Śiva as Tripurāntaka
This majestic image of Shiva as the supreme victor over the Three Cities of the demons is one of the greatest realizations of this regal form of Shiva as the destroyer of evil, a masterpiece in the corpus of imperial quality devotional bronze icons produced under Chola patronage. This work may be assigned to the peak of imperial Chola production under Rajarajachola I or his immediate successors. Infused with all the majesty of a conquering king, this form of Shiva was much revered by the Chola rulers, as both their spiritual protector and as a divine role model for their imperial ambitions.
bhujaga-bhūti-bhūṣana tripurārī
“The vanquisher of the three cities (Śiva) wears serpents and ash as ornaments.”
Ramcharitmānas, 1.106.8
The purāṇic account of the destruction of the three castles by Mahadēva is based upon my two older accounts found in the Saṃhitas and Brāhmaṇas.
For instance, in the commentary of the Vājasanēyi Saṃhita of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurvēda, it is stated that the asuras were defeated by the Gods, and performed austerities to build three castles, which were subsequently destroyed by Agni. Similarly, in the Śatapata-Brāhmaṇa, we are told that the Gods and asuras fought together, though born of the same father, Prajāpati. The lattter built for themselves three castles which excited the envy of the Gods. To destroy them, Indra is said to have prepared his thunderbolt with Agni as the shaft, Sōma as the iron and Viṣṇu as the tip. The Taittrīya Saṃhita somehwat amplifies the story thus: the asuras possessed three castles, the lowest made of iron, the next silver and the highest of gold. The Gods were unable to conquer them and therefore prepared a weapon using Agni as the wooden shaft, Sōma as the iron and Viṣṇu as the point. But they needed one to weild this weapon, and they chose Rudra. Similar references to this story are found in the Aitarēya-Brāhmaṇa and other ancient authorities. Tripurāntakamūrti is described in great detail in almost all āgamic authorities. No less than eight different descriptions of the Tripurāntakamūrti are given in the Aṃśumadbhēdāgama alone.
M. A. Dorai Rangaswamy’s monumental study The Religion and Philosophy of Tevaram traces the history of the Tripurāntaka theme in Indian literature from its earliest appearance in the commentary on the Vājasanēyi Saṃhita of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurvēda through the Mahābhārata and other versions of the myth, into Tamilian tradition. Portions of the classic Cilappatikaram, the Sangam anthology Kalittokai, and works such as
the Aṃśumadbhēdāgama are shown to include the legend. He notes that: “from thousands of hymns in the Tevaram we get an idea of the iconography of some of the important forms or aspects of Śiva,”, by observing that the Tripurāntaka myth appears 113 times.
The story that explains the iconography goes as follows:
Kaśyapa Maharṣi, the son of Marīci and grandson of Brahmā had many wives. Of them, Aditi and Diti were daughters of Dakṣa. Devas were born of Aditi and the asuras were born of Diti. Armies of asuras under the leadership of Śūrapadma, Siṃhavaktra, Tārakāsura, Gomukha, Hiraṇyākṣa, and Hiraṇyakaśipu created immense troubles for the suras and the Ṝṣis.
The devas allied under the leadership of Indra and fought the asuras. The nectar they received from the ocean of Milk was distributed among them, and assured their victory over the asuras. Due to the possession of amruta by the Devas, the asuras grew very weak. They were further weakened by the death of Tārakāsura as the hands of Subrahmaṇya.
To ask of Brahmā a boon, Kamalākṣa, Tārakākṣa and Vidyunmālī, sons of Tārakāsura, did severe penance and made Brahmā appear before them and demanded that they could never be killed by anybody in any of the three worlds. Brahmā said that would not be possible and asked them to wish for something else. They then said: “Great Lord, We must live in three cities and roam about freely in these three worlds by your grace. Every thousand years, all the three of us must meet, and after that meeting, we should be able to go our separate ways once again and roam about freely for another thousand years. If at all there is death for us, it should occur only when we three are together and that too by a sinle arrow.” Brahmā granted them this boon and disappeared.
The asuras then approached Māya, the arcitect of the asura-s, and asked him to create three separate cities for the three of them. Māya built three wonderful cities. One was with gold, another with silver and the third with iron. Tārakākṣa took the golden one, Kamalākṣa took the silver one and Vidyunmālī took the iron one and began to reside in these three puras, which were respectively in Svarga, Ākāśa and the Earth — and began harassing the devas. Indra attacked them with his vajra but was unsuccessful in destroying their castles. The devas then approached Brahmā, who told them that only a single arrow, weilded by Mahadēva, could destory them.
