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In Ramayana, Indrajit was able to hit Laxman by his special weapon named Shakti. Due to this Laxman went very near to death. Now Lord Hanuman went to Himalaya & brought Sanjivani. This way Laxman was saved.

The next day Indrajit uses all three main weapons i.e. Bramhastra, Narayanan's Sudarshan Chakra & Shiva's Pashupatra (Trishul). These weapons are considered as most deadly weapons but none of this weapon was able to harm Laxman.

Video Source from Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan. All the sources of this Ramayan are based on the Valmiki's Ramayan & Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas.

So how come shakti weapon was able to harm Laxman?

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    The TV serial may use sources, but that doesn't mean it stays completely accurate to those sources. There's plenty of artistic license taken. Jul 24, 2014 at 18:26
  • Lax man was defeated 2 times by indrajeet.
    – user5194
    Mar 31, 2016 at 17:56
  • i dont think Indrajit actually had the Chakra, Trishula, Brhamastra etc. If he did then it means Indra > Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma. Nov 13, 2017 at 3:41

2 Answers 2

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First of all, Indrajit never tried to use a Brahmastra, Narayanastra or Pashupatastra in the war (although he did use a Brahmastra against Hanuman during Hanuman's pror visit to Lanka, as I discuss in this answer). But he did once use another weapon of Shiva, the Raudrastra, although as I'll discuss below that was just to fight off one of Lakshmana's weapons. Second of all, the TV serial is conflating a bunch of different incidents:

  1. There is one occasion where Indrajit fatally wounded Lakshmana, but that's an occasion where he fatally wounded both Rama and Lakshmana. As described in this chapter and this chapter of the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana, early on in the war, Sugriva's nephew Angada defeated Indrajit in battle, so Indrajit turned invisible and then launched numerous Nagastras (snake weapons) at Rama and Lakshmana, which put them in a state very close to death. But then Vishnu's mount Garuda came to the battlefield, eating all the snakes and healing the wounds of Rama and Lakshmana. (Rama asked him who he was and why he was helping them, but Garuda refused to answer because Rama wasn't supposed to know that he was an incarnation of Vishnu.)

  2. The only direct confrontation between Lakshmana and Indrajit happened later on in the war, and its conclusion is described in this chapter of the Yuddha Kanda. Indrajit fired a Yamastra (weapon of Yama god of death), but Lakshmana destroyed it with a Kuberastra (weapon of Kubera god of wealth). Then Lakshmana launched a Varunastra (weapon of Varuna the ocean god), but Indrajit destroyed it with a Raudrastra (weapon of Shiva). Then Indrajit fired an Agneyastra (weapon of Agni the fire god), but Lakshmana destroyed it with a Saurenastra (weapon of Surya the sun god). Then Indrajit launched an Asurastra (weapon of the demons), but Lakshmana destroyed it with a Maheshwarastra (another weapon of Shiva). Finally Lakshmana hit Indrajit with an Indrastra (weapon of Indra king of the gods), killing him. Now after killing Indrajit, Laskhmana did have some wounds, but those wounds were very easily healed by Sugriva's father-in-law Sushena.

  3. The incident you mentioned involving Hanuman carrying a mountain happened even later in the war and had nothing to do with Indrajit. As described in this chapter of the Yuddha Kanda, during the battle between Rama and Ravana, Ravana's brother Vibhishana killed Ravana's horses, so Ravana got down from his chariot and threw a powerful spear at Vibhishana, but Lakshmana shot the spear down with three arrows. Angered by this, Ravana threw an even more formidable spear at Lakshmana, fatally wounding him. So as described in the next chapter, Sugriva's father-in-law Sushena sent Hanuman to retrieve the herbs called Vishalya Karani, Savarni Karani, Sanjiva Karani, and Sandhana Karani from the peak of Mount Oushadi. Hanuman couldn't identify the herbs on that mountain, so he brought the mountain peak itself to Lanka, and then Sushena used the herbs to heal Lakshmana.

So there's not even a question of Lakshmana being vulnerable to some Astras (magical weapons) and not others, because there iss never an occasion where he shows any invincibility against Astras.

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    Very nice answer Sir! Sep 23, 2018 at 8:01
  • "Angered by this, Ravana threw an even more formidable spear at Lakshmana, fatally wounding him". Why didn't he just finish him off instead of leaving him injured? Apr 15, 2020 at 16:00
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The fact is that both in the Ramayan and Mahabharat the so called good sides(i.e. Sri Ram's side and the Pandavas respectively) were weaker than the bad side (Ravan's and the Kauravas respectively). So the good side cheated to win, plain and simple. Ram and Laxman even though they were avatars could not have defeated indrajeet had not vibhishan betrayed indrajeet. Ram and Laxman broke the rules of war and attacked indrajeet while he was praying. Regarding angad defeating indrajeet, so that did not happen, angad killed his charioteer and killed his horses but he was not able to defeat indrajeet once he started using maya tactics infact Indrajeet was actually stronger than GOD......

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    Rama cheated in the war? from where did you get that? killing charioteer and horses is not cheating according to war strategies. Vibheeshan didn't betray indrajeet but indrajeet abused his uncle in front of whole assembly. Vibheeshana than did not want to support his adharma brother and went to Rama's side. Vanaras were not weak. So you say Ravana acted according to the dharma? Read yuddha kanda before answering questions. May 14, 2016 at 7:50
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    Ofcourse he cheated, he sanctioned attacking indrajeet when he was praying and vibhishan betrayed his country as well as raavan and indrajeet by giving away the secrets of their strength.......please check what rules of war were prevelant in that time before responding
    – prashant
    May 14, 2016 at 18:36
  • Newton's Third Law: "For every action there is an equal & opposite reaction". Vibhisan suggested Ravan not to follow ADHARM but Ravan turned Vibhisan's plea down (Action) & As a reaction Vibhisan went to Ram side to punish Ravan for his evil deeds. Kidnapping a virtuous wife of other is a heinous act which Ravan did (Action). As a reaction, Ravan went to destruction along with his family & (evil) followers. Dec 16, 2016 at 17:34
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    I am not saying what the ravaan or indrajeet were on the side of dharma, they were not. However the question here is "how come shakti weapon could harm laxman who was an avataar of lord vishnu"........to that point I am saying that atually in the Ramayan, INDRAJEET was the strongest warrior...and the strength he acquired through penance had to bear fruit even if it was used against Raam and Raam knew that Indrajeet could not be defeated by fighting him, he had to be cheated to be defeated...just like Arjun could not kill Karna as long as the latter stood with the Vijaya dhanush,
    – prashant
    Dec 18, 2016 at 8:02
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    Raam could not have killed indrajeet if he was allowed to complete his prayer.....so he attacked him while he was praying......My point is that the lesson to learn from this is that you may be the most adharm person in the world, but if you have worked to acquire the strength which Indrajeet acquired then you can force even the GODs to recognize the fact that they cannot win through power alone. Forcing Lord Raam to attack a person when he is praying or having Grauda come to help Lord Raam when he was swooned by megnath....is the lord bowing his head to indrajeet's power........
    – prashant
    Dec 18, 2016 at 8:05

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