Astras & Shashtras (Weapons) in Hinduism
You remember all these TV shows from the 80s & 90s that had our warriors shooting magical arrows at each other in the battlefield?
What if I said that’s not how Astras in Hindu Itihasa actually work? Here’s the tea.
First, we have to understand the difference between Astras & Shashtras.
Shashtras are the actual physical weapons that are wielded by hand.
This includes the legendary Dhanushyas or Bows like Arjuna’s Gandiva, Karna’s Vijaya, Vishnu’s Śārṅga (शार्ङ्ग) & Shri Ram’s Kodanda, not to mention Lord Shiva’s Pinaka which Ram strings & breaks to win at Sita Ma’s svayamvar.
It includes Shiva’s Trishula trident, Muruggan’s Vel spear, Indra’s Vajra bolt, Parashurama’s Parashu Axe & Balaram’s Hala plough.
Of course, it also includes Vishnu’s disc called Sudarshana Chakra, and gada or mace, called Kaumodaki.
BTW, did you know that the gada is actually NOT Hanuman’s traditional weapon of choice, like we see in photos, he doesn’t use it much, but we’ll cover that in another episode.
Now many of these Shashtras are divinely blessed but that’s not where the real fun lies, which brings us to to point 2 - Astras.
Astras are energies or cosmic missiles that are invoked through the mantras & realesed through a physical medium like an arrow. You had to be eligible to use them, as granted by a guru.
We not only have the environmentally devastating Brahmastra, used in both Ramayana & Mahabharata, but also the Brahmashiras, which is much more potent, and requires withdrawal.
The Narayanastra is special because it can only be neutralised by surrender - this was famously used by Ashwatthama in the Mahabharata but Krishna coached the Pandavas on how to handle it.
Then we have Shiva’s Pashupatastra, capable of ending all of creation but Arjuna never uses it, elemental Astras like Agneya Astra of Agnidev, Nagastra for serpents, and Garudastra as its counter.
So when the real battles happened, it was just random lasers or arrows clashing against each other in slow-mo - it was more like a Beyblade battle with cosmic energies like Dragoon coming alive to fight each other.
Invoking an astra required initiation, immense power, discipline & ethical restraint. The warriors were repeatedly warned of how they could destroy entire ecosystems if misused, so there was a lot of thought put in before invoking any astra, and the most destructive ones were reserved for extreme situations.