Trident: A Balance Creation
There he lay. Bleeding. Decapitated. Finally quiet.
“You cannot enter!”, his last words rang in Shiva’s ears. He could now do as he pleased again.
As he turned to go in, there stood his wife — horrified, dangerously speechless.
“You killed my son!”, she roared. “He was only following my orders. How dare you? How dare you destroy my creation? How dare you separate me from a dutiful lad so? How DARE you?”
Shiva was bewildered. Slowly it dawned on him. He turned to look at his object of destruction. Yet again, he had acted in haste, mutilating creation, disrupting balance.
The most fundamental beginning of a civilization, a culture, a world, a universe — creation.
How did the world come to be? What signifies creation? How is the world, once created, sustained? And how does it meet its end?
The trident is the single symbol that represents this cycle of the beginning, the middle and the end. A simple three-pronged weapon, it is said to be wielded only in great significance and impact.
Very famously, it is seen in the hands of the (popularly known as) god of destruction, Shiva in the Hindu mythology. However, it isn’t simply used to destroy just as Shiva’s purpose is not limited to destruction alone. The trident represents all three phases of creation; the past, present and future; the body, mind and soul; the id, ego and superego; heaven, hell and earth and countless other abstract interpretations.
The trident is best perceived as not only being a weapon but a medium of salvation in many stories and cultures. It is used to grant an auspicious death to a person by the hands of a god who has the authority to restore balance in the world, even by the manner of destruction if they must.
This symbol is not limited to one mythology or even a single religion — it is wielded by Poseidon in Greek mythology to control the waves and continues to stand tall beside Gengis Khan’s mausoleum as his primary weapon.
Thus, there are multiple instances where one can observe the wrath of the triple blade unleashed but it is always unleashed, with purpose. The trident truly is the beauty of creation delicately balanced on the looming possibility of destruction that only results in…a new beginning.
