What are all the celestial and destructive divine weapons of Karna?

 

• Karna possessed Agneyastra, Varunastra, Parjanyastra, Vayavyastra, Bhoumyastra, Parvatastra and Antardhanastra.

During the Rangbhumi, Arjuna demonstrated multiple astras and Karna did the exact same thing

He created fire with an agneya weapon. He created water with a varuna weapon. He created winds with a vayavya weapon. He created rain with a parjanya weapon. He entered the ground with a bhoumya weapon. He created mountains with a parvata weapon. He made everything disappear with an antardhana weapon.

-Mahabharata, Jatugriha-Daha Parva, Chapter 125

With Drona’s permission, Karna, always eager to do battle and immensely strong, exhibited all that Partha had displayed before.

• He had Bhargavastra

The immensely strong one with an immeasurable soul took a pledge of truth and invoked the bhargava weapon. O king! In the great battle, thousands, millions, billions and crores of extremely sharp arrows issued from it. They were extremely terrible and blazed, shafted with the feathers of herons and peacocks. The Pandava soldiers were mangled and nothing could be seen. O lord of the earth! Great sounds of lamentation arose among the Panchalas. In the encounter, they were afflicted by the power of the bhargava weapon.

-Mahabharata, Karna-Vadha Parva, Chapter 1195(45)

• He had received Brahmastra from Parashurama, Indra’s spear in exchange of his Kavacha and he also has Nagastra

He possessed a divine spear that was as radiant as lightning. It was decorated with gold and was capable of killing the enemy. Purandara gave him that in exchange for the earrings. Among the arrows in his quiver, there was a divine arrow, decorated with gold. It was lying there and was smeared with sandalwood paste. It had a serpent in its mouth and the slayer of enemies did not use it. The brave one ignored maharathas like Bhishma and Drona and learnt the extremely terrible brahmastra from Jamadagni’s son.

-Mahabharata, Karna-Vadha Parva, Chapter 1155(5)

• Had the divine Vijaya bow given to him by Parashurama which he used on the 17th day

My bow, Vijaya, is supreme among all weapons. Vishvakarma constructed it for Indra’s sake. It was with this that Shatakratu vanquished large numbers of daityas. In the ten directions, the daityas were confounded because of its roar. Shakra gave that revered weapon to Bhargava and Bhargava gave that divine and supreme bow to me. With this, I will fight against the mighty-armed Arjuna, foremost among victorious ones, like Indra fighting in a battle against all the assembled daityas. Rama gave me this terrible bow and it is superior to Gandiva. It was with this bow that he conquered the earth twenty-one times. Bhargava told me about this bow’s divine deeds and Rama gave it to me. I will use it to fight against Pandava.

-Mahabharata, Karna-Vadha Parva, Chapter 1172(22)

These were the weapons which Karna had without a shadow of doubt. Other weapons were subject to interpretation as there are several statements saying Parashurama giving all his weapons to Karna (such statements existed for Arjuna and Drona as well, saying Drona imparted all weapons to Arjuna, but Arjuna doesn’t seem to have Narayanastra)

|| Namō Veṅkaṭeśāya || 🛞 U 🐚

According to Valmiki Ramayana, how many weapons did Shri Lakshman have? I mean how many weapons did he mention to have possess?

 (1) Adiparashakti Janki Maa mentioned that Lakshmanji had Brahmashirastra, Agneyastra, Vayavyastra, Aindrastra, Varunastra.

"Having searched all the resorts of men, received the tidings of my fate, and crossed the impassable ocean, those two brothers have perishe din the imprint of a cow's hoof ( a small puddle)." "Rama and Lakshmana surely knew the use of of Varuna, Agneya, Aindra, Vayavya and Brahmashira weapons.

~Valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 48

(2) Brahmastra — Lakshmanji invoked it on 2 occasions. 1st time to kill Atikaya and 2nd time to kill all demons of Lanka.

Supreme Lord Rama himself said that Brahmastra fired Lakshmanji was capable to kill all demons of Earth including Ravan and Meghnat.

