Mahamrityunjaya Mantra (Tryambakam Mantra)

According to a legend, Markandeya was the only one on the earth who knew this mantra. The Moon was once in trouble, when cursed by King Daksha. Markandeya gave the Mahamritryunjaya Mantra to Sati, Daksha's daughter, for the Moon. According to another version this is the Bija mantra as revealed to Rishi Kahola that was given by Lord Shiva to sage Sukracharya, who taught it to Rishi Dadhichi, who gave it to King Kshuva, through whom it reached the Shiva Purana.

This mantra is also called the Rudra mantra, referring to the furious aspect of Shiva; the Tryambakam mantra, alluding to Shiva's three eyes; and it is sometimes known as the Mrita-Sanjivini mantra (lit., "Reviver of the dead") because it is a component of the "life-restoring" practice given to the primordial sage Śukracharya after he had completed an exhausting period of austerity.. Its Devata (patron deity) is Rudra, i.e., Shiva in his fiercest and most destructive roopa or aspect. In the Vedas it finds its place in three texts - a) the Rig veda VII.59.12, b) the Yajur Veda III.60, and c) the Atharva Veda XIV.1.17