Eraka

Eraka is a tall reed-grass. It grew along the sea shore at Prabhāsa. By the working of the brāhmaṇa’s śāpa (curse), it became the tool of the destruction of the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas.

The fine powder of the cursed iron mushala (pestle) was thrown into the sea. It took root on the coast as this grass. When the time came, every blade that a man seized in anger turned in his hand into an adamantine pestle, as hard as the vajra (thunderbolt). With these pestles the doomed clansmen killed one another.

The grass born of the pestle

The iron mushala was born of the ṛshis’ curse. King Āhuka ordered it ground to a fine powder and scattered in the sea. The powder did not perish. It was carried to the shore at Prabhāsa and grew there as the eraka reed. What looked like a harmless coastal grass was the curse itself, waiting as a seed.

The blades that became pestles

At the festival at Prabhāsa, a quarrel flared. Kṛshṇa, in anger, tore up a handful of eraka. At once it became a fierce iron pestle in his hand. The same happened to every man who reached for the reeds. In each angry hand a blade of eraka turned into an unbreakable club, hard as adamant.

With these clubs the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis, Andhakas and Kukuras, driven by Kāla (Time), beat one another down. They fell like moths into a fire. Fathers killed sons and sons killed fathers, until the clan was destroyed. When the curse ripened, even a blade of grass became a weapon of death.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 1
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3