Then, Lakshmana for his part was enraged and told his brother that he would employ the missile presided over by Brahma for the purpose of killing all the demons. Then, Rama spoke to that Lakshmana, who was endowed with auspicious bodily marks as follows: "You ought not to kill all the demons on earth, merely for the sake of a single demon." "O long-armed Lakshmana! We shall try to kill Indrajit alone.

~Valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 80

(3) In his battle with Meghnat, Lakshmanji had also used Maheshwarastra (belonging to Parameshwara Mahadeva) and Saurastra ( belonging to Lord Soorya Narayana)

Then, that enraged Indrajit employed a missile presided over by Agni the god of fire which was blazing.The valiant Lakshmana obstructed Agni-missile, by a Saurastra missile presided over by the sun-god.

~valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 90

Indrajit was filled with anger and took hold of a sharp Asura missile capable of tearing down an enemy. Seeing that terrible missile, the brilliant Lakshmana obstructed that missile by using Maheswara-missile.

~valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 90

(4) Kauberastra — It is a very special missile of Lakshmanji and was gifted to him by Lord Kubera. It had strength to kill all the gods including Indra and all the demons of Earth in just one shot.

The immensely energetic Lakshmana picked up another arrow. In a dream, Kubera, immeasurable in his soul, had himself given him this. It was impossible to vanquish and impossible to withstand, even for Indra, the gods and the asuras.

~valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 90

(5) Lakshmanji also had Raudrastra, Yamyastra, Asurastra, Aishika missile that's why he could easily counter them.

Their rays were reduced to ashes and those two excellent arrows were no longer radiant. Angry, Atikaya released the aishika weapon presided over by Tvashta (the architect of gods). The valiant Soumitri severed this with aindrastra.

~valmiki Ramayana CE 6(59)

On seeing that the aishika had been destroyed, the prince who was Ravana’s son angrily invoked yamyastra on an arrow. Lakshmana destroyed this with vayavyastra.

~valmiki Ramayana CE 6(59)

Skilled in warfare, the great Indrajit too discharged a missile presided over by Rudra (the god of destruction) in battle. By that Rudra missile, that very wonderful Varuna-missile was struck.

~valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 90

Finding his missile repelled, Indrajit was filled with anger and took hold of a sharp Asura missile used by demons and capable of tearing down an enemy.

~valmiki Ramayana Yuddha Kanda Sarga 90

(6) Lakshmanji also had a divine bow and divine sword of Varuna Deva.He also had inexhaustible quiver full of arrows and also a divine armour all belonging to Varuna deva.

"Oh, Lakshma! At a grand sacrifice perfomed by Janaka, the great-souled Varuna(god of water) personally gave heavently bows which are dreadful to look at, divine impenetrable pices of armour, quivers containing an inexhaustible stock of arms, two swords decked with gold and with spotless lustre like that of a sun - all these were kept at the residence of our receptor Vasista, after paying due reverence. Take all those arms and return soon."

~Valmiki Ramayana Ayodhya Kanda Sarga 31

(7) Adiparashakti Janki Mata herself said that Lakshmanji is superior to even Kartvirya Arjuna in wielding and use of weapons. The same Kartvirya Arjuna had effortlessly defeated Ravan. Lakshmanji, with his normal arrows could destroy all divine weapons of Indra using Vajra.

With one shot, he was capable of releasing five hundred arrows. In the use of weapons, Lakshmana was thus superior to Kartavirya.With his weapons, the great-souled one could destroy Shakra’s weapons.

~valmiki Ramayana CE 6(39)

What were the five most powerful weapons of Shri Krishna?

 Sudharsan Chakra

It was the Primary Weapon of Lord Krishna and he used it many times against powerful foes. One of the notable feats with this weapon is when he used it to cut off the thousands hands of Banasura:

With great force Gadadhara, worked up with ire, took up that wonderful discus, effulgent like the sun, at the discharge of which, all the worlds, mobile and immobile, become unconscious and flesh-eating creatures find great pleasure, discharged it and cut off Vana’s arms. When discharged by Shridhara, parmeating the universe, that firmament-like discus so moved about in the battle-field that no body could see its true form. Gradually cutting off Vana’s thousand arms and making him the owner of only two the Sudarshana discus returned into Krishna’s hands.

