Hinduism Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for followers of the Hindu religion and those interested in learning more about Hinduism. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Have there been any wars fought without involvement of any physical weapons astras, but by using supernatural, divine, or yogic powers only?
For example, pushing the enemy away with telekinetic powers, hurting them with some kind of energetic power etc, especially among gods and rakshasas?
Wars are usually fought between groups and mostly it will be using weapons or objects to gain quick advantage.
However there are some famous individual wrestling battles happened during MahAbhArata time, which were without weapons.
Upon arriving at Mathura, Krishna slained Kansa in a 1:1 combat & freed his parents & grandfather Ugrasena.
And so also Kansa of mighty energy, who was, besides, protected by Jarasandha, was, with all his followers, slain in battle by Krishna aided by his prowess alone.[23:2] [source]
23:2 i.e., without weapons of any kind.
BTW, just before that battle, Krishna-BalarAma had already killed Kansa's 2 Rakshasas.
A choice was given to Jarasandha to choose his opponent on 1:1 combat. He had chosen Bhima.
Krishna of the Yadava race, addressing king Jarasandha who was resolved upon fighting, said,--'O king, with whom amongst us three dost thou desire to fight? Who amongst us shall prepare himself for battle (with thee)?' Thus addressed, the ruler of Magadha, king Jarasandha of great splendour, expressed his desire for fighting with Bhima.... Then those tigers among men, those heroes of great prowess, with their bare arms as their only weapons, cheerfully engaged themselves in the encounter, each desirous of vanquishing the other. [source]
Finally Bhima killed him by breaking his spine, & not by splitting his legs like a wood-stick as depicted in some places.
Bhima, that slayer of foes, holding up in the air the powerful Jarasandha, began to whirl him on high. And, O bull of the Bharata race, having so whirled him in the air full hundred times, Bhima pressed his knee against Jarasandha's backbone and broke his body in twain. And having killed him thus, [source]
Yes, battles have been fought where maya has been used several times. I will cite some examples of the Mahabharata:
1-On night 14, Ghatotkacha and Alambala (Jatasura's son) fought with maya:
Ghatotkacha and Alambala. As they roared, it was tumultuous and made the body hair stand up. In particular, they were well versed in maya and resorted to maya to overpower each other. Those immensely valiant ones fought, like Indra and Virochana’s son. 218 They became fire and the ocean 219 and Garuda and Takshaka. 220 They again became a cloud and a giant wind, or thunder and a giant mountain. They then became an elephant and a tiger and again became Svarbhanu 221 and the sun. In this way, wishing to kill each each other, they created a hundred different kinds of maya. Alambala and Ghatotkacha fought wonderfully well. They struck each other with clubs, maces, lances, bludgeons, battleaxes, mallets and the summits of mountains.
2- On that same night, Ghatotkacha and Alayudha also fought with maya:
Resorting to maya, the rakshasa quickly leapt down from the chariot, whose horses, charioteer, axle and yoke had been destroyed and shattered, not to speak of the chariot itself. He used maya and showered down copious quantities of blood. The sky seemed to be covered with dark clouds that were tinged with lightning. There was the sound of thunder and lightning. In that great battle, there were loud sounds of slapping and this caused fright. On seeing the maya created by the rakshasa, the rakshasa who was Hidimba’s son rose up and destroyed the maya with his own maya. On seeing that the maya was destroyed by maya, the one who used maya showered down an extremely heavy downpour of stones on Ghatotkacha. The valiant one 252 dispelled that terrible shower of stones with a shower of arrows in all the directions and it was wonderful.
3- on the 14th night, Ghatotkacha fought Karna with Maya and wreaked havoc on the Kaurava army
On seeing that Karna had invoked a divine weapon, the rakshasa Ghatotkacha, the descendant of the Pandu lineage, created a great maya. He was surrounded by a large army of rakshasas, fierce in visage. They wielded spears and clubs and held mountains and trees in their hands. On seeing that he 227 had raised his great bow, all the kings were distressed. He advanced like the destroyer of all beings, like Yama wielding a staff. Ghatotkacha emitted terrible roars like a lion. The elephants passed urine and the men were severely distressed. A large and fierce shower of stones rained down in every direction. It was midnight and the powerful rakshasas released these with their enhanced strength. Iron chakras, catapults, lances, javelins, spears, shataghnis and battleaxes rained down incessantly. The kings saw that the battle had become extremely fierce and terrible. Your sons and the warriors were distressed and fled. There was only a single proud one who was not distressed. This was Karna, who prided himself on the strength of his weapons. Using his arrows, he destroyed the maya that had been created by Ghatotkacha.
