description of brahmastra

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

A couple months ago someone posted a description from Mahabharata of the brahmastra, comparing it to the effects of a nuclear weapon (hair falling out, food poisoning, etc.). Can anyone remember which thread that was under? I tried searching but couldn't find it. Maybe I read it somewhere else, but I thought it was in these forums.

 

[Gauracandra]

I'm almost positive I posted that description several months back. I specifically remembered the word 'projectile' but can't find it anywhere. Anyways, I did some searching on files I have on my computer and came up with this one:

 

In another episode the fearful Agneya weapon, "a blazing missile of

smokeless fire" is unleashed by the hero Adwattan.

 

"Dense arrows of flame, like a great shower, issued forth upon creation,

encompassing the enemy....A thick gloom swiftly settled upon the Pandava

hosts. All points of the compass were lost in darkness. Fierce winds began

to blow. Clouds roared upward, showering dust and gravel.

"Birds croaked madly...the very elements seemed disturbed. The sun seemed to

waver in the heavens. The earth shook, scorched by the terrible violent heat

of this weapon. Elephants burst into flame and ran to and fro in a

frenzy...over a vast area, other animals crumpled to the ground and died.

From all points of the compass the arrows of flame rained continuously and

fiercely."

 

"Gurkha, flying in his swift and powerful Vimana, hurled against the three

cities of the Vrishnis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the

power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright

as the thousand suns rose in all its splendour...An iron thunderbolt, a

gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the

Vrishnis and the Andhakas....The corpses were so burned as to be

unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent

cause, and the birds turned white....After a few hours all foodstuffs were

infected.... To escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves in

streams to wash themselves and their equipment..."

- The Mahabharata

Gauracandra