Aśvatthāmā

Aśvatthāmā was the son of Droṇācārya and Kṛpī. He was a brahma-kshatriya, a warrior of brāhmaṇa descent who mastered both the Vedas and the highest secrets of weapons. He was born with a divine maṇi (jewel) on his forehead, the gift of Mahādeva. It kept him free from fear, hunger, tiredness and disease, and it marked him as a cirañjīvī, one of the rare beings who live on through the ages.

He studied with the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas at his father’s gurukula (teacher’s school) and fought for the Kauravas throughout the war at Kurukshetra. The Droṇa Parva records his hardest hours: his father’s death by deceit, his vow of vengeance, the use of the Nārāyaṇāstra, and his shock when even the Āgneyāstra could not harm Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, who were shown to be Nara and Nārāyaṇa themselves.

Birth and family

Aśvatthāmā was born to Droṇācārya and Kṛpī, the sister of Kṛpācārya. When he was born, a voice like the neigh of a horse rang across the sky. The child who made that sound was named Aśvatthāmā, “he whose strength is like that of a horse”.

He was also born with the divine maṇi fixed in his forehead. This jewel was Mahādeva’s gift. It guarded him from tiredness, hunger, fear, disease and supernatural dangers. It was one of the signs that he was a cirañjīvī, one for whom the usual span of human life does not apply.

His father Droṇa was himself a great brahma-kshatriya. He was born of the ṛshi Bharadvāja and was taught the highest secrets of weapons by Paraśurāma. Aśvatthāmā grew up in this setting and was trained with the Pāṇḍava and Kaurava princes at Droṇācārya’s famous gurukula. He mastered all dhanurveda (the science of archery) and the most powerful divyāstras (divine weapons). He was one of the very few who received the Brahmāstra and other supreme weapons. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva)

In the war at Kurukshetra

Bhīshma Parva

When the Kaurava army was first set in order, Aśvatthāmā was placed in the front of Bhīshma’s division as one of seven senior mahārathikas (great chariot warriors). Chapter 17 lists him with Bhūriśravas, Śrutāyudha, Citrasena, Purumitra, Viviṃśati and Śalya. All of them moved ahead of Bhīshma on chariots with golden banners. He was also named among Bhīshma’s own guard. He fought with great skill through all ten days of Bhīshma’s command and became known as one of the most dangerous warriors on the Kaurava side. (Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 17–18)

Droṇa Parva: under his father’s command

When Droṇācārya became the Kaurava commander after Bhīshma fell, Aśvatthāmā fought with even greater force. In the Droṇa Parva he killed Nīla Rāja in single combat. Nīla was a king on the Pāṇḍava side, known by his chariot, armour, flag and horses, all blue. He had wrecked the Kaurava formations. Aśvatthāmā called him out: “What purpose is served by burning the army this way? Face me alone.” Nīla agreed, shot arrows, and then leapt from his chariot with sword and shield. Aśvatthāmā calmly cut off his head with a single bhalla (broad-headed arrow).

He also killed Maṇimanta, a Pāṇḍava king who had attacked Droṇa. When his own chariot was damaged, Aśvatthāmā leapt down with a long sword and cut Maṇimanta down with his horses, charioteer and standard. He shot three arrows at Abhimanyu when the young hero was trapped inside the cakravyūha (the wheel formation). On the key fourteenth day, Duryodhana named Aśvatthāmā as one of six mahārathikas set to guard the front of Jayadratha’s force. He also fought Śikhaṇḍī in a fierce clash in those days. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva)

The deceit and his father’s death

On the fifteenth day, Droṇācārya was fighting with superhuman force. Śrī Kṛshṇa advised the Pāṇḍavas that Droṇa could be stopped only if he believed his son was dead, because only that news would make him lay down his weapons. Bhīmasena therefore killed a great elephant named Aśvatthāmā, the elephant of the Mālava king Indravarma, which had the same name as the warrior. He then shouted across the battlefield that Aśvatthāmā was dead.

