Which bow was more powerful in mahabharat

[mohittherock]

Arjuna's Gandiva which was used by Lord Indra and later it was given to lord Varun......Arjuna received it from lord varun.

 

Karna's Vijaya which was lord Shiva's bow and he gave it to parshuraam because he was lord shiva's disciple. Later Parshuraam gave it to Karna.

 

what do you think..which bow was more powerful.

[ranjeetmore]

Gandiva.Obviously..............

I know it's not related but i thought the funniest thing was that although Arjuna had complete control over his mind which even the sages like Vishvamitra couldn't achieve,says to Krsna,"I'm trembling in fear for i do not want to fight my relatives."

 

When the Lord was saying,"Mam ekam sharnam vraja" etc. arjuna might be chuckling in his mind,"This Shyamsundara is nicely teaching me.I'll teach Him later."

lol.IT's funny.

[mohittherock]

I will say that Vijaya was more powerful than Gandiva because it was lord shiva's bow. Any of lord shiva's belongies are superior to the belongies of all other god.

 

my vote goes for Vijaya.

[hindustani]

Recall episode of Kuniti,she on advise of Lord Krishna went to Karna and asked for full protection of her sons,not only that Karna is said to be peerless because he was blessed with the Kavcha and Kundala at birth, which cannot be pierced by any weapon, Krishna himself feared that Karna might kill everyone among them at one point and that is why Indra quenched his fear a little by begging for Karna's kavach and Kundala,so my answer is clear in this post,guess whose weapons were powerful.

[hindustani]

and one more thread is already in this forum for this subject,go here

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/hinduism/24549-karna-greatest-archer-3.html

[srikanthdk71]

If Ekalavya or Karna were not tricked by Drona/Indra/Krishna/Kunti, Arjuna is like a mosquito. Infact without Krishna, he couldnt survive his own son Babruvahana who killed him. To that extent, infact Abhimanyu was greater than Arjuna as a warrior.

[ranjeetmore]

 

If Ekalavya or Karna were not tricked by Drona/Indra/Krishna/Kunti, Arjuna is like a mosquito. Infact without Krishna, he couldnt survive his own son Babruvahana who killed him. To that extent, infact Abhimanyu was greater than Arjuna as a warrior.

 

After Bhagvat praapti,The Lord bestows all His strength,opulence,beauty,etc. on the Jeevatma except the powers to create,maintain and destruct the material cosmic manifestation.

That's why when Sri Narayana desired to Fight,Jaya Vijaya immediately went to the material manifestation as Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaaksa to fulfill the Lord's transcendental desire immediately.Narada confirms this in an intimate conversation.

If you remember,The Lord battled Hiranyaaksa the longest ever.He acted as though He was even tired.

Only the devotee can match the Lord's strength in leela.Who else has the fortune or strength?

So all this speculation of yours goes for a toss when you consider these facts coz Arjuna does not need the lord to counter the apparently 'invincible' karna.

Your post also reflects your personal envy towards the Lord and His devotees.

Talk about one ness and neutrality towards everyone.

[mohittherock]

i read posts on this thread...really interesting..

 

yes Karna was better than Arjuna...people say Arjuna defeated karna in Viraat war and Gandharva war. in my personal opinion, Virat war and gandarva war was nothing......the true identy of a true and powerful warrior comes when he is putting his life at risk, using all the power with great courage and bravery...he is not caring for his life....Kurushetra war was the only war where pandava and kauravas were like enemy, no relation between them.......

 

In virata, the warriors of kaurava came to knew it was arjuana and they didn't want to kill him because they loved arjuna and yeah it wasn't a kurushetra war where friend/relative can become enemy.

 

 

if arjuna defeated Karna two times...In Virat War and Gandarva war...Arjuna also escaped twice from Karna in kurushetra war ...if krishna wasn't there, Karna would have killed arjuna and the history would be different.

 

if Karna was blessed with Kavach and Kundal...lord indra took his kavach and kunda which was a big blessing for arjuna for victory.... Also arjuna got many blessings from sages and gods, including Lord shiva.....karna had no blessing...he had curses, he didn't have kavach and kunda, he didn't have shakti weapon, his promises to kunti, salya's indifference, Krishna's support to arjuna..........YET KARNA WAS ABLE TO KILL ARJUNA....this shows how powerful he was.