Even with the existence of the inconquerable Tripura, the asuras weres till losing numbers. To escape this calamity, Hari, son of Tārakāsura, did penance at the end of which Brahmā appeared before him. Hari asked Brahmā for a tank with special powers called the Mṛtasañjīvanī Vāpī . Brahmā filled the tank with nectar, and any dead asura could come back to life with added strength and vigour by dipping in it. The Asuras soon became immortal began to trouble the devas and men with increased ferocity.
The aggrieved devas approached Śiva, who assured them that he would kill the asuras when they next met together at the end of a thousand years.
Śiva began to make grand preparations for a fight with the Tripuras. He invoked half the strength of the devas to himself to make Śivaśakti (the Javelin of Śiva) greater than Asuraśakti. The devas had Viśvakarmā construct a special chariot for Śiva. He made the mountain of Mandāra his bow, Vāsuki, the string and Viṣṇu his arrow (alternatively, the Vēdas his bow and Sāvitri his bow-string). He installed Agni at the tip and Vāyu at the end of the arrow. Four devas stood as horses to his chariot. The earth itself was the chariot and all the animate and inanimate objects of the devaloka arrayed at different parts of the chariot. On the wheels stood the Aśvinīdevas and Cakrapāṇi stayed on the axle. Gandharvas took places on the spokes. Indra stayed on the bow and Vaiśravaṇa on the arrow. Yama took his place on the right hand and the dreadful Kāla on the left hand. Brahmā acted as the charioteer.
Equipped thus, Śiva stayed in the godly chariot for a thousand years. When the three cities joined together in the sky Śiva shot a three-barbed arrow consisting of Sōma, Agni and Viṣṇu at the Tripuras, which destroyed the castles and their inhabitants.
Kerala, Napier Museum
The Cholas employed the Tripurāntaka motif on the Rajarajesvara Temple in Thanjavur and in the bronzes produced in this region at the time to epitomise their soverignity. As C. Sivaramamurti has noted the phenomenon of dynasts personally selecting various divinities to symbolize important cultural concepts. On the Tripurantaka motif, he says:
“The Cholas being great warriors and conquerors, and Rajaraja himself the greatest of them all, it is in the fitness of things that the theme of Tripurantaka, the mighty warrior-god, is glorified here, virtually as the keynote of the Chola power.”
A ruler as successful as Rajaraja I in creating an empire which made its influence felt throughout much of South India might well consider insti- tuting the Tripurantaka imagery to illustrate his conquests using the imagery of Tripurāntaka forms of Śiva as the ideal warrior.
Śaivism was the sectarian persuasion of Rajaraja I and his court; it was natural for them to seek an aspect of Mahadeva which would be sanctioned by tradition but which could uniquely dramatize the personality and prospects of the new ruler. The Tripurāntaka legend illustrates above all the qualities of courage and determination, and the triumph of divine power over adversity and evil. One could view the decision to adorn the Rajarajesvara Temple with images of this newly appointed “religious hero” as a conscious, perhaps even a cynical, act of statesmanship. But it would be more in keeping with the known religious fervor of the Cola dynasty to view give Tripurāntaka as the personal deity, a kind if iṣtadevata, of Rajaraja I himself.
Standing triumphantly with one foot on the back of a prostrate dwarf, Apasmāra, his body held in a graceful tribhanga pose and clad in a short dhoti and adorned with jewelry, cobras, and a yajñōpavīta; with the primary hands held in the gestures of holding a bow and arraw, and the secondary hands holding a goad and the mṛga or antelope, his face held in a calm confidence, surmounted by the tall elaborate jatamukuta, supporting various jewels, flowers, snakes, and a crescent moon.
References:
- Elements of Hindu Iconography by TA Gopinatha Rao
2. Puranic Encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani
3. Speculations on the Theme of Śiva as Tripurāntaka as It Appears during the Reign of Rājarāja I in the Tanjore Area ca. A.D. 1000; Gary J. Schwindler, Ars Orientalis , 1987, Vol. 17 (1987), pp. 163–178
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