The promo for Brahmastra was out yesterday, and it mentioned some seven Astras which are used in the midst of a war to destroy the enemy.  These atras are placed in an imaginary world called the Astraverse (please pronounce it as in Astral minus the L).  Yes you heard it right, inspired by the success of Hollywood’s DCverse and Marvel Verse, the slave minded copycats of Dawoodwood bring to you the Astraworld of Brahmastra.

To neutralise the cringe experienced at this point, the author started to look for a more learned and factual narrative of the Astras according to Hindu text, and came across a fabulous presentation by Atul Mishra Ji, who explained the background of astras and Shastras in a very factual and easy to understand manner.

The main plot point of the project called Brahmastra is based around a secret society of intellectual people, who are guarding the ‘Ancient Indian Astras’ from falling into the hands of evil people.  This concept is similar to the DCverse (including the Justice League Super heroes), and Marvelverse (which is a universe with Avenger superheroes).  This so-called universe of Astras obviously did not exist in the Ramayan or Mahabaharat period.

The movie talks of some invented Astras which are mentioned in the promo, and paid promotion is done to make people believe that these Astras really did exist in our ancient Dharmic text.  This narrative is completely false and based on untruths.  As explained by Atul Mishra Ji, there is a concept of weapons in our ancient text, which includes Shastras and Astras. Shashtras need to be held while fighting and Astras need to be used as projectiles and/or projection systems. Of all the Astras that existed, Mishra Ji focuses on the Baan (arrows) as Astras for the sake of simplicity, and goes on to briefly explain some of the most potent divine Baans or Divyastras which have been mentioned in our sacred texts

1. Agneyastra: this Astra used to rain fire on enemy lines
2. Parjanyastra: this Astra used to inundate enemy lines with torrential rains
3. Vayavyaastra: this Astra used to blow away enemies with devastating winds
4. Pannagastra: this Astra used to rain venomous snakes on enemy lines5. Garudarastra: This Astra was the Antidote of Pannagastra as snakes used to run away at the mere sight of Pakshiraj Garuda
6. Brahmastra: The Astra of Brahma. This Astra was achook (won’t miss the target). It was not Akaatya (can’t be neutralized) though . It could be stopped with another Brahmastra which would lead to widespread destruction
7. Narayanastra: The Astra of Narayan. It was both Achook & Akaatya. Once fired, it had the power to kill almost every single soul on the planet.
8. Pashupatastra: The Astra of Mahadeva. It was both Achook & Akaatya. Once fired, it had the power to annihilate the whole planet.

Some news Astras introduced in the movie, like the Vanasrastra which is supposed to have powers of Sri Hanuman, and the Nandi Astra which has the powers of Nandi the Bull are nothing more than just that, bull.  The Vanarastra which represnts the powers of Sri Hanuman, depicts Bhagwan Hanuman being thrown onto the enemies.  This is nothing more than sheer mockery of the Param Bhakt of Sri Ram. And just like Vanarastra nothing called Nandiastra has ever been mentioned in any text. Also, Nandishwar ji is not supposed to be thrown on to enemies. If anything, it’s a mockery of Shivji’s favourite Gan and his chief mount Nandi. 

Another important aspect from this movie is the misprepresentation of Astras in the form of a human being.  Arrows and other objects are Astras which were physically projected onto the enemy – arrows resided in the quivers of Dhanurdhars and Divyastras inside their minds.  In the movie, Ranbir’s character is supposed to be an Astra, once again a concept copied from the DCverse.  Now the only way that a human being can become an Astra is when they can put on a suicide jacket and blow themselves up in a crowd.  For the sake of argument, if we assume that this is what the protagonist of the movie is supposed to do, even then he would be a Shastra and not an Astra.

The movie had a chance to get away with almost everything including copied SFX (as depcited in featured image), the cringeworthy Astraverse concept, even the choice of a metrosexual looking Ranbir as Shiva.  People can argue that this is purely a work of fiction, albeit glaringly lacking of proper research, a basic understanding of weapons and their usage in Mahabharath.  So far, the trend of boycotting the movie was meant to be focused on the Beef eater called Shiva, or the terrorist related background of the actors engaged in the project. However, it is clear to me that this movie is set to demean Bhagwan Hanuman ji, Nandishwar and I expect many more Devis and Devtas.   All by itself, this should be a large enough reason for Hindus to boycott Brahmastra.

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