[srikanthdk71]

 

So all this speculation of yours goes for a toss when you consider these facts coz Arjuna does not need the lord to counter the apparently 'invincible' karna.

 

Come to the point you fool. Are we talking about any Tattva here? You have this habit of coming to conclusions before stepping in.

 

Let me tell you a small Zen story. A Zen teacher along with 3 of his disciples was about to cross an overflowing river. There was a beautiful girl who was also wanting to cross the river. She asked the Zen master with all reverance to help her. The Zen master just lifted her, made her sit on his shoulders and after crossing the river, left her on the other bank. The disciples were disturbed at this sight. They asked their master, 'You teach us to maintain austirity and yourself carried that girl. How could you?'. The master smiled and replied, 'I left the girl already on the bank. But you people are still carrying her on your mind.'

 

This story applies to people like you, dear Ranjeet More. All the best. Hope you learnt something.

 

Your post also reflects your personal envy towards the Lord and His devotees.Talk about one ness and neutrality towards everyone.

 

If you do not have a logic to prove your standpoint, all you can do is scratch yourself till you get red all over. Re-read all your posts and my answers. You will find who has personal envy, against whom and against what?

[hindustani]

Clap Clap Clap,no one can make things easier than this,Ranjeet now can you digest?

 

The master smiled and replied, 'I left the girl already on the bank. But you people are still carrying her on your mind.'

 

[mahak]

fact is, karna and arjuna were players in the great production of mahabharata. That they were enemies is the same as when jagai and madai were playing great enemies to devotees, when actually, they are eternal gatekeepers for lord Narayana.

 

Arjuna is victorious, karna was vanquished, from that main point, there is no arguement. The cheating and lying and diabolical events of war is what defines war, so there is no excuse for a warrior not to cheat or go against old promises or act according to virtue. Alls fair is love and war, so karna did not get cheated, he showed weakness at the wrong time, just as Indrajit, the greatest warrior in Ramayana was also defeated.. He could hide from all humans, but not from raksasas, and it was indrajit's fault that he did not consider a raksasa on the side of Rama.

 

Karna was not whining about being cheated, that is why he is a grweat hero. The only whining going on is with insignificant humans who refuse to accept the verdict of the great YAJNA called the kuruksetra war. Arjuna won, not because of any great asset he had, he won because KRSNA decided he is the victor. Even Lord Balarama, who favored Karna and Duryodhana, could not give a better result, which is why Balarama decided to sit kuruksetrra out.

 

haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

 

PS Yudhisthira was the greatest warrior of that war, followed by Karna, bhisma, krpacarya, drona, bhima, then arjuna, in that order. Arjuna was equal to aswattama in military prowess, but he himself gave credit to his elder brothers and teachers as much greater than he. This is why arjuna is the best, because he has mastered proper way to act, with humility and respect for all others.

[danvir karna]

definately karna is better warrior here. He is more powerful than arjuna because when without interference from others he would have killed arjuna. At first even though karna was kshatria and a prince of hastinapur he was denied by drona as his student because of the secret kept by kunti. And then he had three curses on his side.And on top of that he was on the side of adharma. Dharma always gets victory. If it was just an ordinary battle with dharma on both sides then it would be karna who would be victorious.Then only he knew that pandavas were his brothers and the pandavas didn't know karna was their brother.Thus, only karna had a slight hesitation in killing pandavs. On top of that his kavacha nd kundala was taken by indra dev.

 

now looking at former defeat of karna from arjun. In the virata yudha he was not expecting a battle and when the battle started he must not have been so alert and didn't care much about arjuna because there were many great warriors on his side:bhisma pitama, dron acharya, krip acharya, duryodhana, dushashana and he himself. He musn't have even thought that arjina would point his arrows to his pitama and his gurus.In the shywombara

of draupadi, he was not aware that the brahmin was actually arjuna and he had not expected such skills from a brahmin. Then he had praised his guru and gone from there. Had he known that the brahmin was arjina then i don't think he lacked enough arrows or skills to fight arjuna.

now he also had given promise that he would not kill andy other pandavas other than arjun in the battle to kunti.If he had killed other pandavas then arjuna might have died earlier unable to support arjuna and then arjuna might have died himself. If bishama had let karna fight along with him then together they might have been unstopable and kille all the pandavas.

 

so definately karna is superior

[sant]

This is the question not which warrior was superior.

