Vijaya Dashami or Dasara: Looking Back at my Childhood >>>> Sharing information on Arjuna’s Celestial Weapons : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 Vijaya Dashami or Dasara: 

Looking Back at my Childhood

Sharing information on 

Arjuna’s Celestial Weapons

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao (October 19, 2026)

October 20, 2026, we celebrate the grand culmination of this year’s Dasara (Vijaya Dasami). Leading up to this finale, the vibrant regional and foundational traditions of Bathukamma and Navaratri, have concurrently breathed life and devotion into our homes concurrently. A core highlight of this period occurred on October 18, 2026: the ninth day of the ‘Navaratri Festival’ which was widely celebrated as ‘Ayudha Puja (Worship of Weapons)’ across both northern and southern India, especially Telangana.

The legend was that: weapons that had been kept idle and safely stored away during the rainy season were taken out, polished to a shine, and offered sacred prayers to ensure ultimate success in the upcoming battles. Devotees of the Goddess maintained that Goddess Durga vanquished the buffalo demon Mahishasura on Vijaya Dasami. Others, drawing from the Mahabharata, believe that it was on this exact day that Arjuna successfully conquered the Kaurava kings during the famous ‘Uttara Gograhanam’ (the rescue of the cattle from North). 

Meanwhile, while tracing the exact historical genesis of how this ancient martial custom evolved remains complex, the tradition has seamlessly transformed in modern times into an absolute cultural phenomenon: Vehicle Puja. Today, it is an unbreakable ritual that nearly every vehicle owner observes, and we were certainly no exception. And my wife, meticulously has been observing this, in the early hours of the Durga Ashtami day, ever since I started owning a vehicle, to begin with the Scooter.

However, drawing parallel is not difficult, irrespective of whether it holds hundred percent accuracy. Historically, Ayudha Puja was meant for warriors to cleanse and bless their weapons (Ayudhas) before battle: most famously linked to Arjuna retrieving his divine weapons from the ‘Shami Tree’ in the Mahabharata during ‘Uttara Gograhana’ (stealing King Virata’s cattle wealth by Kauravas from North). In the modern era, ‘Weapons’ have been re-conceptualised as the tools of one's livelihood.

Just as a scholar worships books or an artisan blesses their tools, a modern individual relies heavily on transport for daily sustenance. Vehicles: whether a bicycle, scooter, car, or heavy truck, all of them are viewed as the mechanical extensions of our daily labor and personal safety. Performing Vahana (Vehicle) Puja is an act of expressing gratitude to the machine for the service it has rendered, while simultaneously invoking divine protection to ensure safe journeys, accident-free commutes, and trouble-free ownership in the year ahead.

Significantly, the Shami Tree Connection is literally enthralling. Before entering King Virata’s capital city (As part of their forest exile, the Ajnata Vasa), the Pandavas needed to hide their legendary celestial weapons: including Arjuna's formidable bow, the ‘Gandiva.’ They wrapped them up to look like a corpse and tied them safely hidden high up in a massive ‘Shami Tree’ located near a ground outside the city (Elaboration with personal touch of the supposed place later). The Climax was the prefinal Maha Bharata War: the ‘Uttara Gograhana.’

At the end of the year, the Kauravas attacked the Matsya Kingdom from the North to steal King Virata’s cattle wealth (Uttara Gograhana). Driven into battle against the raiding Kauravas with Brihannala (the disguised Arjuna) serving as his charioteer, Prince Uttara grew absolutely terrified upon witnessing the colossal enemy army. Panic-Stricken, the prince insisted on abandoning the cattle and fleeing for his life, making it explicitly clear to Arjuna that he was in no position to fight.

Strongly countering this, Arjuna declared that fleeing in fear from the enemy was absolute cowardice. When the prince jumped off the chariot to run away, Arjuna pursued him, brought him back by force, and infused him with courage, commanding Uttara to act as the charioteer instead while he took up the fight. Together on the chariot, they sped directly toward the sacred Shami tree. Stopping the chariot right before the Shami (Jammi) Tree, Arjuna instructed Uttara to climb up and bring down the ‘Gandiva,’ a celestial bow.

Arjuna explained to the prince that the Pandava brothers: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, had bundled their divine weapons together and concealed them in that very tree, directing him to retrieve the ‘Gandiva’: whose power was equal to a hundred thousand ordinary bows. Unwrapping the bundle and beholding the magnificent bow, Uttara turned to his companion, still addressing him as 'Charioteer', and asked which of the legendary Pandavas actually wielded this weapon.

The disguised Arjuna replied that it belonged to Arjuna himself, and proceeded to explain in detail which weapon belonged to which brother. Still skeptical, Uttara stated that if this was truly the case, he would only believe it if Brihannala could recount the ten legendary names of Arjuna and explain how he earned them. Arjuna obliged and recited them as: ‘Arjuna, Phalguna, Partha, Kiriti, Shveta Vahana, Bibhatsu, Vijaya, Jishnu, Savyasachi, and Dhananjaya,’ contextualising the origin of each title.

