The weapons of the Ramayana that I have encountered so far have really fallen into two categories. These are the "mortal weapons" like the bow and arrow that was used or "celestial weapons" that the gods used. Whenever times get really tough Rama seems to draw upon a celestial weapon to do a lot of damage.
When looking more into these celestial weapons I learned that each deity has a different celestial weapon that they are associated with. Here are three examples of this.
The Trishula: The trishula is a trident that is wielded by Shiva the Destroyer and is said that it can not be stopped by anybody but Shiva himself.
The Manavastra: This weapon is commonly wielded by Manu and was used by Sri Rama on the demon Maricha. We have already seen Maricha in theses epics taking the form of a golden deer to lure Rama out of hiding.
The Gada: The gada is a mace that Hanuman carries. This weapon is particularly interesting to me as it is one of the most recognizable weapons in Hinduism. You see it in basically every picture of Hanuman, resting on his shoulder. Interestingly, I never actually knew what it was called but the word "Gada" in Telugu, the language I speak basically means lump so I thought this was a fun little connection.
Lord Hanuman with his mace
Source: Flickr
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