Mahabharata – Important weapons from Indian Mythology
Karna’s weapons
Karna had the knowledge of Brahmastra, but his teacher Parshurama has cursed him that he could not use it when he requires it most. He had kavach and kundal from Sun, which would made him invulnerable, but Indra asked those in alms.
But he had given him Vasavi Shakti or Amoghastra, which could be used only once, to him. Karna saved that for Arjuna, but upon the insistence of Duryodhana, he had to use this on Ghatotkacha. Ghatotkacha was Bheema’s son, who was single handedly decimating the kaurava’s army. He was called by Shri Krishna to fight from his father’s side. Another master stroke from the seventh avatar of lord Vishnu.
Arjuna’s weapons
Arjuna seems to have the blessings of gods when it came to astras and shastras. You name the weapon and he had it. He has done severe penance to obtain divyastras for the battle of Mahabharat. Shiva has bestowed his blessings on Arjuna that his quivers will be inexhaustible. Shiva has also given him the Pashupata, which had the powers to destroy anything. Arjuna also had Yamaraj’s mace, Naagpashas from varuna and Antardhana from Kuber at his disposal. Indra also presented him a weapon before Mahabharat war. Gandiva was also given to him Lord Shiva. These gods have armed Arjuna to fight the evil forces. Arjuna and Shri Krishna are also known as Nara(Arjuna) and Narayana (Shri Krishna).
Shri Krishna’s weapons
Shri Krishna’s bow was Sharngadhanu, with which he has once countered Shiva’s weapons. He also used Brahmastra to counter a Brahmastra invoked by Shiva. Shri Krishna also had Narayanastra with which he has counterd pashupatastra. When fighting Banasura and Lord Shiva, Shri Krishna used his weapon Narayanjvara to counter Shivajara. No discussion is complete on weapons of Shri Krishna, if we do not mention the Sudarshan Chakra. He used this in the war of Mahabharat for a different purpose – to make sun disappear. This led to killing of Jayadrath.
Another notable use of this Sudarshan Chakra was in killing of Shishupala, the king of Chedi, who was also a relative of Shri Krishna.
kaduve
weapon of mahabharta
For all karna’s Fans:
(SOURCE-TRANSLATION OF ORIGINAL MAHABHARAT OF VYAS BY KESARI MOHAN GANGULY
& WHICH IS THE ONLY PRECISE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC DOMAIN):
Incident 1:Karna fled rom battlefield from Arjuna(Virata Yudh):
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04060.htm
Incident 2:Karna defeated by Gandharwa chitrasena:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03239.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03240.htm
Incident 3:Arjuna defeat Ghandarwas & rescued Duryodhan & kurus:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03243.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03244.htm
Incident 4:Karna defeated & freightened by Abhimanyu in chakruvyuhu:
Hearing these words, Karna, afflicted with the shafts of Arjuna’s son, once more said unto Drona, ‘Exceedingly afflicted with the shafts of Abhimanyu, I am staying in battle, only because (as a warrior) I should stay here. Indeed, the arrows of this south of great energy are exceedingly fierce. Terrible as they are and possessed of the energy of fire, these arrows are weakening my heart.’
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07045.htm
What Karna’s own friend Ashwathama & kripacharya think of karna:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04049.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04050.htm
what Lord Krishna think of karna’s bravery:
Krishna said(To Arjuna):.I swear by Truth to thee, O friend, that my limbs are burning at the thought that while the son of Subhadra was thus advancing, consuming the hostile army with his shafts, even on that occasion the wicked-souled Karna was engaged in acts of hostility to that hero,Unable, O Partha, to stay in that battle before Abhimanyu’s face, mangled with the shafts of Subhadra’s son, deprived of consciousness, and bathed in blood, Karna drew deep breaths, inflamed with rage. At last, afflicted with arrows, he was obliged to turn his back upon the field.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08073.htm
& Finally karna himself accepting Arjuna’s supeority:
Narrative:
“‘Karna said(about Arjuna), “As far as I have heard,
such a superior car-warrior has
never been born on earth! Behold
my prowess, since I will contend in
battle with even that Partha who is
such. This prince of Kuru’s line, this
foremost of car-warriors, careers in
battle, borne by his steeds white in
hue. Perhaps he will despatch me to
Yama’s abode today. Know, however,
that with Karna’s death, these all
will be exterminated. The two arms
of this prince are never covered with
sweat. They never tremble. They are
massive and covered with cicatrices.
