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weapon
Pashupatastra
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.
Description
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.
Primary Sources
“Shiva granted Arjuna the Pashupata, the weapon that could consume creation if used without cause, not to be discharged on a lesser foe.”
Powers & Abilities
Universal DestructionUnstoppable ForceTarget AnnihilationCounter-Immunity