Shloka 23
Brahmaśirastra-pratisaṃhāra — Retraction and redirection of the supreme weapon
Sauptika Parva, Adhyāya 15
अस्त्रं ब्रह्मशिरो यत्र परमास्त्रेण वध्यते । समा द्वादश पर्जन्यस्तद्राष्ट्र नाभिवर्षति
astraṃ brahmaśiro yatra paramāstreṇa vadhyate | samā dvādaśa parjanyas tad rāṣṭra nābhivarṣati ||
Vyāsa dit : Dans toute contrée où l’arme Brahmaśiras est contrée ou détruite par un autre trait suprême, ce royaume est frappé d’un fléau terrible : durant douze années entières, les nuages n’y versent plus la pluie.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the use of ultimate, world-affecting weapons in war carries collective karmic and social consequences: even if aimed at enemies, the fallout can punish an entire kingdom through famine-like drought, making such violence ethically catastrophic.
Vyāsa describes a dire consequence associated with the Brahmaśiras astra: when it is met and neutralized by another supreme missile, the land where this occurs becomes afflicted with a twelve-year failure of rains—an ominous warning within the Sauptika Parva’s context of extreme wartime acts.