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 ||
ज्या देशात ब्रह्मशिर (ब्रह्मास्त्र) एखाद्या परमास्त्राने दाबले किंवा नष्ट केले जाते, त्या राष्ट्रात बारा वर्षे मेघ वर्षा करत नाहीत।
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.