Tripurantakamurti

Tripurantakamurti is an aspect of Shiva and in this aspect, his image and iconography show him with four arms. He holds an axe and an antelope on the upper pair of his arms. In the lower pair of the arms, he holds a bow and an arrow respectively.

Mythology

Shiva as Tripurantakamurti is accredited with destroying three mythical cities of the asuras. Asura Taraka had three sons. The legend states that Brahma, on being pleased with them, presented each one of them an aerial city revolving in the sky. The legend further states that these three cities continued to revolve in the sky for hundred of years. In the course of revolving, the three used would converge very rarely.

The asuras well-entrenched in their aerial cities would mount attacks on the devas (gods) and the rishis (sages), and always harassed them. Ultimately, the gods and the sages approached Shiva and pleaded for his assistance in removing this menace. Shiva agreed to help them and waited for an opportune moment. The moment the three aerial cities converged, Shiva mounted on his chariot and moved upwards. He took out his bow and arrow, and hit the converged cities with a single arrow. The cities were destroyed.

References

*"Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend" (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dallapiccola