Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the twenty seventh sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
In this sarga, the sage viSwAmitra confers on rAma all his vast repertoire of divine weaponry. This is critical to the earthly career of rAma and what he is about to accomplish.
As the night drew to a close and morning dawned, the celebrated sage viSwAmitra approached rAma with a smile and spoke sweetly thus. “O illustrious prince, I am very pleased with you. May you prosper. With love and affection, I shall now confer upon you the entire repertoire of divine weaponry. With the help of these divine weapons, you’ll be able to capture and win over the gods, demons, nAgas or gandharvas – whoever is unfavorable to you and challenges you on the battlefield. May you prosper.” O rAma, rAghava, here are the weapons:
Here are the chakras or discuses:
1. Supremely divine danDachakra
2. dharmachakra
3. kAlachakra
4. vishNuchakra
here are the astras or missiles:
5. indrAstra
6. vajrAstra (thunderbolt)
7. the trident of lord Siva – triSula
8. brahmaSirAstra
9. ishikAstra
10. the supreme brahmAstra (the ultimate weapon)
here are the maces
11. mOdaki
12. Sikhari
Here are the nooses or pASas
13. dharmapASa
14. kAlapASa
15. varuNapASa
dry and wet thunderbolts – aSanI
16. painAkam
17. nArAyaNam
more missiles
18. AgnEyastra by name Sikhari
19. vAyuvyAstra by name prathanam
powers
20. hayaSira (horsehead)
21. kraunchastra (cranehead)
dreadful pestles wielded by demons
22. kankAla
23. kapAla
24. kankaNa
swords
25. vaidyAdhara
26. nandanam
weapons which can induce sleep and misery as well as make enemies sleepless (effective while fighting entire armies)
27. gAndharvastra
28. mAnavAstra
29. darpaNAstra
30. SOshaNAstra (which can suck out enemy powers)
31. paiSAchAstra (favoured by demons)
32. mOhanAstra (favoured by kAmadEva)
33. tAmasAstra (sleep inducing)
34. saumanAstra
35. samvardhAstra
36. mausalAstra
37. satyAstra
38. tEjOpakarshaNAstra (weapon capable of removing the splendor of enemy)
39. SiSira (soft weapon of twashTu)
40. SitEshu (formidable sharp arrow of bhaga)
O rAma, please receive these exalted weapons who can assume any form at will from me quickly. The sage performed purificatory ritual and facing east, invoked the weapons in embodied forms chanting appropriate mantras, and generously offered them to rAma who gladly received this vast repertoire of weaponry which is impossible to acquire even for the gods! The presiding deities of the divine weapons who appeared in embodied celestial forms offered themselves to rAma and told him, “we are at your service”. rAma, gently received them by the hand and commanded them to reside in his mind and be available when he thinks of them. rAma was very pleased with the acquisition of the divine weapons and then they resumed their journey towards the hermitage of viSwAmitra.
[It appears that rAma qualified to receive these upon slaying of tATaka. He is marked out for greatness on the battlefield for ever by the wide range of weaponry at his disposal. And more importantly the righteous use of these.]
Here we conclude the twenty seventh sarga of the bAlakAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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