astra
अस्त्र astraA divine weapon of the epics, invoked, launched and withdrawn by mantra; a god-given supernatural energy (e.g. the Brahmāstra), not a physical machine.
Where this term appears
- Did the Mahabharata describe nuclear weapons? Journal
The great weapons of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the astras , the divine weapons.
- Kameshvara - And The Four Acharas Treatise
…hes, the flower-arrows returned to Lalita’s hand, the Maha Kameshvara astra deployed against Bhandasura, Kamadeva restored and given the practice - closes the loop.
- The Chariot Treatise
…ves until the Goddess herself, at the centre, deployed the Kameshvara astra on Bhandasura at the end.
- The Demon in the Fire Treatise
Lalita, in the text’s account, deployed against him a single mantra - the Kameshvara astra , the Weapon of the Lord of Desire - which she had received from Shiva.
- The Fire She Came From Treatise
…ss herself, at the end of the four days, deployed the Maha Kameshvara astra - the Great Weapon of the Lord of Desire - that reduced Bhandasura and his city of Shunyaka to ash simultaneously, the act captured in…
- The Name Treatise
… of shaktis and the chariot of the Sri Chakra and the Maha Kameshvara astra that incinerated a demon and a city in a single act - the Goddess at the centre of the entire architecture has, as her primary name, a…