Brahmāśiras and the Aishīka Parva

The Aishīka Parva is chapters 10 to 17 of the Mahābhārata’s Sauptika Parva. It tells what happened after Aśvatthāmā’s massacre of the sleeping camp. Draupadī demands that Aśvatthāmā be dealt with. Bhīma chases him to the bank of the Bhāgīrathī. Aśvatthāmā and Arjuna each fire a Brahmāśiras astra (a divine weapon). Vyāsa and Nārada step in. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa pronounces a śāpa (a curse) on Aśvatthāmā and names the unborn child Parīkshit. Aśvatthāmā gives up his saha-ja maṇi, the jewel he was born with.

The parva ends with Kṛshṇa’s explanation of how Bhagavān Śiva himself entering Aśvatthāmā made the massacre possible. It also holds a passage on Śiva, Brahmā and creation.

Draupadī’s demand

At dawn, after the night of the massacre, Dhṛshṭadyumna’s charioteer (sūta) rode fast to Yudhishṭhira’s camp and told everything. He was the one man who had escaped, by hiding in the confusion. Yudhishṭhira heard how his sons, his brother-in-law Dhṛshṭadyumna, Uttamaujas, Yudhāmanyu, Śikhaṇḍī and nearly the whole Pāñcāla army had been killed in their sleep. He fell to the ground. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 10)

Nakula was sent to bring Draupadī, who was in Upaplavya. She came already knowing grief. When she saw Yudhishṭhira and heard the whole account, she fell to the ground. Bhīma held her. She rose slowly and spoke to the Pāṇḍavas with fierce clarity:

“You have won the earth through the deaths of your sons, your brothers, your fathers and uncles, and now this? We have won, yet we have lost. I know that Aśvatthāmā has a saha-ja maṇi on his head. It was born with him and given by Mahādeva. It protects him from weapons, disease and unseen harm. You must get that maṇi and show it to me. Without it I will perform *prāyopaveśa, a fast until death, here and now.”*

She then went to Bhīma and reminded him of every great deed he had done for her: the rescue at Vāraṇāvata, the killing of Hiḍimba, and the killing of Kīcaka at Virāṭanagara. “Be that protector again,” she said. “Kill that wicked son of Droṇa as Indra killed Śambara.” (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 11)

Bhīma’s chase

Bhīma was full of rage. He took his bow, his arrows and his great chariot, with Nakula as charioteer, and drove out at full gallop in the direction Aśvatthāmā had fled. He followed the marks of chariot wheels and horse hooves.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa watched this and warned Yudhishṭhira: “Aśvatthāmā knows the Brahmāśiras astra, the weapon that can burn the whole earth. Bhīma is in danger.” They mounted Kṛshṇa’s own chariot. Its horses came from Kāmboja: Śaibya on the right, Sugrīva on the left, and Meghapushpa and Valāhaka as the trace-horses. Garuḍa was on the banner, and the craft of Viśvakarma showed in every part. Yudhishṭhira and Arjuna rode with Kṛshṇa at full speed. They caught up with Bhīma near the Bhāgīrathī. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 12–13)

Kṛshṇa’s account of Aśvatthāmā at Dvārakā

On the way Kṛshṇa told Yudhishṭhira of an earlier time. While the Pāṇḍavas were in exile, Aśvatthāmā came to Dvārakā. The Vṛshṇi court received him with great honour. One day he came to Kṛshṇa and said: “Your father Droṇa got the Brahmāśiras astra through fierce tapas from Agastya. It is with me now, as it was with him. O best of the Yadus, take it from me, and give me your Sudarśana Cakra in exchange.”

Kṛshṇa answered with his usual grace: “Even if all the devas, dānavas, gandharvas, nāgas and birds joined together, they would not equal a hundredth part of my power. But here is the bow, here is the *śakti, here is the cakra. Take whichever of my weapons you can lift, and it is yours.”*

Aśvatthāmā eagerly reached for the Sudarśana Cakra with his left hand, but he could not move it. He tried with both hands and put all his strength into it, and it did not stir. Tired out, he admitted defeat.

Kṛshṇa then told him gently: “Among men Arjuna is dearest to me, dearer than my own sons Pradyumna and Sāmba, and dearer than Balarāma. Even he has never asked me for this cakra. You asked, and I respected your courage. But its weight is the weight of the whole world. Go well.”

Kṛshṇa gave Aśvatthāmā fine horses, wealth and gems, and sent him away with honour. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 12)

Aśvatthāmā fires the Brahmāśiras

On the bank of the Bhāgīrathī the Pāṇḍavas found Aśvatthāmā sitting near Vyāsa and a gathering of ṛshis. Bhīma bore down on him at full speed, shouting. Aśvatthāmā looked up and saw armed enemies coming and no way to escape. Fear entered him for the first time.

In panic he picked up a blade of grass (ishīkā), and from this the parva gets the name Aishīka. He filled it with the Brahmāśiras mantra and let it go with the words: “Apa-Pāṇḍavam bhavatu”, which means “Let there be no more Pāṇḍavas.” The astra flew out as a bolt of first fire that seemed able to burn all three worlds. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 13)

Arjuna’s answer and the ṛshis step in

Kṛshṇa had known this moment would come. At once he told Arjuna: “Your Brahmāśiras must meet his. Fire it now, to protect our brothers.” Arjuna got down from the chariot. He bowed first to Droṇa’s son, then to his own teachers and the devas, and then fired his own Brahmāśiras in answer.