Droṇa did not fully believe Bhīma. He went to Yudhishṭhira and asked him directly, because Yudhishṭhira was known through the three worlds as a man of perfect truth and would not lie. In a painful moment Yudhishṭhira said “Aśvatthāmā hataḥ” (Aśvatthāmā is dead). Then, in a murmur that could barely be heard, he added “naro vā kuñjaro vā” (the man or the elephant). Droṇa heard only the first words.

Droṇa’s chariot had always floated a little above the ground, a sign of his purity. Now it touched the earth. He put down his weapons, sat on his chariot in yoga-samādhi (deep meditation), and began to draw his prāṇas (life breaths) upward toward Brahman.

Dhṛshṭadyumna had been born from the yajña fire for the very purpose of killing Droṇa. He ran forward at once and cut off the ācārya’s head. Droṇa’s tejas (radiance) rose from his body as a shining form, like a second sun, seen by only five: Sañjaya, Arjuna, Kṛpācārya, Kṛshṇa and Yudhishṭhira. It travelled upward and merged into Brahmaloka. Droṇa was eighty-five years old when he died. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202)

Grief, vow and the Nārāyaṇāstra

Aśvatthāmā heard that his father had been killed by Dhṛshṭadyumna while sitting unarmed in meditation, as the ācārya was praising Brahman. He was seized by grief and rage of great force. He wept for his father and swore a fierce vow of vengeance. He rallied the shaken Kaurava troops and steadied their formation. Then, in a desperate act, he called up the Nārāyaṇāstra.

The Nārāyaṇāstra was one of the most terrible weapons that exist. It showed itself as a rain of fire, missiles and meteors across the whole sky. Every warrior in the Pāṇḍava army was overwhelmed by it, and those who fought against it found it grew fiercer toward them. Kṛshṇa at once ordered all the Pāṇḍava warriors to put down their weapons, step down from their chariots and bow to the astra. A weapon born of Nārāyaṇa will not harm one who surrenders.

All obeyed except Bhīmasena, who refused to bow before any weapon. The strength of the astra turned toward Bhīma. Kṛshṇa and Arjuna dragged Bhīma down from his chariot and forced him to the ground, and the astra grew calm. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202)

Duryodhana begged Aśvatthāmā to call up the Nārāyaṇāstra again. Aśvatthāmā refused: “A divine weapon, once used and calmed, cannot be used a second time against the same enemy. If I try, it will destroy our own forces.” (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202)

The Āgneyāstra and its failure

Angered by Arjuna’s harsh words and driven by grief, Aśvatthāmā next used the Āgneyāstra, a weapon with the power of Agni, aimed at Kṛshṇa and Arjuna. It filled the sky with flame and darkness. The clouds rained blood, birds and beasts cried out in fear, and even the five mahābhūtas (great elements) seemed to spin. A whole Pāṇḍava akshauhiṇī (army division) was burned so completely that it could not be recognised.

When the fire cleared, Kṛshṇa and Arjuna stood in their chariot untouched and unharmed, shining like two suns coming out of a cloud. The Pāṇḍavas rejoiced and the Kauravas were stunned. Aśvatthāmā stared in confusion. How had these two survived a weapon that no asura, gandharva, piśāca or rākshasa could face? Arjuna answered with the Brahmāstra, which put out the remaining darkness.

Full of confusion and grief, Aśvatthāmā threw down his bow, leapt from his chariot and cried, “This is all illusion! All of it is false!” He then fled the battlefield. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202)

Vyāsa’s revelation

As soon as Aśvatthāmā fled, the great ṛshi Vyāsadeva appeared on the battlefield. Aśvatthāmā, his eyes wet with tears, bowed before Vyāsa and asked, “Why did my Āgneyāstra fail? What is the mystery here?”

Vyāsa explained that Kṛshṇa is not an ordinary man. He is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself, the ādi-deva (first deva) and cause of all that exists. He did sixty-six thousand years of tapas (austerity) in the Himālaya before this cycle of creation began. No astra made of fire, earth or sky can touch the avatāra of the one who is the source of all astras.

