The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva

 The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva

On one occasion Siva killed Three asuras who dwelt in three forts constructed of metal and who caused great damage to the rishis! The story is given in detail in the Karnaparvan of the Mahabharata, an abstract of which is given below.

Tarakasura was an asura who had a boon that he could only be killed by Shiva's son. He fought with the Devas and Indra but was finally defeated by Kartikeya, the son of Shiva and Parvati.

The three sons’ of Tarkasura, having performed great penances, obtained from Brahma the boons that they should occupy the three castles wherefrom they should move as they desired and after a thousand years the three castles should unite into one and should be only destructible with a Single arrow. The asura architect Maya built them the three Castles, one of gold which was in heaven, another of Silver in the air and the third of iron on the earth: each of these was appropriated by one of the asuras, and they started on their tour of harassing the gods.

Indra attacked them with the vajra but failed to put them down. The gods then repaired Brahma to consult him as to the means of destroying these asuras. He told them that they should only be killed with a Single arrow and that such a weapon could be wielded only by Mahadeva and directed them to pray to him for help. They prayed accordingly and succeeded in inducing him to undertake the task of killing Asuras. Mahadeva then demanded of them one-half of their Powers (Shakti) to add to his strength, as otherwise, it was impossible to kill those strong demons. They consented and parted with half of their strength.

Mahadeva became now stronger than all other gods and hence came to be known by the name Mahadeva, the great god. The various gods served Mahadeva in other capacities also.

Vishnu became his arrow, Agni its barb and Yama its feather. Mahadeva made the Vedas, his bow and Savitri his bowstring.  Brahma became his charioteer. With the three barbed arrows consisting of Soma, Agni and Vishnu the castles with their inhabitants were destroyed by Mahadeva.

The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva is based upon older accounts found in Samhitas and Brahamanas. In Yajurveda, it is stated that the asuras being defeated, by the gods, performed austerities and built three castles which were destroyed by Agni.

In Brahmanas, it is told that the gods and the asuras fought together, though born of the same father Prajapati. The latter built for themselves three castles which, excited the envy of the gods. For destroying them Indra is said later to be preparing his thunderbolt with Agni as the shaft, Soma as the iron and Visnu as the point.