Story #21: Thripuranthaka

    On the prayers of all the gods, lord Muruga battled with and defeated Tharukasuran. 

    Tharukasuran had three sons Kamalakshan, Tharukakshan, Vidhunmali. These three had the demonical character, much more than their father. They however had deep devotion on Lord Shiva. They did thapas to Brahma and got a boon from the Lord that they can not be destroyed unless all three of them,sitting inside their own fort are attacked by a single arrow.

    Then they created forts made of iron in earth, silver in sky and gold in heaven. Just like all other asuras, they started disturbing the beings in all the worlds. All the affected beings potraited to Lord Shiva.  However Lord Shiva said as long as the three demons worship him, he won't destroy them.

   So MahaVishnu took the form of a sage, and taught the three demons mAyAvAtham, resulting them to stop praying the Lord, praising themselves and torturing everyone else.  Because of this,  all the good qualities of them were lost. The Lord was now ready for the destruction of the puras. The three forts come in a straight line only once in a thousand years, that too for a short time.  Knowing that Shiva is now against them,  the three demons were now ready to fight against the Lord forgetting their boon.

   All the devas gave their power or asthraas to Shiva.  The earth became the chariot for the Lord, Brahma the charioteer, Vishnu the arrow, sun and moon the wheels. The Meru Mountain became the bow and the serpent Vasuki as the string in the bow.

    Thus all the gods were present in some form in that chariot. However,  Agni and Yama were in the wheel instead of the arrow. When Shiva started without praying to Vinayaka, he posed to be angry broke the wheel. By doing this,  Vinayaka put Agni and Yama in the arrow.

    Finally when everything was ready devas were proud that only with their help God is going to destroy the tripuras. Lord Shiva sensed this egoistic thought of the devas.

    When the battle began,  Shiva didn't use any of them. He got out of the Chariot and smiled at the tripuras.  In that smile the three forts were burnt down and with that the demons. It is said that the Rudhraksha appeared from the three eyes of Lord Shiva during tripura samhara.

   The thought of devas that without their help the Lord wont be able to destroy the tripuras proved foolish.

   Then Lord gave life to the three demons. Though they went wrong, they initially were devotees. They repented for their mistake. The Lord forgave them and gave one of them the great work of fanning Him with chamaram, and made the rest two as part of his bhoodhaganam.

   We learn the important lesson to not think great about giving something to someone at the time of need.  We must also understand that God punishes only to purify and to keep the beings sacred.

Har Har Mahadev !!