Some writers describe the "Bastra" as a powerful mechanical device, credited to the engineering knowledge of Vedic-era cultures.
Direct mentions of a "Bastra" are scarce.
On the speculative reading, the "Bastra" would be a physical form of Agni's power, an implement that turns rock into air or essence through intense heat, much like modern plasma drills or lasers.
On this reading the mountain turning to vapor matches what is credited to the "Bastra", and points to a device that superheats rock into a gas.
Supporters compare the "Bastra" to a plasma cutter or a laser drill, and suggest three ways it might have worked.
The name "Bastra" might come from Bhastrika, a word for bellows; the yoga breathing exercise of that name is likened to the bellows of a blacksmith.
Some read poetic passages as hints of atomic knowledge: if the "Bastra" turned rock to vapor, its makers may have had a rough grasp of breaking molecular bonds to turn solid matter into gas.
If genuine, it would suggest the "Bastra" was more than a metaphor, a mechanism using intense heat or energy to break down rock.
Read that way, it speaks of tools as powerful as those credited to the "Bastra".
Mainstream Vedic texts do not name a "Bastra" as a drilling or rock-vaporizing device, and several verses cited for it read differently in Griffith's translations.
Pieced together, these accounts let the "Bastra" be imagined as a device that drilled into and vaporized rock through intense heat, sound energy or divine power, turning solid matter into air.
Ancient texts, such as the Vedic scriptures, describe a device called "Bastra." This machine is said to be able to drill into and vaporize rock, effectively transforming it into air.