Firm in the use of weapons, he is
possessed of great skill and endued
with great lightness of hands.
Indeed, there is no warrior equal to
the son of Pandu. He taketh a large
number of arrows and shooteth them
as if they were one. Quickly fixing
them on the bow-string, he
propelleth them to the distance of
two miles. They always fall on the
foe. What warriors is there on earth
that is equal to him? That Atiratha,
endued with great activity, with
Krishna as his ally, gratified the god
Agni at Khandava. There, on that
occasion, the high-souled Krishna
obtained his discus, and Savyasaci,
the son of Pandu, obtained his bow
Gandiva. There that mighty-armed
one, endued with might that knows
no decay, also obtained his terrible
car unto which are yoked those white
steeds, as also his two great
celestial and inexhaustible quivers,
and many celestial weapons, from
the God of Fire. In the region of
Indra he obtained his conch
Devadatta and slew innumerable
Daityas, and all the Kalakeyas. Who
is there on earth that is superior to
him? Possessed of greatness of soul,
he gratified Mahadeva himself in fair
fight, and obtained from him the
terrible and mighty weapon Pasupata
that is capable of destroying the
three worlds. The several Regents of
the world, united together gave him
their weapons of immeasurable
energy, with which that lion among
men quickly destroyed in battle
those united Asuras, the
Kalakhanjas.
So also, in Virata’s city,
moving on a single car he
vanquished all of us, and snatched
from us that wealth of kine, and took
from all the foremost of car-warriors
(portions of) their garments.
Challenging that foremost of
Kshatriyas, that hero having him of
Vrishni’s race for his ally, that
warrior who is endued with such
energy and such attributes, I regard
myself, O Shalya, to be the foremost
of persons in all the world in point
of courage. He is, again, protected by
that Keshava of great energy, who i
Narayana himself and who is without
a rival, that high-souled Vasudeva,
that ever-victorious Vishnu armed
with conch, discus, and mace, whose
attributes all the world united
together, cannot (in narrating)
exhaust in 10,000 years. Beholding
the two Krishnas together on the
same car, fear entereth my heart
together with courage. Partha is the
foremost of all bowmen!
Source:origial mahabharat by vyas..trans by km ganguly!
FINAL KARNA ARJUNA BATTLE(DAY 17 OF MAHABHARATA):
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08089.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08090.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08091.htm
ACCORDING TO MY ANALYSIS OF THIS TRANSLATION IN THE FINAL BATTLE OF MAHABHARATA,ARJUNA & KARNA ASSAULTED EACH OTHER 35 TIMES WITH NUMEROUS, THOUSANDS & LAKHS OF ARROWS ………8 TIMES THEY NULLIFIED EACH OTHER ARROWS ,12 TIMES BOTH KARNA & ARJUNA PIERCED EACH OTHER BUT THE REMAINING 15 TIMES ARJUNA PIERCED KARNA IN EVERY PART OF HIS BODY & KARNA’S LIMBS,YOKE,STANDARD,STEEDS,CHARIOT WERE RIPPED APART & KARNA WAS LEFT MANGLED BATHED IN BLOOD & KARNA HAD NO ANSWER FOR ARJUNA’S ARROWS!!!
Authenciaty of vyas original mahabharat by km ganguly:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisari_Mohan_Ganguli
OTHER MISCONCEPTIONS:
MAHADEV SHIV HIMSELF ACCEPTED ARJUNA SUPERIOTY WHEN LORD SHIVA FOUGHT A DUEL WITH ARJUNA IN HUNTER DISGUISE WHEN ARJUNA DID SEVERE PENANCE ON HIS TWO THUMBS OF HIS FOOT TO OBTAIN PASHUPATASTRA FROM LORD SHIVA..ARJUNA WAS CALLED NARA & HE WAS THE MOST IDEAL MAN HIMSELF & LORD KRISHNA HIMSELF ACCEPTED IN GITA PRAISING HIS MORAL CHARACTER!READ WHAT MAHADEV HAS TO SAY ABOUT ARJUNA..IF YOU WANT I CAN POST ENTIRE NARRATIVE!!
