This is one of my favorite topics. I have been searching for resources all the way to add validity to the subject matter, "Is Kurukshethra war a nuclear one?" and finally have some details to share with you. The posts I write in this blog are primarily to establish a connection between mythology and science. In that perspective, this particular post will really make you think about our mythology in a very different way.
Basically, there are few different ways to look into mythological stories. To believe everything told in them is one way. This is what our ancestors did till couple of generations ago. This view made them morally good but they were not able to provide logical reasoning . Hearing the stories but treating them just as fiction is the second way. This view deteriorates the moral perspective also. Why because, mind believes that they are not real and just a fiction. We generally do not follow what we do not believe, Isn't it? The third view is trying to analyse the stories with questions.... why are they told in this way? Are there any reason behind them? This is the perception needed to interpret them correctly. This kind of approach will clearly make you understand the many good reasons viz... ethical, moral, scientific, health, environmental, political etc etc... behind such stories. My approach is always the third one and I like to basically raise questions till I am completely convinced. One such question is about the Mahabaratha war.
I always had a passion for this particular epic, compared to Ramayana. When we measure in terms of aggressiveness, Mahabaratha weighs more than that of Ramayana. It has almost touched all dimensions of life, possession, greed, sacrifice, cheating, bravery, cowardness, trust, suspicion, anger, jealousy, vengeance, patience, dedication, friendship, relationship.... and the list goes on. No wonder it still creates an impression even today. But approaching this epic with technology point of view is somewhat rare but it has many such aspects in the technology perspective too. I have mentioned a few in my introduction (first) post but will quickly summarize them here for a better understanding.
The birth of Dhuryothana and his brothers - In-vitro fertilization/test tube baby
Sanjaya narrating the story of warfield to Drithirashtra - Live telecasting
The asthras used in the war - missiles or nuclear weapons (not everything -will explain)
For this post, let us take the Kurukshethra war and analyze the feasibility of it being a nuclear war. As told before, not all the weapons (asthras) were nuclear in nature. When you recollect the Epic, you can note that only few people were allowed or eligible to get such weapons. The Guru (teacher) also did not grant the techniques (using the weapons) to all the students. The secrets were passed on only to those who had the mind maturity to use them judiciously. This is the reason why Drona selected only Arjuna among all his disciples to grant the knowledge of such great weapons. Karna, on the other hand, learnt the same from Parasurama, but due to his association with ill-natured Duryothana, was not allowed to launch those weapons. The story states that he got a curse from Parasurama that Karna will forget the launching of weapons at the most needed/right time. (selective amnesia, may be). We can take it in this way. Parasurama might have had a foresight that Karna will associate with Duryodhana in future and hence cursed him like that. Aswathama, the son of Drona, also had knowledge about such techniques. But he served as a good example of why such techniques should not be taught to everyone as he used it for destruction even when advised not to do so.... Aswathama, on the death of his father, got so very angry and launched this weapon against the Pandavas. For the sake of stopping the weapon, Arjuna also launched the same weapon. But due to the catastrophic effects, they both were advised to pull back the weapons. Arjuna knew the technique to do so and hence did the same. But Aswathama did not know the secret of getting it back. The nature of this weapon is that if there is no target, it will demolish the person who launched it. Aswathama, forced by the situation, quickly pointed another target for the weapon by asking it to destroy all the babies in womb in the Pandavas' and their sons' wive. Krishna requested not to destroy Uthara's baby but he did not listen and hence got a curse from him. That baby who was protected in the womb by Krishna was named as Parikshit and became the next king after the Pandavas.
Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was a supervising scientist of the Manhattan Project and a developer of the atomic bomb. He quoted Mahabaratha and Bagavat Gita in his lecture seven years later the first atom bomb explosion. I encourage you to watch this history channel video fully before analyzing further :
Now back to the topic, there were many kinds of asthras in the Mahabaratha war. But the one we consider for discussion here is the Brahmasthra. It is mentioned many times in the Mahabaratha war. Please take a look into the description of this weapon as given in wikipedia.
Usage, consequences and effects of Brahmastra :
1. There was no counter attack possible for this weapon. It could only be stopped by another Brahmasthra.
2. The colliding effects were very catastrophic and the target was annihilated completely.
3. The environmental damage was very severe. The land where the weapon was used became barren and all life in and around that area ceased to exist.
4. This weapon was not allowed to be used frequently and it was used only as a weapon of last resort, where there was no other way than to use it.
Could Brahmastra be a Nuclear Weapon? or something even more than that?
This question is debatable. As usual, there are many controversies going around. Some agree to the concept and some others dis agree. I have briefly summarized the arguments from both sides and here they are....
The arguments of those who agree are the following :
1. The description of Brahmasthra and the way it was not allowed to be used by everybody, proves that it was of some deadly destructive weapon.
2. Once Mahabaratha itself was believed to be a fiction. But later many evidences came to prove that it actually happened in the past like archaeologists finding the submerged city Dwaraka, identification of Saraswathi river etc.
3. Many other mythological concepts related to other fields like astronomy, medicine etc are proved correct now. They were also once pin pointed as fiction and imagination only.
The arguments of those who do not agree are mainly the following :
1. The war used bow and arrow as the main weapon. Nuclear weapons need some sort of shooting technique and that was not possible with bow....
2. It is purely pseudoscience and hence not true.
3. Fiction stories like star wars also anticipate the future and advanced technologies. But can we take them as present happenings?
My perspective is quite simple here. Since we know something about modern day nuclear weapon, we are trying to equate Brahmasthra with that. But what if nuclear weapons were not invented at all? What would be our judgement about Brahmasthra in that case? We would have totally neglected the concept stating that it is highly mythical. But with the invention of nuclear weapons, we are able to find some similarities now. Like wise, in future, when science gets more and more advanced, we might get more clarity in such concepts. More over the technology prevailing now might not prevail after 5000 or 6000 years later because world is always changing. But if the future generation claim that the technology we are using now as pseudo science, will that be correct? When we foresee the present world so many years ahead in the future who knows what will be waiting for us there? Same applies to the past also. We are getting traces of history here and there with which we are trying to establish the past happenings. That is the limitation of science. It can only go to a certain extent before and after in time. But what is mentioned in mythology does not change at all. It is very clear in its calculations, time lines, events and happenings. There is no confusion behind it. Of course, there could be many manupulations due to the people trying to interpret them, but the very essence does not change at all. Hence, there is every reason to believe that Brahmasthra was an advanced destructive weapon which was once used.
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