The Pinaka ( sa, पिनाक, pínāka) is the celestial bow of the Hindu destroyer deity,

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

. In popular legend, he is believed to have employed this bow in his avatar as Tripurantaka to annihilate the three cities of Mayasura, known as

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the eas ...

. The weapon is the origin of one of Shiva's epithets, ''Pinakapani'', literally meaning, 'the wielder of the Pinaka'.

In Literature

In the

Shiva Purana The ''Shiva Purana'' is one of eighteen major texts of the ''Purana'' genre of Sanskrit texts in Hinduism, and part of the Shaivism literature corpus. It primarily revolves around the Hindu god Shiva and goddess Parvati, but references and reve ...

, Shiva employed the Pinaka in his duel against

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...

, who had been appointed to stand guard while his mother

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi ...

bathed. In the

Harivamsa Purana was composed by Acharya Jinasena in 783 AD. It is divided into 66 cantos and contains 12,000 slokas. The book aims to narrate the life of Neminatha, the twenty-second Tirthankara in Jainism. According to the Jain sources, Krishna is the ...

, when the Prajapati

Daksha In Hinduism, Daksha ( Sanskrit: दक्ष, IAST: , lit. "able, dexterous, or honest one") is one of the ''Prajapati'', the agents of creation, as well as a divine king-rishi. His iconography depicts him as a man with a stocky body and a ha ...

performed a

yajna Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...

for the gods, his ceremony was obstructed by Shiva and a human incarnation of Nandi, who wielded the Pinaka. Hari (

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within ...

) stood to confront him, accompanied by the

adityas In Hinduism, Adityas ( sa, आदित्य, Āditya, of Aditi, ), refers to the offspring of Aditi, the goddess representing the infinity. The name ''Aditya'', in the singular, is taken to refer to the sun god Surya. Generally, Adityas are ...

and the vasus. Shiva struck Hari on his breast, who countered by grabbing his assailant's throat. When he strung his own bow

Sharanga Sharanga (Devanagari: शारंग) also spelt as Saranga, is the celestial bow of the Hindu god Vishnu. In South India, the Sharanga is also simply known as the Kodanda, literally meaning bow. Vishnu's avatar Rama is often praised as ''Ko ...

, the mountain Meru trembled. Infuriated, Nandi raised the Pinaka and struck Hari on the head, who stupefied the man with a smile and stood firm, allowing the yajna to resume. In the Padma Purana, Shiva employed the Pinaka to combat Jalandhara: When the

Yadava The Yadava (literally, descended from Yadu) were an ancient Indian people who believed to be descended from Yadu, a legendary king of Chandravamsha lineage. The community was formed of various clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, an ...

forces invaded Sonitapura to rescue

Aniruddha Aniruddha ( sa, अनिरुद्ध ') is a character in Hindu mythology, the son of Pradyumna and Rukmavati, and the grandson of Krishna and Rukmini. He is said to have been very much like his grandfather, to the extent that he is ...

, Shiva and

Kartikeya Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hinduism, Hindu List of war deities, god of war. He is the son of Parvati an ...

rushed to guard the city of the Shaiva asura, Bana.

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

and Shiva's Pinaka were used against each other in the battle, the conflict ultimately won by Krishna. In the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages e ...

, Rama broke the Pinaka to win Princess

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, '' Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi ...

's hand in marriage during her

swayamvara Svayamvara ( sa, स्वयंवर, svayaṃvara, translit-std=IAST), in ancient India, was a method of marriage in which a woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors. In this context, in Sanskrit means 'self' and means 'g ...

. The Pinaka is sometimes considered to be the weapon Shiva employed to destroy

, even though other legends state that the bow used for the destruction of the three cities was fashioned from Mount Mandara:

References

{{Reflist Weapons in Hindu mythology

In Literature

See also

References