Following the death of Tarakasura, who was killed by Lord Muruga, his sons Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali and Kamalaksha undertook severe penances by which they pleased Lord Brahma. They requested that they be blessed with impregnable fortresses that could be destroyed by a single arrow only. Fortified by Brahma's boons, the asuras got the three fortresses, called Tripura or three cities, built by the great Asura architect Mayasura. Maya, the divine architect, constructed the golden fort in the heaven for Tarakaksha; the silver fort on the skies for Kamalaksha and iron fort on the earth for Vidhyunmaali. The three cities were mobile and moved in such a way that they would be in a single line for a few moments in three thousand years.