Fully convinced and filled with immense faith, Uttara instantly transformed into the charioteer to Arjuna, and together they proceeded toward the battlefield. As Arjuna strung the mighty Gandiva and struck the bowstring, the twang resonated with such immense power that the skies and all horizons reverberated. He then blew his divine conch, the Devadatta, sending shockwaves through the seven seas, shaking the seven ancient mountain ranges, and making the entire earth tremble.

In the ensuing battle, the Kaurava warriors fell one after another under Arjuna's relentless assault. As Bhishma, Drona, Ashwatthama, and Kripacharya began retreating from the field, a desperate Duryodhana begged them for protection. Turning back, Bhishma, Drona, and the other veteran warriors rallied their forces to surround Arjuna’s chariot from all sides. Defending himself flawlessly, Arjuna launched the mystical ‘Sammohana Astra (the enchantment weapon),’ plunging the entire Kaurava army into a deep state of unconsciousness.

Upon regaining consciousness, Kauravas retreated. Because Arjuna conquered the massive Kaurava forces and achieved this spectacular victory, all alone, on this very day, it became an unbreakable tradition to celebrate and commemorate this day as Vijaya Dasami (Dasara). The ‘Gandiva Bow’, that brought victory, was the legendary, indestructible celestial bow of Arjuna, originally crafted by Lord Brahma to safeguard cosmic righteousness. It came into Arjuna’s hands during the Khandava Dahana: the burning of the Khandava forest.

When the ‘Fire Dod Agni’ sought Arjuna’s protection against Indra's torrential storms, Arjuna agreed but lacked a weapon that could withstand his immense strength. At Agni's request, Varuna, the god of the oceans, gifted Arjuna this magnificent bow alongside two inexhaustible quivers. It was a marvel of divine engineering, adorned with golden eyes and elephant patterns, featuring 108 unbreakable celestial strings.

Whenever Arjuna drew the bowstring, it emitted a deafening, thunderous rumble that echoed across the plains, instantly striking psychological terror into the hearts of his enemies. Throughout its history, the Gandiva was deeply intertwined with Arjuna’s close association with Lord Krishna. Together, they fought side-by-side during its acquisition, and it was under Krishna's divine guidance as his charioteer that Arjuna unleashed the bow's true potential.

As the defining weapon of the Kurukshetra war, the Gandiva amplified Arjuna’s power a thousandfold, seamlessly channeling devastating celestial weapons (Astras) and serving as the ultimate shield that protected the Pandavas and altered the destiny of humanity, in the future Mahabharata War. In fact, there were other celestial armaments that transformed Arjuna from a premier archer into an unstoppable force of cosmic order, perfectly balancing absolute destructive capability with unparalleled moral restraint.

The foremost among them, as part of his divine collection, was the ‘Pashupatastra,’: the supreme, irresistible personal missile of Lord Shiva once. Unlike physical weapons, this ultra-destructive weapon could be discharged through a bow, a spoken word, a piercing glare, or a mere thought. Arjuna earned it from Lord Shiva during the Pandavas' forest exile. Guided by Sage Vyasa, Arjuna performed grueling penances to please Mahadeva on Himalayas.

 Shiva tested Arjuna’s warrior spirit by disguising himself as a tribal hunter (Kirata) and engaging him in an intense physical duel. Deeply impressed by Arjuna’s unbreakable resolve Shiva granted him the mantra. However, the gift came with a strict cosmic caveat: the ‘Pashupatastra’ possessed the cataclysmic power to annihilate the entire fabric of creation. Therefore, it was strictly forbidden to be used against ordinary mortals or lesser warriors. In a spectacular display of ethical leadership, Arjuna carried this weapon throughout the eighteen days of the Kurukshetra war but never fired it once, choosing to let it remain sheathed.

Beyond the gifts of Shiva and Varuna, Arjuna’s unique bond with his divine father, Lord Indra, granted him two of the most devastating battlefields clearing weapons used in the war. The ‘Vajra Astra Weapon’ channeled the raw, irresistible power of Indra's primary weapon, the Vajra (the cosmic thunderbolt forged from the spine of Sage Dadhichi). When invoked, it rained down thousands of localized, precision lightning strikes from the sky. Arjuna notably deployed the Vajra Weapon on the twelfth day of the Kurukshetra war to decisively crush the massive ‘Samsaptakas’: Duryodhana's elite suicide warrior detachment.

‘The Mahendrastra,’ an elite, mass-destruction weapon belonging exclusively to Indra. When unleashed, it generated a localized sky-shower consisting of millions of blazing arrows and spears. Arjuna famously activated the ‘Mahendrastra’ on the fourteenth day of the war while heavily bleeding, and again on the seventeenth day to completely neutralize and baffle the terrifying ‘Brahmastra’ deployed by Karna. Beyond these signature elite weapons of the gods, Arjuna possessed a versatile arsenal of tactical and elemental Astras that allowed him to manipulate the very physics of the battlefield.