[Guest Anirudh]

Gandiva was clearly the more powerful...It is mentioned in Mahabharata that no one except Arjuna and Krishna could lift it or wield it...Now Karna used to use the Vijaya...If it would have been more powerful than the Gandiva then Karna should also have been able to wield the Gandiva, a lesser weapon in that case...So the verdict is quite clear...But the Vijaya too was very powerful

[Guest Rishi]

All those who without reading the original scripture Mahabhrat have simply commented that Karna was a better warrior than Arjuna I request you to please go ahead and read it". There is not one battle Karan won against Arjun but in-fact lost all the battles. The reason Karna is praised so much that it clouds who was a better archer between Arjuna and Karna because Karna was indeed the only one capable of defeating Arjuna. We talk highly about him because he was a great giver ( dan veer ) even when fait was most unfair with him. He was not just the greatest warrior but so much more even when everything, his life his mother was so unfair with him. That is why he transcends Arjuna in fame. But if we talk pure archery and its skill... Arjun was always able to beat Karana, whether u take Virat yudh or Draupadi swayamver. Or fight against gandharvas, where duryodhan was taken captive and arjun freed him where Karna failed and left the battle in a jiffy.

[Guest SENTHILmeaning Son of Shiv]

KARNA and his Vijaya Dhanush.... DANAVEER!!!!

[Guest mera bharat mahan]

no weapons can stand upon Krishna bhagwan. be it vijaya, gandiva,brajapat,trishul etc there can be no protector like Krishna he is the supreme

[Guest Rishab]

Both the Gandiv is a divine bow which improves the wielder from within, making him righteous, .... Vijaya on the other hand is a trophy bow given as a keepsake by Shiva to pashuram, without any power whatsoever.... for more info check adi parva of the mahabharata....

[Guest arjun]

Parasurama  gifted Karna his personal bow Vijaya,the bow of Lord Siva.Lord Shiva gifted his personal bow named Vijaya  along with all celestial weapons and the science of warfare (dhanurveda) to Parsurama for the task of killing all kashatriyas in the world.By this bow Parasurama killed all kashtriyas in the world several time.This bow is unparlleled and except Parasurama and Karna no warrior in the world can lift it.This bow has a speaciality that anyone holding on it in hand will become  unparllel and invincible in battle as it was the gift of Siva.Even Pasupatastra cannot do harm to the holder of Vijaya bow because who ever holds Vijaya becomes Siva himself .The bow Vijaya was specially made by Vishvakarma for Lord Shiva to destroy the city of Tripura built by sons of Tarakusara.Lord shiva destroyed Tripura by firing Pasupatastra from Vijaya.No weapon,even Pasupatastra cannot defeat the holder of Vijaya bow as the name Vijaya implies victory ( to the pocessor).

 

Parasharam cursed Karna to forget the mantra to invoke Brahmastra at the time of his greatest need .But repenting about the curse and Karna  being a deligent and worthy student Parasurama blessed Karna.Parasurama gifted him a unique celestial weapon which nobody else possesed  called Bhargavastra and  his personal bow  called Vijaya.

 

The Bhargavastra  along with shiva danush Vijaya and Kavach-Kundal makes karna the most fearsome and powerful warrior in the three worlds.

 

 

P.S- .(Karna only used Vijaya bow once in lifetime during the war of Mahabarath.By this bow Karna several time overpowered Arjun.Learning that Karna with Vijaya bow is invincible Krishna advised Arjun to kill Karna when he put down Vijaya bow to lift his sunken chariot wheel )

 

 

 

 

Eventhough Karna given away his Kavach and Kundal as daan to Lord Indra he was confident that no one,even Lord Krishna with sudarshan chakra or Arjuna with Paupatastra cannot defeat him in fight.It was well proved in the 2 days of fight between Arjun and Karna in Mahabaratha war,because it was only on this war Karna used Vijaya bow.Karna defeted Arjun several times,made him weaponless and Krishna saved the life of Arjun 2 times.Krishna saved Arjun first time by sinking the chariot wheel when Karna fired Nagastra and saved second time by setting the sun earlier when at a time Karna overpowered Arjuna and trying to make kill shot.Karna knew that Krishna,the presesrver of the Brahmanda made the sun set earlier and obeying the code of condut of war he didnt make the kill shot eventhough he can.Krishna was sure that Karna will obseve the codes of conduct of war,because he himself was the commander in chief of tha Kauvarava army, and at the climax fight of the great war particularly against Arjuna he wont foul play because he didnt want the world to tell that Karna used crooked methods against Arjun.Later in the war Krishna pushed Arjuna to use crooked methods against Karna and Arjuna killed Karna when he was unarmed trying to lift the chariot wheel.Krishna perfectly knew that Karna was fighting with his full energy and spirit and it will be an impossible task for Arjuna to kill Karna fighting with Vijaya the bow of Lord Siva.So the moment Karna put down Vijaya bow Krishna pushed Arjun to kill unarmed Karna eventhouh it was against code of conduct of the war.

