Nāgāstra

The nāgāstra is a divine weapon of great power whose arrows become venomous serpents that bind and disable a whole army. Its name comes from nāga (serpent) and astra (divine weapon, called up with a mantra).

In the Yuddha Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, during the war at Laṅkā, Indrajit, the son of Rāvaṇa, used the nāgāstra against Śrī Rāma and Lakshmaṇa. It brought them and the whole vānara army (the army of forest-dwellers led by Sugrīva and Hanumān) to the ground in a net of serpent bonds. This is one of the most dramatic crises of the war. It was resolved in the end when Garuḍa, the divine eagle and age-old enemy of all serpents, came to their aid.

The Nature of the Weapon

The nāgāstra showed its power through divine serpents: each arrow became a venomous, binding snake as soon as it was released. When Indrajit called up this weapon, the sky filled with serpent-arrows that struck their targets and coiled around them, holding them fast with the grip of powerful snakes. The venom of their bites drained away strength and consciousness. No ordinary effort or ordinary means could free those who were bound.

The weapon was said to come from nāga-loka, the world of the serpents. Indrajit had it through his remarkable ritual powers and the divine weapons he had gained through tapas (spiritual discipline) and Brahmā’s grace (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 44).

How Indrajit Used It

Indrajit fought while made invisible by the power of his rites at Nikumbhilā. He moved through the sky unseen, raining weapons down on the vānara army. When he released the nāgāstra, Śrī Rāma and Lakshmaṇa themselves were struck and fell, bound by the serpent bonds, unable to move or fight. The whole vānara army around them fell in the same way. The battlefield went silent. It was the most terrible silence of the war, for Bhagavān Rāma himself and his followers lay bound. Indrajit went back to Laṅkā declaring victory (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 44).

Garuḍa Sets Them Free

While the vānara army and Rāma and Lakshmaṇa lay bound, Garuḍa appeared on the battlefield. Garuḍa is the divine eagle, the vāhana (divine mount) of Vishṇu and the great enemy of all nāgas. His presence alone made the serpent bonds shrink back and melt away, for where Garuḍa lands, no serpent can keep its grip. He touched Rāma and Lakshmaṇa with his wings, healed all their wounds at once and gave them back their full strength.

Garuḍa’s coming at this moment carries deep meaning: Vishṇu’s own vāhana came to free Vishṇu’s own avatāra. It was as if the order of the universe itself answered the crisis (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 45–46).

The contrast with the later episode of the śakti-astra is worth noting. The effect of the nāgāstra was undone by Garuḍa alone, without any need for oshadhis (healing herbs). The wound of the śakti-astra needed the healing herbs brought from the Oshadhi Parvata, the mountain of herbs.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 44
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 45–46