When engulfed by enemy fire, he would summon the torrential downpours of the ‘Varunastra’ and to scatter charging phalanxes, he invoked the gale-force fury of the ‘Vayavyastra,’ and to incinerate heavy enemy divisions, he unleashed the blazing ‘Agneyastra.’ For wide-scale non-lethal subjugation, he could deploy the psychological waves of the ‘Sammohana Astra’ to instantly freeze or induce mass sleep (Like in Uttara Gograhana) across enemy ranks. Most crucially, when the fate of humanity hung in the balance, Arjuna wielded the ultimate cosmic power of the ‘Brahmastra and Brahmashira Astra.’

They were the supreme weapons of Lord Brahma capable of erasing creation, by possessing the rare spiritual maturity to not only launch them but safely recall them when commanded. It was this unparalleled combination of elemental mastery, supreme cosmic missiles, and the precise, fatal deployment of the ‘Anjalika Astra’ on the seventeenth day to slay Karna, that transformed Arjuna into an unstoppable force of cosmic order, with unparalleled moral restraint.

For countering overwhelming mass formations without causing immediate physical destruction, Arjuna could deploy the ‘Tvashtra Astra’ a highly specialized illusion-weapon created by the divine architect Vishvakarma. When unleashed, this weapon warped the psychology of the battlefield, projecting thousands of staggering optical duplicates of Arjuna and Krishna.

Driven to mass panic and absolute confusion by these realistic apparitions, enemy legions would mistake their own allies for the Pandava Heroes, turning their weapons inward in catastrophic friendly fire. The Mahabharata is so incredibly vast that Arjuna technically possessed dozens of other highly specialized celestial weapons: such as the blinding ‘Suryastra’ or the darkness-clearing ‘Jyotisha Astra.’

Against this Epical narrative applying contextually to the contemporary society, and looking back at my own childhood, the true magic of the Vijaya Dasami (Dasara) Festival unfolded right in the heart of our village. On the evening of Vijaya Dasami, our entire village and neighborhood would gather in the vibrant fields just outside the village boundaries, right in front of our local school where the sacred Jammi Tree (Prosopis cineraria tree) stood tall. We would carefully write out the sacred Sanskrit verses on pieces of paper:

‘Shami shamayate papam, shami shatru Vinasanam...

Arjunasya dhanurdhari, Ramasya Priya Darshanam...’

(May the sacred Shami tree purify our faults and dissolve all obstacles;

The protector of Arjuna's mighty bow, and the beloved sight of Lord Rama.)

We would gently attach these prayers to the branches of the Jammi tree and look to the skies, waiting to catch a blessed glimpse of the auspicious Indian Roller bird (Rama Chiluka). Thus, the very name ‘Dasara’ illuminates its essence: it is literally a ‘Festival of Ten Nights.’ Across the southern regions of India, including our home state of Telangana, this sacred period is beautifully divided into two parts. The first nine nights are celebrated as the spiritual journey of Navaratri, which then culminates gloriously on the tenth day as Vijaya Dasami the magnificent ‘Victorious Tenth.’

Beyond the epic lore of the Mahabharata, these traditions resonate deeply within my own roots and childhood memories, directly tying into my maternal and paternal heritage. My native village, Vanam Vari Krishna Puram, lies in close proximity to Nela Kondapalli and Bana Puram: two places of immense historical and mythological significance where my childhood reminiscences are stored in immeasurable counts.

Nela Kondapalli, which happens to be my maternal uncle’s native (On adoption) place, has earned a unique place on the global map as an ancient, illustrious Buddhist center, globally renowned for its colossal archaeological excavations and an unparalleled, majestic Boudha Arama (Buddhist Stupa). Yet, growing up, this land whispered stories of a much older era. In our childhood, we witnessed a massive mud fort sprawling across more than a hundred acres, which local folklore firmly believed to be the historical palace site of King Virata from the Mahabharata.

A few miles away lies Nachepally, the birth (adopted) place of my mother and the home of my maternal grandparents, completing the geography of my earliest years. As children, we would explore the outskirts of Nela Kondapalli with boundless curiosity, captivated by the local legends of the ‘Virata Raju Dibba’ as it was called then, and the stunning structural remnants nearby. Among the most significant resemblances to the epic tale was a massive, ‘Ancient Kitchen Structure filled with Giant Chulas (earthen stoves).

Local lore explicitly attributed this monumental kitchen to Valala: the mighty Bhima Sena living incognito as the royal head cook during the Pandavas' Ajnata Vasa in King Virata's court. Just a few kilometres away lies the village of Bana Puram (My paternal links). Local legend holds that before entering the capital, the Pandavas stopped at the outskirts of this village, to conceal their divine weapons, wrapping them to resemble a corpse before hiding them high up in a sacred ‘Jammi (Shami) Tree’: a mythic event that forever etched the name Bana Puram (the land of arrows) into our local geography.

Walking through these lands today, the transition from the ancient worship of weapons on the Jammi Tree to our contemporary family rituals of Vehicle Puja feels entirely natural. These are not just distant mythological stories to me; they are the living, breathing landscapes of my childhood, beautifully tying the triumph of Vijaya Dasami (Dasara) to the very soil and family heritage I call home.

>>>> Photographs Courtesy Rama Bhakta Vijaya Raghava Dasu