Narayanastra

He used this weapon to counter the Pashupatastra of Lord Shiva in Banasura Battle:

Lord Kṛṣṇa counteracted a brahmāstra with another brahmāstra, a wind weapon with a mountain weapon, a fire weapon with a rain weapon, and Lord Śiva’s personal pāśupatāstra weapon with His own personal weapon, the nārāyaṇāstra.

Vaishnavastra

In Shoniputra battle, He terrified and defeated Bhutas, Yakshas and Asuras using this weapon:

Having thus counteracted those four weapons with his four arrows Madhava discharged his Vaishnava weapon like unto Antaka (the destroyer) with his mouth wide open. When the Vaishnava weapon was discharged all the Bhutas, Yakshas and Asuras of Vana’s host, unconscious and stricken with fear, fled on all sides. Then beholding his army abounding in Pramathas thus routed the great Asura Vana speedily ran towards the battle-field.

Saranga Bow

One of the 3 great bows mentioned in Mahabharat previously owned by Vishnu himself:

There were three celestial bows owned by the denizens of heaven, viz., Gandiva owned by Varuna, the bow called Vijaya owned by Indra, and that other celestial bow of great energy said to have been owned by Vishnu. This last (Sarnga), capable of striking fear into the hearts of hostile warriors, was held by Krishna.

Kaumodaki Mace

He used this mace to kill Dantavakra:

Although hit by Dantavakra’s club, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer of the Yadus, did not budge from His place on the battlefield. Rather, with His massive Kaumodakī club the Lord struck Dantavakra in the middle of his chest. His heart shattered by the club’s blow, Dantavakra vomited blood and fell lifeless to the ground, his hair disheveled and his arms and legs sprawling

Thanks for reading my answer, An Upvote would be appreciated~

In the Mahabharata, are there any other weapons or warriors besides the Sudharshana chakra that are deemed invincible?

 The Brahmashira astra is deemed invincible and unstoppable even for Krishna.

When Ashwathama' was about to fire it against Pandavs, there was nothing stopping from Krishna's interference. The war was over and it was simply a massacre of Ashwathama'. Krishna could've intervened if he could, but instead told arjun to use the same weapon against it to save their own lives.

‘O Arjuna, O son of Pandu, the time is come for the use of that celestial weapon which is in thy memory, knowledge of which was imparted to thee by Drona. For protecting thyself as also thy brothers, O Bharata, shoot in this battle that weapon which is capable of neutralising all weapons.'

However Vyas and Narad intervened citing if the weapons clashed, it would cause tremendous collateral damage possibly consuming both of them. Hence Arjuna withdraws it, but A'thama was incapable of it and therefore fired it against Abhimanyu's child in Uttaras womb.

This again wasn't part of war, neither was the weapon under any boon and so nothing was preventing Krishn from stopping it.

Instead Krishn says it's invincible and cannot be stopped by any means, it will accomplish the objective(of killing Uttaras child).

"The fall of this mighty weapon will not be fruitless. The foetus will die. But being dead, it will live again and have a long life! As regards thyself, all wise men know thee for a coward and a sinful wretch!

Featwise, this weapon stands at the top. However as per hollow statements, Vaishnavastra and Pashupatastra are on similar tier. Vaishnavastr said to be capable of slaying Indr and Rudr and Pashupatastra capable of slaying Brahma and Vishnu.

For invincible warriors, there are none. All were defeated at some point or other.

What are some hand-to-hand combat weapons?

 I will list off some exotic ones rather than the ones everyone has seen already

1. Bagh Nakh - easily concealable, worn on your hand so its hard to lose your grip. Bagh means Tiger, and Nakh means Nails. (Marathi).

2. Katar - ever notice how its kind of hard to stab the upper body of someone with a knife without craning your wrist over really hard? This weapon solves that issue.

