single arrow through all three, kindling a
fire that burns the cities and destroys
their inhabitants.
This story illustrates one important
facet of Shiva’s character—unlike the
god Vishnu, who often manages to trick
those he subdues, Shiva is much less
complex and attains his end by using
power against which no one can stand.
In some of the stories, one of the three
demons is himself a devotee (bhakta) of
Shiva, and when the arrow is loosed and
hurtles to destroy the Triple City, Shiva
himself rescues his devotee and his
family. This is in character, for Shiva is
portrayed as gracious to his devotees
and will do just about anything for
them. It also shows that the demons are
conceived not as completely debased
but as another race of beings with
different powers and capacities, and
who have as much potential as deities
and human beings.
Trishanku
(“three sins”) In Hindu mythology, a cel-
ebrated king of the Solar Line. He is
named Satyavrata at birthbut is cursed
by the sage Vasishthato bear the name
Trishanku because of three major sins:
He abducts another man’s wife, he
incurs the anger of his father, and he
eats beef (which he has earlier obtained
by slaughtering Vasishtha’s cow). Along
with this uncomplimentary name,
Vasishtha also curses Trishanku to be a
chandala (untouchable), which Trishanku
suffers for some time before being
restored to his kingship.
After regaining his throne, Trishanku
is a good king, but he desires to be taken
bodily into heaven. Vasishtha and his
sons ridicule this desire, but Trishanku
finds an ally in the sage Vishvamitra,
who has a long history of conflict with
Vasishtha. Vishvamitra performs the
sacrificeto take Trishanku to heaven,
but when he arrives there, he is pushed
back down by Indra, the ruler of heaven,
and Trishanku falls head downward.
Vishvamitra orders Trishanku to remain
where he is, and since Indra will not let
him up and Vishvamitra will not let him
down, he is suspended in midair. Indra
begins to construct a separate heaven
for Trishanku, but when Vishvamitra
threatens to create a new Indra for the
new heaven, Indra relents and takes
Trishanku to heaven in his material
body. The name Trishanku has since
become proverbial to refer to a person
trapped between two options.Trishiras
In the Ramayana, the earlier of the two
great Hindu epics, Trishiras is a demon
ally of Ravana, the demon-king of
Lanka. Along with Ravana’s brothers,
Kharaand Dushana, Trishiras leads a
frontal attack against the god Rama, the
epic’s protagonist. The attack is an effort
to avenge the insult to Ravana’s sister
Shurpanakha, who has been mutilated
by Rama’s brother Lakshmana.
Although he is a valiant warrior, Trishiras
is eventually killed by Rama, as are
Khara and Dushana. The failure of such
frontal attacks convince Ravana that
Rama is too powerful to kill in combat,
so he decides to take revenge by kidnap-
ping Rama’s wife Sita.Trishul
(“three points”) The trident, which is
an important weapon associated with
both the god Shivaand the Goddess.
The trident is a modified form of
the spear (shula).Tristhalisetu
(“The bridge to the Three Holy Cities”)
Pilgrimage text written by the great
scholar Narayana Bhatta (approx.
1513–1570) that was intended to give the
readers precise instructions for correctly
performing the pilgrimage rites at three
important sites: Allahabad, a bathing
(snana) place at the junction of the
Gangesand Yamuna Rivers; Benares,
which is renowned as a city of culture
and religious learning; and Gaya in
Bihar, a major site for the shraddha
rites for the dead. The text begins with aTrishanku