Vyāsa also told Arjuna who the shining figure was that Arjuna had seen walking before him in battle, the tall, brilliant being who destroyed enemies before Arjuna’s arrows reached them. Vyāsa said, “That was Mahādeva, Bhagavān Śiva himself, who walks before you and slays your enemies.” He then recited the Śataraudhrīya, the sacred stotra (hymn of praise) to Rudra. He spoke of the shared glory of Bhagavān Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva, both supreme. He named the Tripurā-vadha, the burning of the three cities, as an example of Mahādeva’s limitless power. Arjuna was filled with devotion and, on hearing this, composed a stuti (praise) to Mahādeva. (Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202)

Sauptika Parva: the night massacre

The decision and the owl

Duryodhana fell in the club fight and lay dying. Aśvatthāmā was one of three surviving Kaurava warriors who hurried to him. The other two were Kṛpācārya and Kṛtavarman. The three rested in the forest nearby, and Aśvatthāmā saw an owl swoop silently on crows that slept in a banyan tree and kill them one by one. This sight fixed his purpose: what daylight fighting could not win, the night might. He would enter the sleeping Pāñcāla camp and kill Dhṛshṭadyumna and every allied warrior there. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 1)

Kṛpācārya argued against the plan at length. He spoke of the dharma-niyamas (rules of dharma) of war, and of daiva (fate) and purushakāra (human effort). Fate, he said, had destroyed the Kaurava cause, and no desperate act of adharma would change it. Aśvatthāmā refused. He said Dhṛshṭadyumna had lost all right to dharmic protection when he killed an unarmed teacher sitting in yoga-samādhi. Kṛtavarman promised to follow Aśvatthāmā’s lead. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 2–5)

Śiva’s blessing

At the camp gate a terrible supernatural guard swallowed every weapon Aśvatthāmā fired at it, every astra and every arrow, and left him without arms and bewildered. He saw this as a divine barrier and chose to pray to Mahādeva. He calmed himself and offered a long and fervent stuti to Bhagavān Śiva by his many names and forms. At last he offered his own body as a havis (offering) in a fire altar that appeared by wonder.

Mahādeva appeared and said, “I protected the Pāñcālas until now out of my love for Kṛshṇa. Their time is now finished.” He entered Aśvatthāmā in āveśa (divine possession) and put into his hands a divine sword, the vimala khaḍga. He also sent the Pramatha-gaṇas, his followers, in hundreds of terrible forms, to follow unseen. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 6–7)

The massacre

With Śiva’s āveśa and the divine sword, Aśvatthāmā entered the camp by a side way. He killed Dhṛshṭadyumna first. He did not use a weapon but crushed him with his feet at the throat and chest, and so refused him the warrior’s death by the blade that he begged for. He said, “You killed an ācārya seated in samādhi. No good realm. No death by weapon for you.” He killed Uttamaujas and Yudhāmanyu in the same way.

He then mounted a chariot and moved through the camp, using the Rudrāstra and the divine sword. The five sons of Draupadī woke and fought back, but they were cut down one by one. Prativindhya was stabbed through the belly. Sutasoma had his sword arm cut off and was stabbed in the body. Śatānīka threw a chariot wheel and was beheaded. Śrutakarmā struck with an iron club and was beheaded by a downward sword stroke. Śrutakīrti shot arrows and was beheaded, with his earrings gleaming as his head flew from his body. Śikhaṇḍī and the Prabhadraka warriors were killed. The whole Pāñcāla-Sṛñjaya army, tens of thousands, was killed before dawn. Kṛpa and Kṛtavarman guarded the exits and cut down all who ran. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 8)

The devī Kālarātrī herself appeared to the survivors. She was dark-clothed, wore a red garland and held a noose, and she dragged the slain toward the realm of Yama. The narrator Saṃjaya says that those who died that night had been marked by fate from the start of the war, and that Aśvatthāmā was only fate’s instrument. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 8)

