moment
about the best way to conquer
his enemies’ cities.At once, he gave a sign and a command:
(taken from classical Telugu Poetry an Anthology by Translated, Edited,
The earth with its surrounding oceans became a chariot.
Sun and moon were its wheels, Brahma its driver.
The four Vedas were four horses, goaded on by the syllable Om,
the driver’s whip. The starry skies became a standard.
The jewel-studded mountain became a bow, and the bowstring
was the Serpent King. Visnu, married to the Ocean’s daughter,
turned himself into an arrow: the seven winds were its feathers,
its tip was fashioned from the doomsday flames,
and it was greased with saffron paste from Laksmi’s breasts.
When all the instruments were ready, the Fierce God, a feast for the eyes,
climbed onto that chariot in Daksârama.
And With An Introduction BY Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman)
In a recent interview, Amish also expressed his thoughts on similar lines in answer to a question in an interview to mint about the South India being richer in possessing the ancient Indian culture, he said the following, “I have a theory—I believe the south is closer to our ancient culture than the north. We can debate the reasons. Maybe the north lost a lot with the invasions—so much was destroyed, including universities and temples. The south would not have suffered invasions, cumulatively, for more than 200-300 years. They were able to preserve our ancient cultures. The south looks at Raavan with a far more nuanced take, as did our ancient Indians and the Valmiki Ramayan. There are folk traditions in the north that come from ancient times. The north needs to be revived and I tell most south Indians that they have a responsibility to revive it.”
I find myself in agreement with the same.