#####& EVEN IF FOR ANY REASON YOU WANT TO ARGUE WITH LORD SHIVA REGARDING ARJUNA PROWESS,THEN YOU ARE MOST WELCOME!!
Moreover karna himself praised arjuna that everytime he cut thread of bow arjuna in such a speed rejoin his thread that karna cant notice..this is clearly memtioned in karna parva..for god’s sake read carefully..Moreover Arjuna wasnt responsible for karna shaap so why do u blame arjuna..why dont you people dont notice how abhimanyu single handedly hold at bay 5 kaurava generals simultaneously including karna when he was chariotless!!
Moreover karna himself said to kunti(in ved vyas version) & to shalya ( in some telugu version) dat anybody except Mahadev Shiva would fear to fight arjuna wid krishna as his charioteer!
Moreover about the kavach kundal u claimed of karna better get to know even if shakuni or even blind dhritrashtra had dat kavach kundal nobody not even demigods can penetrate his kavach..the fact of matter is that having impenetrable kavach kundal makes karna invincible in battle & battle will become 1 sided so karna having deprived of his kavach kundal makes the battle equally challenging for both & not 1 sided…So having kavacha kundal will definietly make you invincible in battle but wont show your archery talent!
Moreover I laugh at your fact that kunti saved arjuna even though karna only promised he would spare all 4 pandavas except arjuna as karna was determined to kill arjuna even though knowing arjuna was his younger brother..On the other gand arjuna gandiva fell from his hand & he cried for fraticide he had done after karna death after kunti desclosed of karna reality as his elder brother to arjuna & after dat Arjuna developed great affection for karna last suviving son named Vrishaketu, & personally arjuna trained him & took utmost care of him.. This is Arjuna!!
Arjuna wasnt even seduced by queen of all apsaras Urvashi whom even great rishis cant resist..Arjuna has an unmatched control of lust & respect for women which draupadi & krishna themselves praised!But what karna did-Karna encouraged cheer haran of draupadi & called drapadi A PROSTITUTE(VAISHYA)..god krishna doesnt like anybody without any reason!!
Now coming at your brahmin curse for karna,aruna didnt gave him dat shap so why you blame arjuna..it was his destiny dat even arjuna cant change..in gitaopdesh lord vasudev showed arjuna his vishwaroopam in which karna alongwith all kaurava commanders were engulfed by lord krishna bigg mouth which arjuna saw..everybody knew those on path of adharm are sure to get defeated & stop blaming arjuna for dat!
you r wrong again mate…If you read mahabharata properly shikhandi in her previous birth has a boon from lord shiva dat in her next birth as shikhandi,she will be d reason for bhishma death & krishna himeslf enginered bhishma death by arranging shikandi behind arjuna after bhishma himself told d way of his death becoz of shikhandi so u better stop blaiming arjuna for dat..dis was lord shiva boon dat was bound to happen.& according to u arjuna causing bhishma death was unjust..but dear it was again lord shiva boon dat shikandi obtained in her previous birth & dats d truth which ur ego cant change!dis was bound to happenn..then better blame lord shiva & lord krishna both dude..argue with gods then..u can assume however whatever u want in ur own version of mahabharata written by urself!but in actual mb,sorry mate dis doesnt happen dude.. accept dat!
Now coming to your point dat karna forgot mantra for brahmastra invocation better read d last part sec 90-91 of karna parva. It was CLEARLY mentioned dat karna after initial struggle karna was able to recall mantra for brahmastra which he invoked & directed at arjuna which was queched by another brahmastra fired by arjuna..
Jai Hind..
satsriyakal..
naman, vandan, poojan
shadevas weapon is sowrd but this sowrd name .