Thursday, 24 April 2025

Why did Arjuna not use his divine weapons during the war of Mahabharata when he fought against Drona, Karna, and Ashwatthama?

Why did Arjuna not use his divine weapons during the war of Mahabharata when he fought against Drona, Karna, and Ashwatthama? Arjuna hurled divine weapons when he fought against prominent warriors of opponent side. He did not hurl the most powerful astras like MahaPashupata ,Narayanastra,Vaishnavastra.. Arjuna hurled Brahmashira not by will but to neutralise Aswathama’s Brahmashira. Arjuna did not use most of the astras he got from devas like Yamadanda . He got so many powerful astras from them but desisted from shooting them most of the time. Usage of powerful astras against Bhishma,Drona & Karna,Aswathama Some of the divine astras used by Arjuna against Bhishma,Drona and Karna can be cited here Against Bhishma tato bhujAbhyAM balavadvikRRiShya; chitraM dhanurgANDivamaprameyam | mAhendramastraM vidhivatsughoraM; prAdushchakArAdbhutamantarikShe || 110|| He used the strength of his two arms to draw the beautiful bow Gandiva, whose energy was immeasurable. In accordance with the prescriptions, he invoked the extremely terrible and wonderful weapon of the great Indra and made it appear in the sky. Ch 55 Bhishma parva Bori critical Edition Bhishma had no counter for this Astra of Indra and withdrew his forces. Against Drona On fifteenth day Arjuna hurled divine astras and countered Drona’s astras with them. Drona could not establish his superiority over Pandava in any way. The one who was skilled about the motions of weapons then invoked special weapons—aindra,pashupata, tvashtra, vayavya and varuna.°” However, as soon as these were released from Drona’s bow, Dhananjaya destroyed them. When his weapons were duly destroyed by Pandava’s weapons, Drona released supreme and divine weapons towards Partha. However, every weapon that was invoked with a desire to vanquish Partha, was duly destroyed by Arjuna with another weapon. When those weapons, including the divine ones, were duly destroyed by Arjuna, Drona honoured Arjuna in his mind. The immensely intelligent Drona invoked brahmastra. It scorched Partha and all the invisible beings. The earth, with all its mountains and trees, began to tremble. Turbulent winds began to blow and the oceans were agitated. When the great-souled one invoked that weapon, there was terror among the Kuru and Pandava soldiers and all the beings and a great uproar arose. O Indra among kings! However, Partha was not frightened. He countered that weapon with his own brahmastra and everything became peaceful again. Ch 163 Drona parva Bori critical Edition Against Aswathama Arjuna hurled Brahmastra on Aswathama’s Agneyastra on fifteenth day. ““O great king! At this, Arjuna invoked brahmastra. The one who was born from a lotus’® has decreed that this is capable of repulsing all weapons. That darkness was dispelled in an instant. Auspicious winds began to blow and the directions became clear. At the end of the war,when Aswathama hurled Brahmashira Arjuna released the same Astra to neutralise that weapon. pUrvamAchAryaputrAya tato.anantaramAtmane | bhrAtRRibhyashchaiva sarvebhyaH svastItyuktvA parantapaH || 5|| devatAbhyo namaskRRitya gurubhyashchaiva sarvashaH | utsasarja shivaM dhyAyannastramastreNa shAmyatAm || 6|| Sauptika Parva ch 14 Bori Critical Edition Against Karna Arjuna released higher Brahmastra on Karna when Bhima and Krishna goaded h8m to use higher astras. Having said this, he in- voked the invincible brahmastra in his mind, in accordance with the prescribed rites. All the directions and sub- directions were covered by extremely energetic arrows. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Many hundreds of swift arrows were released from it. Ch 65 Karna parva Bori critical Edition Arjuna was about to hurl Raudrastra but stopped seeing Karna’s chariot wheel sink deep into earth. Dhananava invoked an arrow with davie mantras. It was hike a hre and the poison of a serpent. I was made completely out of tron. Kiriti united this with roudrastra and wished to shootit. But, in that great battle, the earth swallowed up one of the wheels of Radheya’s chanot * "Radheva wept in rage. He told Arjuna, 'O Pandava. Wait for an instant. You can see that because of destiny. Ch 66 Karna parva Bori critical Edition There were other astras like Nagastra that Arjuna used on Samshaptakas and some more at various situations. Except for the most powerful astras of Trinity Arjuna used other ones when he faced prominent warriors of Kaurava side. My answer is based on story of Vyasa Bharat

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