Ashwatthama

The horse-voiced child

He was born to Drona and Kripi, the sister of Kripa. At birth he cried out like the celestial horse Uchchaihshravas, and a voice from the sky named him Ashwatthama, the horse-voiced. He also came into the world with a gem on his forehead that guarded its wearer against weapons, sickness and hunger. His childhood was poor: when richer boys gave him flour stirred into water and he danced about saying he had tasted milk, Drona went to his old friend Drupada for help, was turned away with contempt, and came to Hastinapura to teach the princes. Ashwatthama trained beside them.

Drona loved him above everything and taught him the Brahmashira weapon, though without much willingness, knowing his son's restless temper. Krishna later recalled that Ashwatthama once came to Dwaraka offering that weapon in exchange for Krishna's discus, and could not even lift it.

A son's grief on the fifteenth day

He fought for Duryodhana throughout the war. On the fifteenth day Bhima killed an elephant named Ashwatthama and shouted the news; Yudhishthira confirmed that Ashwatthama was dead, and Drona laid down his arms and was beheaded by Dhrishtadyumna. In fury his son released the Narayanastra, which Krishna defeated by ordering the whole Pandava army to throw down their weapons and submit. Yet two days later, with Dushasana dead and Arjuna and Karna locked in their final duel, it was Ashwatthama who took Duryodhana by the hand and begged him to make peace.

The night raid

When Duryodhana lay with his thighs broken, he made Ashwatthama commander of the three warriors left: Ashwatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma. Resting under a banyan that night, Ashwatthama watched an owl kill sleeping crows and resolved to attack the Pandava camp in the dark. Kripa argued against it. At the gate a terrible being barred his way; Ashwatthama offered himself to Shiva, who gave him a sword and entered his body. He kicked Dhrishtadyumna awake and stamped him to death, refusing him a weapon's death, then killed Draupadi's five sons, Shikhandi and hundreds more, while Kripa and Kritavarma cut down those fleeing the burning camp. The five Pandavas and Krishna were away that night.

The weapon and the curse

Bhima hunted him down at Vyasa's hermitage on the Ganga, where Ashwatthama released the Brahmashira and Arjuna answered with his own. Narada and Vyasa stood between the two fires. Arjuna withdrew his weapon; Ashwatthama could not, and turned it on the wombs of the Pandava women, killing Uttaraa's unborn son. Krishna promised to revive the child and cursed Ashwatthama to wander for three thousand years, friendless and diseased. He gave up his gem, and Draupadi, who had been fasting to the death, gave it to Yudhishthira.

The survivor

Later Puranic lists count him among the chiranjivis who live to the end of the age, and folklore still places him on the roads of India; the epic's own curse is for three thousand years. He is the Mahabharata's clearest picture of grief turned into rage. Readers who sympathise with a son whose father was killed by a lie still have to face what the epic puts in front of them: sleeping men, children and an unborn heir.