Trishula

They are commonly said to represent various trinities: creation, preservation, and destruction; past, present, and future; body, mind and atman; Dharma (law and order), bliss/mutual enjoyment and emanation/created 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; insight, serenity and bodhisattvahood or arhatship (anti-conceit); practice, understanding and wisdom; death, ascension and resurrection; creation, order and destruction; the three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas.

According to the Skanda Purana, Shiva employed the trishula to behead Ganesha, who refused to allow him passage and visit the bathing Parvati.

Unable to bear his brilliance, Sanjna brought this issue to her father, who arranged for his energy to be reduced to one-eighth of its previous intensity.

The blazing energy descended towards the ground, used by Vishvakarma to create the trishula for Shiva, the Sudarshana Chakra for Vishnu, a palanquin for Kubera, the lance for Kartikeya, and all the other weapons of the gods.

In Indonesian, trisula usually refers specifically to a long-handled trident, while the diminutive version is more commonly known as a cabang or tekpi.