Gayasura was the son of
Tripurasura. He succeeded his father as king after
Tripurasura was killed at the hands of
Shiva; as per one account, Gayasura once attacked
Devaloka to avenge the killing of his father. After his birth, he went to the Kolahala mountains of present-day
Kashmir region to meditate, where he famously stood there holding his breath for a very long time. Deities like
Indra and other gods were frightened by his intense
penance. The deities approached
Vishnu and asked him to stop Gayasura's further meditation.
Vishnu then thought of a ruse to get Gayasura put an end to his penance by offering him a boon in exchange for halting his
tapasya. He, alongside other the other gods, appeared before Gayasura and asked what boon he desired. The asura demanded immortality and asked that he may only be killed by the
Trimurti (the triad of
Brahma,
Vishnu and
Shiva). Emboldened by the boon, he began committing heinous atrocities against other gods. The
Trimurti took notice of Gayasura's behaviour and decided to finally punish him. They confronted Gayasura by taking the form
Brahmins and said that they would like to perform a
yajna (sacrifice) on his body. As soon as Gayasura agreed to serve himself as an
altar for the sacrifice, he drastically increased the size of his body. His head immediately fell off, and
Brahma and other gods proceeded to perform the ritual on his headless body. However, even after the conclusion of the ritual, Gayasura didn't succumb, and had to be finally slain by
Vishnu himself. He slashed Gayasura's body into three pieces with the help of his celestial discus, the
Sudarshana Chakra. His head fell in the present-day city of
Gaya in
Vishnupad Temple (dedicated to
Vishnu) and was called
Sirogaya (lit. head of Gaya). His navel reached the city of
Jajpur in present-day
Orissa in
Biraja Temple (dedicated to
Brahma) and was called
Nabhigaya (lit. navel of Gaya) whereas his feet reached the city of
Pithapuram in present-day
Andhra Pradesh in
Kukkuteswara Temple (dedicated to
Shiva) and was called
Padagaya (lit. feet of Gaya). == References ==