Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3284

c9.3284

The asuras then approached Maya and asked him to construct three separate cities for them. Maya built three wonderful cities. One was with gold, another with silver and the third with iron. Tārakākṣa took the golden one, Kamalākṣa the silver one and Vidyunmālī took the iron one. The asuras started living in these cities. The three puras were respectively in Svarga, Ākāśa and the Earth. But each city had the power to travel to any other place at will. The power of controlling these cities was given to Bāṇa. Hiraṇyakaśipu’s son was Prahlāda. Prahlāda’s son was Virocana. Mahābali was Virocana’s son and Bāṇa was Mahābali’s son (Chapter 14, Padma Purāṇa). All these three cities together were named Tripura.