Aswatthama: After Dronaparva in the Mahabharata

Ashwashan Dahal

Grandson of sage Bharadwaaj and son of Guru Dronacharaya, Aswatthama was born with a gem on his forehead. His father pleased Lord Shiva through a rigorous penance and he asked Shiva to give his child a boon of immortality. So he is worshipped in the list of astha chiranjeevis, one of the eight immortal personages.

 It is believed that Aswatthama shouted like an aswa (horse) soon after birth; so he was named Aswatthama. Literally, ‘aswa’ means horse and ‘shyama’ means a child.

Aswatthama has played a great role in Mahabharata. After Dronaparva, he was very angry with the Pandavas because they cowardly tricked to kill Dronachary, a teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Dharmaraj Yudhistira (the eldest of Kunti’s sons, also known for essence of truth) claimed that Aswatthama had been killed in a combat. After hearing the news, he went for penance in war and the commander-in-chief of Pandavas, Dhristadhumna, severed his head. After knowing of the cowardice of the Pandavas, Aswatthama told them they had to pay for it. After the death of Dronacharya, the Kauravas became a little bit weak. Duryodhana appointed Karna as commander-in-chief but he was also killed by Arjun (fourth son of Kunti) when he was pulling his chariot out of a quicksand. After knowing about the death of Karna, Duryodhana was very depressed and he invited Bheem (second son of Kunti) for mace fighting. Bheem made him injured by attacking on his thighs (against the rules) and he was left in the jungle. After seeing the pitiful condition of his friend, Aswatthama cried. Before dying, Duryodhana appointed Aswatthama the commander-in-chief. When Aswatthama was resting, he saw a wolf attacking a crow at night. He made a plan to kill the Pandavas at night.

Knowing of the plan of Aswatthama, Sage Kripacharaya (maternal uncle of him) advised him not to do this activity. But he refused and attacked the Pandava camp. Unfortunately, he killed Upapandavas (sons of the Pandavas and Draupadi) along with Dristaadhumna, Shikandi and Yudhamanyu at night. This incident is also known as “Sauptikparva”.

After committing such a crime, Aswatthama went to Sage Vyas and told him everything but Vyas said, the Pandavas were alive and those he had killed were Upapandavas.

After the death of her five sons, Draupadi was in deep pain. She told Bheema to kill Aswtthama. But from Krishna she knew that Aswatthama had a boon of immortality. So she asked him to bring Aswatthama in front of her. The Pandavas, along with Krishna, found him. Angry Aswatthama used Brahmaashthra, a deadly weapon against them. In return Arjun also used it. It was Sage Vyas who prevented the weapons from striking each other, and told them to get their weapons back. Arjun knew how to get it back but Aswatthama did not. So he shifted his weapon to the womb of Uttara (wife of Brave Abhimanyu), thinking he would destroy Pandava lineage. For committing sins like killing the Upapandavas and feticide against Uttara, Krishna gave Aswatthama a curse that he would be in hell. Aswatthama gave his gem to them and Parikshit (grandson of Arjun) was born with the help of Krishna.

But the revenge had to be taken. After the battle of Mahabharata, Yudhistira became the king of Hastinapur and earned a lot of name and fame. But things were changing in Dwarika due to the curse of Gandhari. The Yadu dynasty was falling out on its own accord on one side. On the other side, Shamba who dressed up like a woman poked Sage Durbasa asking what would be born from her stomach. Enraged sage gave him a curse that iron bolts would born from it. Suddenly he threw it into the ocean.

The Yadus due to their addiction were fighting agaisnt each other and unfortunately Krishna’s son killed Balaram’s son, and Balaram committed suicide. When they were fighting, they plucked out grass but it turned to iron bolt and as a result, the entire dynasty was in blaze. Knowing of the sad condition of Dwarika, Arjun came for help. In the Meantime, Krishna ran from the palace leaving his old father and mother. Weaponless and clever Krishna was caught by Aswatthma, and he injured him and made him in a state of unconsciousness. He made Krishna conscious by throwing water and said, “Why did you do it all?” Krishna with tears in his eyes said, he wanted to burn a single house but whole Kaurav clan was cleansed. He left injured Krishna back in the jungle and later wild animals killed him. Powerful Pandavas lost their all-mighty dear, and decided to leave Hastinapur by enthroning Pariksit.

During their trip to heaven Draupadi felt firstly due to malaria. She met Radha, lover of Krishna, and Aswatthama on the way. Aswatthama was in search of the Pandavas. Finally, he found weaponless Pandavas and fought with them. He defeated Arjuna and Bheema but did not kill them because they were not the reason of his father’s death. Finally, he found Yudhistira and killed him. After killing him, he went back to his village and explained all the things to his maternal uncle, Sage Kripacharya.