Shloka 37
शिवस्तुतिवर्णनम् (Śiva-stuti-varṇanam) — “Description of Hymns in Praise of Śiva”
विष्णुर्हन्यात्परो वाथ यत्त्याजितवृषाः कृताः । दैत्या मद्भक्तिरहितास्सर्वे त्रिपुरवासिनः
viṣṇurhanyātparo vātha yattyājitavṛṣāḥ kṛtāḥ | daityā madbhaktirahitāssarve tripuravāsinaḥ
Whether Viṣṇu strikes them down, or some other power does—these residents of Tripura, all of them Daityas, have been made forsakers of dharma; they are wholly devoid of devotion to Me (Śiva).
Lord Shiva (in the Tripura narrative of the Yuddhakhaṇḍa, describing the adharmic, Shiva-bhakti-less nature of the Tripura-dwellers)
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Tripurāntaka
Sthala Purana: The verse belongs to the Tripura cycle: the Tripuravāsins (Daityas) are portrayed as having fallen from dharma and Śiva-bhakti, setting the stage for Śiva’s later intervention as Tripurāntaka.
Significance: Didactic rather than tīrtha-specific: it frames loss of bhakti/dharma as the inner cause of downfall and the precondition for divine correction.
FAQs
The verse frames the fall of Tripura as the karmic result of abandoning dharma (vṛṣa) and lacking Shiva-bhakti; in Shaiva Siddhanta, liberation depends on grace, and grace is approached through devotion aligned with righteous living.
Tripura’s residents are described as ‘mad-bhakti-rahita’—without devotion to Shiva; Linga/Saguna-Shiva worship is presented as the stabilizing practice that restores dharma and receptivity to Shiva’s anugraha (grace), preventing the inner ‘Tripura’ of egoic bondage.
The practical takeaway is to cultivate Shiva-bhakti with dharma: daily japa of the Panchakshara (Om Namaḥ Śivāya) and simple Shiva-puja (with bhasma/tripuṇḍra and sincere repentance for adharmic habits) to counter the tendency to ‘tyājita-vṛṣa’ (abandon righteousness).