India · Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva
The Brahmashira burns the unborn
EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
Ashvatthama launches the Brahmashira weapon. Arjuna answers with his own. The sages beg them to withdraw, because the clash would burn the world. Ashvatthama cannot recall his, so he redirects it into the wombs of the Pandava women; Krishna revives the stillborn Parikshit.
Summary by the editors. Translation: Summary in my own words
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Read it literally
A weapon that cannot be recalled once fired and harms unborn children. Readers today hear radiation in that.
What scholars say
Same epic.
