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 Indrajit was ordered by Ravana to go to the battlefield once again. Rama asked the entire army to stand at the back while he and Lakshmana occupied the foreground. When they showered their arrows, even Indrajit was taken aback for a moment. 'Choose your death the way you want!' he roared. 'Are you both going to fight with me together or do you prefer to be killed one by one?' That was a clever way indeed to stop at least one of them for some time! Lakshmana insisted that Indrajit must be left to him and that made Rama move aside.
Within a short time, Indrajit lost his chariot. Lakshmana soon broke the locks that held the breastplates of Indrajit in place, leaving him unprotected, exposed and vulnerable. In a trice Indrajit vanished from the war-field and hid behind the clouds. The Vanara army once again misconstrued that he backed out from the field. Lakshmana's experience told him that he would not have left the place and he should be around somewhere, to continue his fight from his hiding. He immediately sensed that Indrajit would be making preparations to launch the
Brahmastra.
Scholars who have studied the intricate details of asthras (these are different from arrows) as narrated in the epics have opined that the descriptions, to a very large extent remind one of the modern day missiles. Erich Van Daniken, (who wrote Chariots of Gods) in his 'Return to the Stars' gives a vivid account of the Narayana asthra as described in Mahabaratha and compares it with the hydrogen bomb. The epic says that the asthra would not harm anyone who falls supine on the ground and pays obeisance to it. Erich Van Daniken feels that this must be due to the fact that the effect of the asthra - as in the case of hydrogen bomb - would not be so intense within a space of two or three feet above ground level, as the gas tends to move upwards.
Intricacies apart. The fact remains that whenever an asthra is launched there is a mention that whoever proposed to shoot it 'started making preparations for it'.
Lakshmana felt that Indrajit would be getting ready to shoot the Brahmastra. He knew how to parry it. He was also equipped with the Brahmastra to counter it. But, you know Lakshmana. He would not act on his own in such matters. He would need the 'go ahead' of Rama. Therefore he turned to Rama and said 'The fellow vanished into skies before I could wink. I am unable to find him anywhere. If he were surviving my arrows he sure would come back with the mightiest of weapons and destroy the entire army.
ennam matru ilai ayan padai thoduppen endru isaindhaan. I want to use the Brahmastra. I don't see any other option.'
 'No,' said Rama. Being the very embodiment of Dharma, it was so very natural of him. He would not think of using such superpowers unless driven to the extremes. Actually, he was to be coaxed, cajoled and forced by Madhali, the charioteer of Indra, to use Brahmastra against Ravana.
'Do not use the Brahmastra, Lakshmana, for its use would annihilate all the three worlds. Nobody can stop its destructive force.'
That was the test for Rama's moral strength, just one of many. As is wont of him, he would not swerve from the path of rectitude. Now the test of Lakshmana's loyalty begins.
Hari Krishnan
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