Duryodhana’s death

Aśvatthāmā went back and told the dying Duryodhana about the massacre. Duryodhana received the news with deep gratitude and died in peace. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 9)

The Brahmāśiras and the Aishīka episode

Draupadī demanded Aśvatthāmā’s sahaja maṇi (the jewel he was born with), or else her own death. Bhīmasena chased him to the bank of the Bhāgīrathī. Cornered, Aśvatthāmā charged a blade of grass with the Brahmāśiras mantra and let it go, saying “apa-Pāṇḍavam bhavatu” (let there be no more Pāṇḍavas). Arjuna, directed by Kṛshṇa, answered with his own Brahmāśiras. The two weapons met.

Vyāsa and Nārada appeared between them. Arjuna drew his weapon back, which only a man of the highest brahmacarya (self-control) can do. Aśvatthāmā could not draw his back, and he turned it toward the womb of Uttarā. Kṛshṇa vowed to protect the unborn child. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 13–15)

Kṛshṇa then laid a śāpa (a curse) on Aśvatthāmā: three thousand years of wandering alone, with no companions and no place to rest, bearing disease and the stench of rotting blood, unwelcome even among the lowest of men. Aśvatthāmā gave up the sahaja maṇi from his forehead. This was the jewel born with him, Mahādeva’s gift, which had guarded him from weapons, disease and hunger. He then left for the forest. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16)

As a cirañjīvī, Aśvatthāmā lives on today. He wanders the earth under this śāpa, his forehead wounded where the maṇi was torn away. He is a being of great power who has become a lonely wanderer through Kṛshṇa’s firm decree.

In Bhīshma’s teaching on daiva and purushakāra

Bhīshma was teaching Yudhishṭhira about daiva-purushakāra. He named Aśvatthāmā, together with Paraśurāma, as one of two mighty bowmen born of ṛshis (ṛshi-born dhanurdhāras) who did not reach svarga (heaven) in spite of their puṇya (merit) and skill. Bhīshma gave this as an example for the teaching that puṇya and strength alone do not bring the fruit of daiva. This fits Aśvatthāmā’s own later end, under Kṛshṇa’s śāpa of three thousand years of lonely wandering. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6)

Strī Parva: the three survivors meet Dhṛtarāshṭra

Chapter 11 of the Strī Parva tells how the three surviving Kaurava warriors, Aśvatthāmā, Kṛpācārya and Kṛtavarman, met the royal company of Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī on their way from Hastināpura to the battlefield. One krośa (a measure of distance) from the city, the Pāṇḍavas met the three. The three warriors wept and said, “Your son did deeds of great difficulty and has gone to Indra’s realm with his followers. We three alone are left of all Duryodhana’s host.”

Kṛpācārya then spoke comforting words to Gāndhārī. He said her sons had died as warriors should, without turning their backs. They had fought bravely with their weapons and had reached the shining worlds that warriors earn by righteous war.

The three told of the Sauptika massacre of the sleeping Pāñcāla camp. They said they could not face the Pāṇḍavas again and asked leave to go. Dhṛtarāshṭra gave his leave and urged them to hold to kshatriya-dharma even in hardship. The three walked around the king with respect and parted for the last time. Each went a different way, looking back again and again at Dhṛtarāshṭra with anxious hearts, carrying the weight of what they had done. (Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 11)

Āśramavāsika Parva: an aṃśa of Rudra

At the Gaṅgā, Vyāsa told that Aśvatthāmā, the son of Droṇa, was an aṃśa (a part) of Rudra. This was said in the same roll-call that named his father as an aṃśa of Bṛhaspati. Aśvatthāmā does not rise among the host at the Gaṅgā in Chapters 32–33, because, unlike the warriors named there, he did not die at Kurukshetra. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 31)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 17–18
• Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 43–122
• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva
• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 101–202
• Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 1–17
• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 11
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 31–33