Trishula: Difference between revisions

{{more citations needed|date=March 2014}}

| image              = Statue of lord shiva.jpg

| caption            = Statue of [[Shiva]] holding a trishula in Haridwar, India.

<!-- Explosive specifications -->

| origin             = [[India]]

'''Trishula''' ([[Sanskrit]]: त्रिशूल, [[IAST]]: triśūla) or '''trishul''' is a [[trident]], a divine symbol, commonly used as one of the principal symbols in Sanatana Dharma.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rysdyk|first=Evelyn C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8VWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT84|title=The Nepalese Shamanic Path: Practices for Negotiating the Spirit World|date=2019-02-19|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-62055-795-2|language=en}}</ref> In India and Thailand, the term also often refers to a short-handled weapon which may be mounted on a ''daṇḍa'' ({{lang-sa|दण्ड}}, meaning '[[Quarterstaff|staff]]'). Unlike the [[sai (weapon)|Okinawan sai]], the ''trishula'' is often bladed. In Indonesian, ''trisula'' usually refers specifically to a long-handled trident while the diminutive version is more commonly known as a ''cabang'' or ''[[tekpi]]''.

The name "trishula" ultimately derives from the Sanskrit word त्रिशूल (triśūla), from त्रि (trí), meaning "three", and शूल (śū́la), meaning "a sharp iron pin or stake", referring in this case to the weapon's three prongs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Monier–Williams |first1=M. A. |title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged |date=1872 |publisher=MacMillan and Co., Publishers to the University, and W. H. Allen and Co. |location=London}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">

Trishool A4.svg|[[Shiva]]'s trishula with [[damaru]]

Trishula.svg|Trishula details

The trishula symbolism is [[wikt:polyvalent|polyvalent]] and rich.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} It is wielded by the god [[Shiva]] and is said to have been used to sever the original head of [[Ganesha]]. [[Durga]] also holds a ''trishula'', as one of her many weapons. The three points have various meanings and significance, and, common to the Sanatana Dharma, have many stories behind them. They are commonly said to represent various trinities—creation, maintenance, and destruction; past, present, and future; body, mind and atman; dharma or dhamma (law and order), bliss/mutual enjoyment and emanation/created [[Trikaya|bodies]]; compassion, joy and love; spiritual, psychic and relative; happiness, comfort and boredom; pride, repute and egotism; clarity, knowledge and wisdom; heaven, mind and earth; soul, fire and earth; soul, passion and embodied-soul; logic, passion and faith; prayer, manifestation and sublime; [[Prajna (Hinduism)|insight]], [[Dhyana in Hinduism (Self-knowledge)|serenity]] and Bodhisattvahood or Arhatship (anti-conceit); practice, understanding and wisdom; death, ascension and resurrection; creation, order and destruction; the three [[gunas]]: satva, rajas and tamas.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}}

# According to '''''Shiva Puran''''', Shiva is ''swayambhu'', self created, born of his volitions. He emerges as a direct incarnation of Sadashiv and has ''trishula'' from the very beginning.

# According to '''''Vishnu Puran''''', Vishwakarma created the ''trishula'' using the matter from the sun and gave it to Shiva. When Suryadev married Sanjana, the daughter of Vishwakarma, his wife soon became unhappy with married life due to the unbearable heat of her husband Surya. She complained to Vishwakarma, who agreed to solve the problem. Her father came to an arrangement whereby Surya agreed to reduce his heat to accommodate Sanjana. The solar matter fell to the earth, reducing his heat by {{frac|1|8}}. That material was then used to make Trishul.

# Trishula can sometimes also designate the Buddhist symbol of the [[triratna]].

# The goddess [[Durga]] holds a ''trishula'' among other weapons and attributes in her hands and amongst her accouterment, having received celestial weapons from both Shiva and Vishnu.

# A similar word, ''Trishel'', is the [[Romani language|Romani]] word for '[[cross]]'.

# '''Trisula''' is the name of {{interlanguage link|Operation Trishula|lt=a 1968 operation|id|Operasi Trisula}} by the [[Indonesian National Armed Forces|ABRI]] to finish off remnants of the [[Communist Party of Indonesia|PKI]] in southern [[Blitar]].

File:Trishool A4.svg|[[Shiva]]'s trishula with [[damaru]].

File:Tridents (Trishul) brought as offerings to Guna Devi., near Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.jpg|Trishula brought as offerings to Guna Devi, near [[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharamsala]], [[Himachal Pradesh]].

File:Wat-Arun-menorah-8845.jpg|A seven-pronged ''trishula'' on top of [[Wat Arun]], also known as the "trident of Shiva"<ref>[http://www.watarun.org/index_en.html Wat Arun The trident of Shiv extends from the top of each tower.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628233856/http://www.watarun.org/index_en.html |date=2007-06-28 }}</ref>

File:Emblem of the House of Chakri.svg|Emblem of the [[Chakri Dynasty]], the royal house of [[Thailand]] founded in 1782. The emblem of the dynasty consists of the ''trishula'' intertwined with the [[Sudarshana Chakra]], another weapon, to create a Chakri.

[[Category:National symbols of India]]