 

 

[Guest gentlefist]

Vijaya was more powerful...nd karna was way stronger than arjuna.... Karna,bhishma,drona were deafeated in virat war because they were lotd parshuram's student....every stundent of parshuram had to take a oath that no matter what they won't use any divyaastra against-1.A eunuch 2.Only child of a Parent...Arjuna was a eunuch for one year at virat war due to curse of urvashi the apsara that's why karna,bhisma,drona didn't use thier full power...it is evident by the fact that arjuna couldn't deafeat bhishma in kurushetra thus forcing lord krishna himself to lift a chariot wheel as a weapon nd also the fact that arjuna couldn't beat drona on 15th day of war when drona used his full power nd used brahma-danda a divyaastra,and karna on multiple occasions deafeated arjuna,first bieng when he fired nagaastra nd krishna had to save arjuna by sinking the chariot,second occasion- each of arjuna's arrows pushed karna's chariot 35yards back while karna's arrow could only push arjuna's chariot by 10yards...on this krishna praised karna for his power,on this bewildered arjuna asked krishna why was he praising karna when arjuna's arrow pushed him farther,on this krishna said that-"I hold the weight of all three dimension nd yet you are getting pushed 10 yards,And if I was not on your chariot then you would have been thrown into a point in infinte".

Third Occasion-Karna deafeated arjuna nd was about to kill him when krishna set the sun to save arjuna

[Guest C3l3$t!@l]

OK.. This is really stupid of people being so biased towards Karna.. May be no onw knows about shahastra kavach.  People talk about injustice being done to Karna.. does anybody remembers the number of injustice that he did to Pandavas what all names he called their wives? Karna Lied to his guru. Was involved in each and every bad deeds of duryodhan? Gave up all his pride and self respect just because he was awarded some nation ??? I really respect him for being Danveer and Being a great friend. But he followed along a wrong path to get benefits. Arjuna was far more superior to Karna when it came to inner strength. He never cheated on anyone. Karna was cursed or not but what he did was wrong.. And if u think Karna was disciple of Lord Shivas disciple.. Think again that Arjun was accepted as a disciple by lord shiva and offered parsupatastra which Arjun never used. Virat war u say Karna was not alert.. Oh yes.. he goes for fishing in a war right? you would be most alert when u don't know your enemy. And it was more sudden for Arjun as he never thought of fighting them in the first place.. but he did defeat each and every one of them there. I don't care about who had stronger of the bows... I know that Arjun was far superior in terms of character.. Some people with their clouded vision are unable to see things and want to support what they have perceived at any cost. We have Arjun award for a reason.. You won't be given an award when u take drugs or cheat and win something.. If Karan's Kavach was taken it was for a reason.. he was shahastra kavach in his earlier life and needed to be punished. Kunti might have did wrong to him but neither did Pandava's enjoyed anything good in their lives. They were for most of the time in gurukul and after that they were in exile. Karan was enjoying himself in palace while pandavas were struggling and Karan was also involved in the wrong doings. So idiots who are fascinated by sheer power don't just shit out anything over here.. Think and make a post.. Withpower comes a great responsibility and u should know how to use it.. I would pray that someone like Karan should come and screw your life and you have no Arjun to counteract.

 

[Guest S.Mohan]

Namaskar to everyone

 

My stand is from the point of both weapons - Karna's weapon was superior. Yes, Arjuna received his weapon from Lord Shiva. That I beside the point. Between the 2 weapons - Karna's is superior. he died because he was on the wrong end. Not because he is inferior. I trust that was the message Lord was sending. You can have everything but tread the wrong path and you end.

[Guest Rohit]

Arjuna and karna were equally strong competetors,they had almost same powers even if they had 2 different divine bows.from my openion arjuna's gandiva could only be matched by karna's vijaya.

[Guest Paskar]

its peak on karna  though