3. Eastern woodland native ball headed war club - the ball head at the end ensures maximum force is transferred to the enemy via the small area of impact. Also note the forward curvature, further increasing the power.

4. Gunstock war club - same points as the previous one, but longer, 2 handed making it even stronger, and note the little steel edge added on the back.

5. Zulfiqar - a sword believed to have been used by the son-in-law of Muhammad the prophet and lost to time, the design has been used by others throughout history. There isn’t really an explanation for the fork at the tip.

6. Kanabo - a big stick used to bludgeon armored opponents. Note the steel knobs. It’s 2 handed but it can be made smaller to be 1 handed.

Who were the warriors who had the most number of celestial weapons in the Mahabharata?

 In terms of possession of celestial weapons, here’s the list:

1] Arjuna:

Of course he has the most number of celestial weapons.

tadastramaptam parthena rudradapratimam mahat |

yattadbrahmashiro nama tapasa rudramagatam ||10||

amrritadutthitam raudram tallabdham savyasachina |

tatsamantram sasamharam saprayashchittamangalam ||11||

vajram chanyani chastrani dandadini yudhishthira |

yamatkuberadvarunadindrachcha kurunandana ||12||

astranyadhitavanpartho divyanyamitavikramah ||12||

On your words, the mighty-armed one went out for weapons. Partha has obtained from Rudra a great and unrivalled weapon. It is known as Brahmashira and Rudra obtained it after great austerities. That terrible weapon arose with the ambrosia and Savyasachi has now obtained it, together with the mantras for withdrawing, repulsing and releasing it. O Yudhishthira! O descendant of the Kuru lineage! The infinitely powerful Partha has obtained other divine weapons too—like vajra and danda—from Yama, Kubera, Varuna and Indra.

Arjuna had the following weapons

1. Pashupatastra/Roudrastra.
2. Vajrastra.
3. Yama Danda and mace.
4. Yama paasha.
5. Samoohanastra, Praswapastra.
6. Brahmasira
7. Vaishnavastra.
8. Aindrastra.
9. Gandiva.
10. Adityastra, Kiranastra, Lomakesha.
11. Agneyastra, Varunastra, Vayavyastra.
12. Brahmastra.
13. Gandharvastra.
14. Indrajala, Sthunakarna, Prajapatastra.
15. Anjalikastra, Anjali astra.
16. Nagastra, Garudastra, Anthardhana.

and many more…..

Arjuna was a power house of celestial weapons and he was almost invincible when combined with his immense skill.

2]Karna:

Lord Parashurama had given Karna every celestial weapon known to him(including the Vijaya bow which Lord Parashurama had used to route kshatriyas 21 times).

tatoastrani samastani varanshcha manasepsitan |

labdhva bahuvidhanramah pranamya shirasa shivam ||155||

anujnam prapya deveshajjagama sa mahatapah |

evametatpuravrrittam tada kathitavanrrishih ||156||

bhargavo apyadadatsarvam dhanurvedam mahatmane |

karnaya purushavyaghra supritenantaratmana ||157||

He obtained the weapons and all the boons that he wished for. Having obtained these diverse objects, Rama lowered his head before Shiva. The immensely ascetic one took the permission of the lord of the gods and departed. This is the ancient account that was told by the rishi.

‘ “‘Bhargava imparted all his knowledge of dhanurveda to the great-souled Karna, tiger among men, having been extremely pleased with him. O king! Had Karna not been a deserving person, the descendant of the Bhrigu lineage would not have given him those celestial weapons.

Lord Parashurama was a student of Lord Shiva himself. Therefore, Karna had all celestial weapons of Lord Parashurama.

Therefore, Karna had the following weapons:

1. Nagpash, Garudastra.
2. Bhargavastra.
3. Shakti spear.
4. Pashupataastra(SriKrishna also mentions this).
5. Brahmastra, Brahmasira.
6. Nalika, Krounchastra, Souparnika.
7. Aardrastra, Mohanastra.
8. kaala paasha, Antardhana, kubera weapon.
9. Aditya weapon, Indrajala, Sthunakarna, Tej-prabha
10. Agneya, Varuna, Vayavya, Parjanya.
11. Sushkastra.
12. Taamasa, Soumanastra.

