Hindu Pantheonweapon
Pashupatastra
- Universal Destruction
- Unstoppable Force
- Target Annihilation
- Counter-Immunity
The most destructive weapon in Hindu mythology, capable of annihilating all of creation. It can destroy any target and cannot be countered by any other divine weapon.
About Pashupatastra
The astra Shiva rations
In the Mahabharata (Vana Parva, the Kirāta episode) Arjuna wins the Pāśupatāstra from Shiva after combat in the forest: a weapon that can unmake targets and must not be loosed on the unworthy. It is mantra and knowledge as much as a physical arrow. Other heroes receive it in later tellings; the epic's interest is restraint. It is not a temple object on a stand. The greatest missile in the list is the one the story mostly refuses to fire.
Origin
Bestowed by Shiva only to the most worthy devotees, including Arjuna who received it through intense penance.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Kirāta / Pāśupatāstra)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
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