Chapter 9

Tripurantaka

Three flying cities that only one arrow could destroy — and only when the three came into a single line

Three sons, one boon

Tarakasura had three sons — Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali and Kamalaksha.

They did years of harsh penance and asked Brahma for a boon: "Give us three cities — one of gold, one of silver, one of iron. Let them fly in the sky. And let anyone be able to kill them only when the three come exactly into a single line — and then too only with one arrow."

The three cities came into a line only once in a thousand years, for a single moment. The rest of the time they were unconquerable.

Brahma granted the boon.

Cities that at first kept to dharma

At first the asuras of Tripura were not evil.

They were devotees of Shiva, they made sacrifices, they gave in charity. So Shiva could not raise a hand against them — how could he kill his own devotees.

The gods were troubled. Then Vishnu made a Maya-purusha — shaven head, a different garb, a new teaching — who went to Tripura and began to turn the asuras from their dharma. (This is the same method as in the Buddha chapter of Vishnu-Puran on this site — there too it is said whose view this is.)

Slowly the asuras gave up sacrifices, gave up charity, and sank into pride. Only then could Shiva act against them.

The chariot the gods built

The gods put together a chariot for Shiva, in which every part was a god or an element.

The earth became the chariot. The sun and the moon the two wheels. Mount Meru the bow. The serpent Vasuki the bowstring. Vishnu himself became the arrow, Agni its tip. The four Vedas were the horses, and Brahma the charioteer.

The gods took great pride in the magnificent weapon they had assembled for Shiva.

One arrow, one smile

Shiva mounted the chariot and waited for the moment when the three cities would come into a line.

That moment came — once in a thousand years. Shiva raised the bow, set the arrow.

And then, some texts say, before loosing the arrow he only looked once toward the three cities with a smile — and that smile alone burned all three. The arrow was just a formality.

In an instant, all three cities were reduced to ash. Shiva earned the name — Tripurantaka, Tripurari.

The gods' pride, which broke

When it was all over, the gods began to praise Shiva — but in their minds was the thought that they had made the chariot, so they had a share in the victory.

Shiva understood. He said nothing — he only looked toward that chariot, and the gods saw that there had been no need of the chariot at all. The smile was enough.

The gods' heads bowed. What the gods had considered essential, Shiva had never needed at all.

Note: The story of Tripura's burning is in the Mahabharata (Karna Parva, chapter 24, where it is told to Karna), the Shiva Purana (Rudra Samhita, Yuddha Khanda), the Linga Purana, the Matsya Purana and the Skanda Purana. The Mahabharata form is the fullest — there every part of the chariot is a god or an element and Shiva looses one arrow. The "the smile/laugh alone was enough" emphasis is of the later Shaiva forms. Turning the asuras from dharma by a Maya-purusha made by Vishnu is the same kind of episode as the Buddha chapter of Vishnu-Puran — whose view it is is said there too.

Source: from several texts, Tripurantaka

Now — how much stayed with you?

Whose son?

Whose were the three cities of Tripura?

Of three separate asuras with no connection to each other
Of Ravana's three brothers
Of Tarakasura's three sons
Of the descendants of Hiranyakashipu

Read the whole story — After the father, the sons

In the eighth chapter Kartikeya killed Tarakasura. This chapter is right after — the sons of the dead asura do not take revenge, they choose a different, cleverer strategy.

Their boon is not of a fight but of invulnerability: cities that cannot even be touched, except in one impossible moment.

It's the best example anywhere in this story of the asuras' shrewdness — they asked not for power but for conditions.

Fact

On what condition alone could the three cities of Tripura be killed?

When the three came exactly into a single line
When the three came down to the earth
When the asuras of the three were asleep
When the three were struck at once by three separate arrows

Read the whole story — An impossible moment

The cunning of the boon was this: a condition so hard that its fulfilment would seem almost impossible — three flying cities, a moment's line once in a thousand years, and only one arrow.

This is why Shiva did not have to fight, he had to wait. The story is ultimately less about the shot itself than about waiting for the one moment when it could be taken.

In the Mahabharata this story is told to Karna — to make him understand that even the greatest warrior is at the mercy of the right moment.

Why is that?

Why could Shiva not at first raise a hand against the asuras of Tripura?

Because the cities flew and Shiva could not reach them
Because Brahma had forbidden Shiva
Because the gods' chariot was not yet made
Because the asuras were then devotees of Shiva

Read the whole story — Devotion, which became armour

It's the sharpest turn in the whole story: Shiva never judges the worth of a devotee, however much harm that devotee is doing to the three worlds.

That's why, to defeat the asuras, they first had to be turned from their devotion. As long as they were devotees of Shiva they were unconquerable — not by power, but by Shiva's own nature.

This is the same method as the Buddha chapter of Vishnu-Puran, and here too the text says plainly whose view the Maya-purusha episode is told from.

Who said it?

What were the gods thinking in their minds after the burning of Tripura, which Shiva sensed?