The two weapons met, and the fire between them threatened to burn up all existence. At that moment the great ṛshi Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa and Nārada appeared on the battlefield together. Both stood between the two clashing astras. As soon as Arjuna saw the two great souls, he drew back his astra. Only Arjuna could do this. Only a man of firm brahmacarya, who has kept the strictest vows for long years, can release the Brahmāśiras and then call it back. Anyone else who tries will have his skull split. Arjuna had the discipline and the knowledge, and he withdrew his weapon. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 14–15)

Aśvatthāmā could not withdraw his. He told Vyāsa: “I fired this out of fear for my life, from fear of Bhīma’s fury. I cannot call it back. It is already seeking the Pāṇḍava line.” Vyāsa said: “Then turn it. Do not let it fall on the world. Send it only to the wombs of the Pāṇḍava women.” Aśvatthāmā agreed. The astra turned toward Uttarā, the daughter of Virāṭa and wife of the slain Abhimanyu. She carried the last heir of the Pāṇḍava line in her womb. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 15)

Kṛshṇa’s vow, the name Parīkshit and the śāpa on Aśvatthāmā

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa turned to Aśvatthāmā and spoke with quiet authority:

“Know that the child in Uttarā’s womb will be born. He will die and live again, for I will bring him back to life with my own *tapas-vīrya and satya-vīrya (the strength of my tapas and of my truth). Your astra struck him, yes. But he will be born again from the dead womb. A vow was already spoken in Upaplavya. A brāhmaṇa vowed in my presence that when this line faced its end, a son of the Pāṇḍava line would be born to Virāṭa’s daughter. Uttarā will give birth to a boy. Because he was ‘tested’ (parīkshita, examined) even in the womb, his name will be Parīkshit. He will rule for sixty years as a dharmarāja of the Kuru line.”*

Then Kṛshṇa spoke the śāpa on Aśvatthāmā, calm, complete and not to be undone:

“You have done the worst things a man can do. You killed sleeping children, and you turned the most powerful astra known against unborn infants. You are the lowest being alive. Therefore, for three thousand years you will wander this earth alone, with no companion, no place to rest and no community. You will roam only in forests and wastelands. You will carry disease. You will smell of rotting blood. You will not be welcome anywhere, even among the lowest beings.”

Aśvatthāmā took the śāpa in silence. He said to Vyāsa: “Let it be as Bhagavān Kṛshṇa has spoken.” (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16)

The maṇi is given up

Aśvatthāmā then took from his forehead the saha-ja maṇi, the jewel he was born with, which protected him from all weapons, disease, hunger and unseen danger. He placed it in the hands of the Pāṇḍavas. Then he left for the forest.

Bhīma brought the maṇi to Draupadī. She took it calmly and said: “Aśvatthāmā is a teacher’s son, so he is a teacher to me as well. I asked for this maṇi only as a sign of victory, not for his death. Let the mahārāja wear it on his head.” Yudhishṭhira honoured Draupadī’s greatness of heart and the fact that this was a guru’s maṇi, and had the jewel set on his own crown. He shone with it like a mountain bearing the moon. Draupadī rose slowly from her grief, and with her there the camp gathered itself. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16)

Yudhishṭhira’s question: how did Aśvatthāmā do it?

Yudhishṭhira was now somewhat restored. He asked Kṛshṇa a question that had been growing in his mind since the first news came:

“How did one man, Aśvatthāmā, kill so many? Dhṛshṭadyumna, who defeated Droṇa himself, fell before him. Śikhaṇḍī, who was the cause of Bhīshma’s fall, was cut down. Our sons, who had lived through the great Bhīshma, Droṇa and Karṇa, were slaughtered like animals. How?”

Kṛshṇa answered: “Mahādeva made it possible. Aśvatthāmā prayed to the Deva-deva with complete surrender and offered his own body as a sacrifice. Mahādeva, who when pleased can give even deathlessness and the power to kill Indra, entered Aśvatthāmā in *āveśa (a taking-over of the body). It was Mahādeva who moved through the camp that night, not Aśvatthāmā alone. That is why no man could stop him.”*

Kṛshṇa then described the nature of Mahādeva and his highest glory. The whole cosmos moves by his action. Brahmā first found him in the cosmic waters and asked him to create. Śiva and Brahmā together set the work of creation in motion. Śiva’s power is greater than all beings and all weapons. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 17)

Sources

Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 10: the charioteer’s report to Yudhishṭhira
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 11: Draupadī’s demand and her words to Bhīma
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 12: Kṛshṇa’s account of Aśvatthāmā at Dvārakā
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 12–13: the chase and the meeting near the Bhāgīrathī
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 13: Aśvatthāmā fires the Brahmāśiras
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 14–15: Arjuna’s answer, Vyāsa and Nārada
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 15: the astra turned toward Uttarā
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16: Kṛshṇa’s vow, the name Parīkshit, the śāpa and the maṇi
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 17: Yudhishṭhira’s question and Kṛshṇa’s answer
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 10–17: the Aishīka Parva