Shloka 3
Matsya Purana — The Burning of Tripura: Maya’s Triple Fortresses and the Boon that Leads to S...
*सूत उवाच शृणुध्वं त्रिपुरं देवो यथा दारितवान् भवः मयो नाम महामायो मायानां जनको ऽसुरः //
*sūta uvāca śṛṇudhvaṃ tripuraṃ devo yathā dāritavān bhavaḥ mayo nāma mahāmāyo māyānāṃ janako 'suraḥ //
Sūta said: Hear how the god Bhava (Śiva) shattered Tripura. There was an asura named Maya, a great master of illusion, the very progenitor of magical arts (māyās).
FAQs
This verse is not about cosmic pralaya; it introduces the Tripura-dahana episode, focusing on a mythic destruction of the three fortresses built/ruled through asuric māyā rather than universal dissolution.
Indirectly, it frames a moral-political theme: destructive power grounded in adharma and deceptive māyā (here personified by Maya) is ultimately overcome by divine order—an implied lesson for rulers to restrain deceit and uphold dharma.
The verse signals Maya as the archetypal asura-architect and ‘father of māyās,’ setting up the idea of engineered, fortified ‘three cities’ (Tripura). While not a Vāstu rule itself, it contextualizes Puranic architecture as both technical and ethical—structures can embody dharma or delusion.