That they too should now ask for a boon
That they had made the chariot, so they had a share in the victory
That Shiva should now return to Kailasa
That the gold and silver of the three cities should be divided

Read the whole story — A victory whose credit was divided

The gods had made the chariot with great effort — every part a god or an element. It was natural that they felt they had a contribution in the victory.

Shiva did not argue. He only showed that there had been no need of the chariot at all — the smile was enough.

It's a scene that returns again and again in this cycle of stories: someone gathers the means of Shiva's power (Tripura's chariot, Ravana's strength further on), and Shiva does the work without needing any of it.

Who am I?

The gods made me the arrow of Shiva's chariot. The greatest archer in the whole universe was to loose me, and my tip was Agni — but in the end there was no need of me at all. Who am I?

The Pashupatastra
Mount Meru
Vishnu, who became the arrow of the chariot of Tripura's burning
Vasuki

Read the whole story — An arrow that stayed only a symbol

Every part of the chariot has a meaning, but Vishnu becoming the arrow is the greatest — the sustainer of all creation, a single arrow in Shiva's hand.

Some texts draw from this an argument for Shaiva-Vaishnava unity: Vishnu is not against Shiva but with him — as in the Shakti Pitha Vishnu's discus does the repair, so here Vishnu becomes the arrow.

But the real emphasis of the story is that this grand arrow was never loosed — the smile did the work.

Riddle

I am a group of three — one of gold, one of silver, one of iron. I fly in the sky and am almost invulnerable, but for a single moment once in a thousand years my weakness is laid open. What am I?

Kailasa, Mandara and Meru mountains
Tripura
The three worlds
Ravana's three capitals

Read the whole story — A crack in the invulnerability

The whole story of Tripura rests on one thing: no boon is fully invulnerable — in every one, somewhere a condition, a crack, is left.

This is also in the stories of Bhasmasura, Ravana and Andhaka further on. The one who gives the boon (here Brahma) always leaves one way out.

The only difference is that some cracks are easy and some almost impossible — Tripura's crack was of one moment in a thousand years.

Put it in order

Which is the correct order of events?

The gods building the chariot → the asuras' penance → the boon of Tripura → the burning of Tripura
The burning of Tripura → the asuras turning from dharma → the chariot being made → the boon
The asuras' penance → the boon → the asuras turning from dharma → the chariot being made → coming into a line → the burning of Tripura → the gods' pride breaking
The asuras' penance and the boon of Tripura → the asuras remaining devotees of Shiva (so unconquerable) → their turning from dharma by Vishnu's Maya-purusha → the gods building the chariot → the three cities coming into a line → Shiva's burning of Tripura with one arrow/smile → the gods' pride breaking

Read the whole story — From devotion to pride

The chapter contains two reversals: first the asuras lose their devotion, then the gods succumb to pride.

The burning of Tripura looks like the climax, but the real turning point comes earlier, when the asuras give up their devotion. Until then Shiva could do nothing.

The last scene — the gods' heads bowing — ends the story on a lesson, not just on a victory.

The texts disagree

Which texts is the story of Tripura's burning in, and what do they say about loosing an arrow versus the smile?

All the texts say that Shiva burned the three cities only with a smile, and never loosed an arrow
The story is in the Mahabharata (Karna Parva), the Shiva Purana, the Linga Purana, the Matsya and the Skanda Purana; in most, Shiva looses one arrow, but some forms add that before the arrow a single smile/laugh of his was enough
This story is only in the Mahabharata, in no Purana
In every text every part of the chariot is the same god

Read the whole story — One burning, two emphases

The Mahabharata's story (Karna Parva, chapter 24) is the fullest and the oldest — there Shiva's one arrow burns all three cities, and every part of the chariot is named.

The "the smile was enough" emphasis is more in the later Shaiva forms — there the point is not Shiva's power but that he did not have to use power at all.

Shiv-Mahima takes the Mahabharata frame as its base and holds the smile addition as a "some texts say."

Later tradition

In what posture is Shiva's "Tripurantaka" form shown in art and temples?

Seated in meditation, eyes closed
Dancing, one leg raised
Drawing a bow, one foot forward, gazing toward the three cities
Mounted on the bull, with Parvati

Read the whole story — Shiva the archer

Tripurantaka Shiva images are especially famous in Chola bronze art — a taut bow, a foot stepped forward, and on the face that smile which points to the "burning by laughter" form of the story.

This is among Shiva's few "warrior" forms — in most images he is an ascetic, a householder or a dancer, not an archer.

Another name linked to this form is Tripurari — the enemy of Tripura.

What happened?

How did Shiva break the gods' pride?

Without saying anything
By cursing the gods
By breaking the chariot
By asking the gods for the chariot's gold and silver back

Read the whole story — One look, one lesson

Shiva's method here is different from the anger of the Daksha-sacrifice or Kamadeva — no fire, no trident. Only a look, and the gods' heads bowing of themselves.

It's the quietest expression of the same idea running through this whole cycle: Shiva stands outside the conventional order, so he depends on nothing it has made — not a chariot, not an arrow.

This chapter ends on this lesson, and the next chapter — Bhasmasura — shows Shiva's own given boon turning back on him.