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त्रिपुराख्यान (tripurAkhyAna)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Tripurākhyāna(ṃ)]
(“the episode relating to Tripura”). § 606 (Karṇap.). The first combat between the gods and the Asuras was about Tāraka (Tārakāmayaḥ). The Daityas were defeated. Then the three sons of Tāraka (Tārakāksha, Kamalāksha, and Vidyunmālin), by practising austerities, obtained boons from Pitāmaha (who refused to give them immunity from death): “residing in three cities, we will rove over the earth
after 1000 years we will come together, and our three cities also will become united into one
that foremost one amongst the gods who will, with one shaft, pierce those three cities united into one will be the cause of our destruction.” The great Asura Maya (Viśvakarmāṇam ajaraṃ DaityaDānava-pūjitaṃ) constructed the three cities: Tārakāksha's of gold in heaven, Kamalāksha's of silver in the welkin, and Vidyunmālin's of iron on the earth
all in such a way as to revolve in a circle
each 100 yojanas in breadth and 100 in length (description). Those three Daitya kings (Dānavas) soon assailed the three worlds, and millions upon millions of flesh-eating Dānavas, who had before been defeated by the gods, came to them and settled in the three cities
Maya supplied them with everything by his illusive power. Tārakāksha's heroic son Hari, by penances, obtained from Brahmán a boon: a lake in his city capable of reviving the dead when thrown into it. They then exterminated all cities and towns, drove the gods from all places, and roamed over celestial forests, etc., and the asylums of Ṛ. Indra, with the Maruts, having tried in vain to pierce the three cities, repaired with the gods (Ādityas) to Brahmán, complaining of the Asuras. Brahmán said that no one else, save Sthāṇu (Īśāna, Jishṇu, i.e. Śiva), could pierce the three cities with one shaft. They all, with Brahmán and Ṛ. (devoted to penances and uttering the eternal words of the Vedas), sought Bhava (Śaṅkara, i.e. Śiva), who had perfect knowledge of the Soul, beholding in him those diverse forms that each had individually conceived in his own heart, and praised him () (VIII, 33). After the fears of P., D., and Ṛ. had been dispelled, Brahmán explained the matter to him. He said that they should fight united and with half his energy
as they said that they could not bear half his energy, he promised to slay the foes endued with half of their united energy. From that time Śaṅkara came to be called Mahādeva. Gathering portions from all forms in the three worlds they let Viśvakarman construct him a chariot
they made Vishṇu the point, Soma the head, and Agni the staff of the arrow
Earth the chariot
Mandara its axle
Gaṅgā its jaṅghā
the points of the compass its ornaments
the constellations its shaft
the Kṛta-age its yoke
Vāsuki its kūbara
Himavat and Vindhya its apaskara and adhishṭhāna
the Udaya and Asta mountains its wheels
the Ocean (the abode of the Dānavas) its other axle
the seven Ṛ.'s its parishkara
Day and Night, etc., its anukarsha
the planets and the stars its wooden fence
dharma, artha, and kāma its triveṇu
the herbs and the creepers, etc., its bells
the sun and moon were made its [other]
wheels
Day and Night its wings
the ten foremost of Snakes Dhṛtarāshṭra, etc., its [other]
shaft
the sky its [other]
yoke
the clouds Saṃvartaka and Balāhaka the leathern strings of the yoke
the twilight, Dhṛti, Medhā, Sthiti, Sannati, and the firmament with planets and stars its covering-skins
the regents of the world (Indra, Varuṇa, Yama, and Kubera) its steeds
the cardinal and subsidiary directions its reins
Vashaṭkāra the goad
Gāyatrī the string attached to the goad
the four auspicious days (v. the note of PCR., p. 112) the traces of its steeds
the P. (Rohakāḥ) presiding over them the pins
Action and Truth and Penance and Profit its chords
Mind the ground
Speech the track
it was resplendent with lightning and Indra's bow
that space of time, which, on a former occasion, had, in the sacrifice of Īśāna, been fixed as a year, the bow
the goddess Sāvitrī the bowstring
a celestial coat of mail was made, sprung from the wheel of Time
the golden mountain Meru was made its flagstaff
the clouds with flashes of lightning its banners. Śankara placed upon it his own celestial weapons. Making the sky its flagstaff
he placed upon it his bull
Brahmadaṇḍa, Kāladaṇḍa, Rudradaṇḍa, and Fever became the protectors of the sides of the chariot
Atharvan and Aṅgiras the protectors of the wheels
the Ṛgveda, the Sāmaveda, and the Purāṇas stood in front of the chariot
the itihāsa and the Yajurveda were the protectors of the rear
all sacred Speeches and Sciences stood around it, and all hymns and Vashaṭkāra
om in the van. Having made the year with the six seasons his bow, he made his own shadow (i.e. the Deathnight, Raudrī kālarātrī, Rudra being Kāla) the bowstring
Vishṇu, Agni, and Soma the arrow (v. supra)
the universe is said to consist of Agni and Soma, and similarly to consist of Vishṇu, who is the soul of Bhava. Śaṅkara placed on that bow his wrath, the unbearable fire of anger, born of the wrath of Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras. The Wind (Śvasana) was caused to breathe fragrance. The great Ṛ., G., D., Aps. praised Mahādeva when he was about to ascend the chariot. He asked to get as his driver him who was superior to himself
the gods prevailed upon Brahmán to become his driver. The great Ṛ., G., D., Aps. praised Mahādeva after he had ascended the chariot. His bull uttered tremendous roars, so that many descendants and followers of Tāraka breathed their last. Frightful portents appeared. In consequence of the weight of Soma, etc. (), the chariot seemed to sink. Then Nārāyaṇa, issuing out of the point of the arrow, assumed the form of a bull and raised the chariot. Rudra, standing on the head of his bull and the back of his steeds, beholding the Dānava city, cut off the teats of the horses and clove the hoofs of the bull
from that date the hoof of the bovine species came to be cloven and the horses to be without teats. He had united the Pāśupata weapon with the shaft. When the three cities became united, the D., Si., and great Ṛ. uttered the word Jaya adoring Maheśvara. When he had shot his arrow the cities began to fall down, and burning the Asuras, he threw them into the western ocean. The firs, born of his wrath, he quenched, lest it should reduce the three worlds to ashes. D., Ṛ., and the three worlds gratified Sthāṇu. Tripuramardana, Tripuranāśana, Tripurānataka, Tripurāntakara, Tripurārdana = Śiva, q.v.