And many more..

I have listed weapons that Lord Parashurama according to the Puranas.

Also, it is again mentioned in Shanti Parva that Karna had obtained all weapons from Lord Parashurama.

3]Drona:

He had many weapons in his arsenal. The most noticable weapon is the “Narayanastra” which he had obtained by doing severe penance of Lord Vishnu.

He also had many weapons but the epic does not specifically mention the weapons he had.

My guess is he had many astras, like Agneyastra, Varuna, Parjanya, Vayavya.

And also Drona was the disciple of Sage Bharadwaj. Bharadwaj Muni is one of the Sapta Rishis with unlimited/infinite power.

Source: Bori Ce, Vishnu Purana

What are the names of the weapons of Lord Vishnu?

 𝟭.) 𝗦𝗨𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗔 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗞𝗥𝗔

The Sudarshan Chakra has 108 serrated blades, and has the capability to travel several million yojanas (1 Yojana = 8 kms) at a blink of an eye. It is not thrown at anyondy, rather, by willpower, it is sent against the enemy. It has tremendous occult and spiritual power to destroy everything and it also indicates time (or an symbol of time)

𝟮.) 𝗞𝗔𝗨𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗞𝗜 𝗚𝗔𝗗𝗔

This is the Mace of Lord Vishnu the Lord holds this invincible weapon no creature rather than him can hold this although Lord hanuman can hold this coz he's one of the greatest devotee of the Lord.

𝟯.) 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗔 𝗕𝗢𝗪

Sharanga is the celestial bow of Lord Vishnu In South India, Sharanga is also called as Kodanda. This bow was crafted by Viswakarma, the Cosmic architect and maker of weapons, along with the Pinaka, the bow of Lord Shiva. Once, Brahma wanted to know who was a better archer, Vishnu or Shiva. Brahma created a quarrel between the two, which led to a terrible duel. The impact of their fight was such that the balance of the entire universe was disturbed. Lord Vishnu won the duel and rendered Pinaka immovable just by uttering 'hum'. Lord Shiva gave his Pinaka bow to a king, who was an ancestor of King Janaka, the father of Sita and Lord Vishnu too decided to do the same, and gave his bow to the Sage Richika. In time, Sharanga came into the possession of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu and Richika's grandson.

𝟰.) 𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗞 (𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗)

Nandak is the holy sword of lord Vishnu and it's king among the swords the sword is considered as the companion of Lord Vishnu and has shining appearance and it glitters like star.The Nandak sword contains great powers Through this Lord Vishnu had fought with Madhu and Kaitabh Lord Rama also used it in Lanka war.

𝟱.) 𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗡𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔

In my personal views this is one of the most underrated weapon because (naraynastra is hyped up) this weapon is capable of doing or destroying anything and everything with this same weapon Lord Vishnu slayed the two demon's Madhu and Kaitabh (the most mighty demon's in the Sanatan history) it can even kill Immortals and one more interesting feature of this Marvelous weapon is There is no counter to Vaishnavastra .Even Narayanastra pales in comparision to its power : It can even destroy the aestic spiritual merit and Vishnu's own energy that shows the infallibility it possess .

𝟲.) 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔

The Narayanastra is the personal weapon of Lord Vishnu in his Narayana form. This astra in turn fires a powerful tirade of millions of deadly missiles simultaneously. The intensity of the shower rises with increase in resistance. The only way to defend against the missile is to show total submission before the missiles hit, this in turn will cause this weapon to stop and spare the target. It is one of the six 'Mantramukta' weapons that cannot be resisted. In Mahabharata only Ashwathama possessed the Narayanastra. In Ramayana, only Lord Rama possessed this weapon or i think indrajit too had this.

𝗝𝗔𝗜 𝗟𝗔𝗞𝗦𝗛𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗬𝗔𝗡❤️