The Brahmashirastra (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: ब्रह्मशिरास्त्र,

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ''Brahmaśirāstra'') or Brahmashira Namaka Astra is the most destructive weapon, or Astra, described in the ancient Indian texts, capable of ending the existence of gods or

deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...

s. Thought to be superior to the

Brahmastra The () is a celestial weapon (''astra'') created and owned by the god Brahma along with its more powerful variant, the ''Brahmashirastra. The later is considered as the most destructive, powerful, and irresistible weapon mentioned in all of ...

, the Brahmashirastra causes chain reactions of massive explosions and waves to annihilate any desired entity of the universe or even the universe itself. The weapon manifests with the four heads of

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

as its tip. Agnivesha,

Drona Droṇa (, ), also referred to as Dronacharya (, ), is a major character of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he serves as the royal preceptor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. He is one of the primary counsellors and warriors featured ...

Ashwatthama Ashvatthama (, , also spelt as Ashwatthama and Ashvatthaman) is a character in the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the son of Drona, the royal preceptor to the Kuru princes—the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Ashvatthama is a close ...

and

Arjuna Arjuna (, , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɾd͡ʒun̪ə is one of the central characters of the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the third of the five Pandava brothers, and is widely regarded as the most important and renowned among them. ...

possessed the knowledge to invoke this weapon. This weapon can be invoked into any object, even to a blade of grass. In the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'', it is explained that when this weapon is invoked, "It blazes up with terrible flames within a huge sphere of fire. Numerous peals of thunder to be heard, fissures start on earth, rivers become dry, thousands of meteors fell, and all living creatures became terrified with great dread. The entire sky seemed to be filled with noise and assumed a terrible aspect with flames of fire. The whole earth with her mountains and waters and trees trembled". When it strikes an area, it will be destroyed and nothing will ever grow there, not even a blade of grass for the next 50 Brahma years (155.5

trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million 1,000,000, million, or (ten to the twelfth Exponentiation, power), as defined on the long and short scales, short scale. This is now the meaning in bot ...

human years). Its true power is the ability to remove someone's existence from the past, present, and future. Upon being fired, the arrow will immediately annihilate their existence, and because if something never existed and will never exist, it is impossible to imagine that entity in any facet or form.

References

{{Hindu deities and texts Astras Weapons of Brahma

See also

References