Other examples are these:
The rakshasa, terrible in form, agreed to these words. He roared like a lion and advanced to where Arjuna’s young son was. He was surrounded by his own soldiers, who were brave and armed. They were accomplished in fighting, were astride mounts and were armed with polished lances. He wished to kill the immensely powerful Iravat in battle. The valiant and swift Iravat was enraged. The slayer of enemies countered the rakshasa who was seeking his death. On seeing that he was descending on him, the extremely powerful rakshasa swiftly resorted to his powers of maya. He created a large number of illusory horses. They were ridden by terrible rakshasas, who wielded spears and javelins. Two thousand of these armed ones angrily advanced. The two sides clashed and quickly sent each other to the land of the dead. When the soldiers on both sides had been killed, the two of them, invincible in battle, attacked each other in that encounter, like Vritra against Vasava. On seeing the rakshasa, invincible in battle, advance against him, the extremely strong Iravat was enraged and attacked him. When the evil-minded one approached close, he used his sword to slice off his blazing sword and shattered his shield into five parts. On seeing that the bow had been severed, he quickly resorted to the sky and angrily confounded Iravat with his maya. But Iravat also rose up into the sky and confounded the rakshasa with his own maya. He was invincible too and could assume any form at will. He knew about the body’s inner organs and pierced his body with his arrows. O great king! The foremost among rakshasas was repeatedly wounded through these arrows, but he became hale again and regained his youth. Maya is natural to them, and according to their wishes, so are energy, age and beauty. Thus, though the rakshasa’s limbs were repeatedly mangled, they healed. Iravat used his sharp battle axe to repeatedly slice angrily at the immensely strong rakshasa. That brave and powerful rakshasa was repeatedly sliced like a tree and roared terribly, making a tumultuous sound. Wounded by the battleaxe, the rakshasa began to profusely shed blood. The powerful one became enraged and continued to battle forcefully. On seeing that the enemy was so energetic in the battle, Rishyashringa’s son assumed an extremely terrible and gigantic form. While everyone looked on, he tried to grasp him in the forefront of that battle. But seeing this maya employed by the great-souled rakshasa, Iravat angrily created his own maya. He was overcome by anger and he was one who never retreated from battle. O king! His mother’s relatives approached him and he was surrounded by many nagas in that battle, assuming a great form like Bhogavat.323 The rakshasa was enveloped by many kinds of nagas. Enveloped by those nagas, that bull among rakshasas thought and assumed the form of Suparna,324 so that he could devour the nagas. On seeing that his mother’s relatives were devoured through maya, Iravat was confused. And the rakshasa killed him with his sword. Iravat’s head was adorned with earrings and a diadem and was as radiant as a lotus or the moon. The rakshasa made it fall down on the ground.
O king! He then climbed onto his own chariot again and grasping another bow and steering his horses himself,78 began to slaughter the Pandava soldiers. Ghatotkacha wished to get at Drona and created terror among the soldiers. He used clubs, maces, chakras, catapults, battleaxes, dust, wind, fire, water, ashes, stones, grass and trees to strike and fight, showering these down and causing a rout. However, the rakshasa Alambusa became enraged and countered the other rakshasa with many different kinds of weapons and many diverse implements of war. The battle between the two foremost among the rakshasas was like that in ancient times, between Shambara and the king of the immortals.79 O fortunate one! In this fashion, in that melee, there were hundreds of duels between rathas, elephants, horses and infantry, between those on your side and those of the enemy. A battle like this has not been witnessed earlier, nor heard of, like that between those who wished to assault Drona and those who sought to protect him. O lord! In different parts of the field, many such encounters were seen—terrible, wonderful and fierce.”’
