Shloka 35
तेषामधर्मनिष्ठानां दैत्यानां देवसत्तम । पुरत्रयविनाशं च करिष्येऽहं न संशयः
teṣāmadharmaniṣṭhānāṃ daityānāṃ devasattama | puratrayavināśaṃ ca kariṣye'haṃ na saṃśayaḥ
“O best of the gods, of those Dāityas who are steadfast in adharma, I shall bring about the destruction of the Triple City (Pura-traya) as well—of this there is no doubt.”
Śiva (as the divine agent who resolves to destroy Tripura)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Tripurāntaka
Sthala Purana: Tripuradahana is a pan-Śaiva mythic episode rather than a single jyotirliṅga-sthala: the devas, unable to subdue the adharmic daityas in the three aerial/fortified cities, seek Śiva; Śiva becomes Tripurāntaka and destroys Tripura at the destined moment.
Significance: Recalling Tripurāntaka is traditionally linked with removal of inner ‘threefold’ impurities (āṇava, karma, māyā) by Śiva’s decisive grace-through-destruction.
Type: stotra
Role: destructive
FAQs
In Purāṇic theology, Tripura often functions as a moral-cosmological symbol: entrenched adharma becomes structurally fortified (as ‘cities’), requiring divine agency to restore dharma. The verse frames Śiva’s act not as arbitrary violence but as the re-establishment of cosmic order, where the dissolution of adharma is presented as a necessary corrective within the sacred economy of the universe.