Shloka 22
Matsya Purana — Omens in Tripura and the Nārada–Maya Dialogue on Dharma
एष रुद्रः समास्थाय महालोकमयं रथम् आयाति त्रिपुरं हन्तुं मय त्वामसुरानपि //
eṣa rudraḥ samāsthāya mahālokamayaṃ ratham āyāti tripuraṃ hantuṃ maya tvāmasurānapi //
Behold—Rudra, having mounted a chariot fashioned from the great worlds, advances to destroy Tripura, and to slay you asuras as well—O Maya.
FAQs
It does not describe pralaya directly; instead it uses cosmic imagery—Rudra’s “world-made chariot”—to portray divine power that can subdue asuric strongholds, a motif that echoes dissolution-of-evil rather than cosmic dissolution.
By analogy, it frames dharma as the defeat of destructive forces: a king protects society by restraining adharmic aggression, and a householder restrains inner ‘asuric’ impulses—pride, violence, deception—through discipline and right conduct.
The verse names Maya, famed as an asura-architect, and Tripura (three fortified cities), pointing to the Purāṇic theme that even the most formidable engineered fortresses fall before divine ordinance—often cited in discussions of “Maya’s architecture” and ritualized mythic warfare (Tripura-dahana).