Daṇḍāstra

The Daṇḍāstra is the divine weapon of Yama, the deva of death and of dharma, and guardian of the southern direction. An astra is a divine weapon, called up with a mantra (a sacred sound formula).

Yama gave the Daṇḍāstra to Arjuna on a Himālayan peak. This happened when the four lokapālas (the devas who guard the directions of the world) appeared one after another, after Arjuna had received the Pāśupatāstra from Śiva. The Daṇḍāstra carries the power of Yama’s daṇḍa, his staff or rod of punishment, which is the tool of justice in the universe.

What the Weapon Stands For

The Daṇḍāstra comes from Yama’s daṇḍa, the staff that is Yama’s special sign and tool. In the Vedas and Purāṇas, Yama’s daṇḍa is the tool that upholds dharma. It falls on those who have broken the moral order and whose time of reckoning has come. So it is a weapon that cannot be escaped: whatever is struck by Yama’s daṇḍa has no way out.

As an astra, the Daṇḍāstra turns this principle into a weapon for the battlefield. It could strike with the certainty of dharma itself, impossible to dodge or counter for an enemy whose time had come.

How Arjuna Received It

After Arjuna received the Pāśupatāstra from Śiva on the Himālayan peak, the four lokapālas came down one after another. Yama appeared first of the lokapālas, in his role as lord of the south and guardian of dharma. He honoured Arjuna’s tapas (spiritual discipline) and his remarkable feat in the battle with the Kirāta (Śiva in the form of a hunter), and he gave him the Daṇḍāstra.

Yama’s coming and his gift completed an important part of Arjuna’s arming. Arjuna now held a weapon from the lord of dharma himself, fitting for a warrior who was preparing to fight a war in defence of dharma.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 41