{{refimprove|date=February 2022}}
{{Short description|A character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata}}
{{About||the film|Aswathama (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox character
| image = Ashwatthama uses Narayanastra.jpg
| alt = Ashwatthama
| caption = Ashwatthama uses Narayanastra
| family = [[Dronacharya]] (father) [[Kripi]] (mother)
| relatives = [[Kripacharya]] (maternal uncle) [[Bharadwaja]] (grandfather)
| weapon = [[Bow and Arrow]], [[Sword]]
| color = #FFC569
| info-hdr = Information
}}

In the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] epic the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', '''Ashwathama''' ({{lang-sa|अश्वत्थामा|Aśvatthāmā}}) or '''Drauni''' is the son of [[guru]] [[Drona]] and the grandson of the sage [[Bharadwaja]]. Ashvatthama is a [[Maharathi]]<ref>K M Ganguly (1883–1896). [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05168.htm The Mahabharata, Book 5 Udyoga Parva, Section CLXVIII] sacred-texts.com, October 2003, Retrieved 2014-02-11</ref> who fought on the [[Kaurava]] side against the [[Pandavas]] in the [[Kurukshetra War]]. He became a Chiranjivi (immortal) on being blessed by [[Shiva]].

The deceptive plot of his rumoured death led to the beheading of his grieving father [[Drona]], who was decapitated while meditating for his son's [[Ātman (Hinduism)|soul]]. Ashwatthama was appointed as the final [[commander-in-chief]] of the [[Kauravas]] in the Kurukshetra War. Overcome with grief and rage, he slaughters most of the [[Pandava]] camp in a single Night combat. Ashwatthama ruled the Northern Panchala being subordinate to the rulers of Hastinapura.

== Etymology ==

According to ''The Mahabharata'', Ashwatthama means "the sacred voice which relates to that of a horse".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07193.htm|title = The Mahabharata, Book 7: Drona Parva: Drona-vadha Parva: Section CXCVII}}</ref> It is so-called because when he was born he cried like a horse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=azvatthAma&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=|title = Sanskrit - Asien.net}}</ref>

== Birth and Life Prior to the War ==
{{One source section
| date = September 2021
}}
Ashwatthama is the son of [[Dronacharya]] and Kripi. He was born in cave in a forest (in present day Tapkeshwar mahadev temple,Dehradun. Uttrakhand). Drona does many years of severe penance to please Lord [[Shiva]] in order to obtain a son who possesses the same valiance as Lord Shiva. Ashwatthama is born with a precious and powerful gem on his forehead as a blessing of Lord [[Shiva]] which gives him power over all living beings lower than humans; it protects him from hunger, thirst, fatigue, old age and all sorts of diseases, weapons and deities. The divine gem almost makes Ashwatthama invincible and immortal. Though an expert in warfare, Dronacharya lives the simple life, with little money or property. As a result, Ashwatthama has a difficult childhood, with his family unable to even afford milk. Wanting to provide a better life for his family, Drona goes to the Panchal Kingdom to seek aid from his former classmate and friend, [[Drupada]]. However, Drupada rebukes the friendship, claiming a king and a beggar cannot be friends, humiliating Drona.

After this incident, and seeing the plight of Drona, [[Kripacharya]] invites Drona to [[Hastinapur]]. There, he comes upon the attention of his co-disciple [[Bhishma]]. Thus, Dronacharya becomes the guru of both [[Pandavas]] and [[Kauravas]] in Hastinapur. Ashwatthama is trained in the art of warfare along with them.<ref name="Ganguly1">K M Ganguly(1883-1896). [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05168.htm The Mahabharata, Book 5 Udyoga Parva, Section CLXVIII] sacred-texts.com, October 2003, Retrieved 2013-11-14</ref>

Later, Drona asked his disciples to give him his Guru Dakshina. He asked Drupada's defeat in his Guru Dakshina. Kauravas failed to defeat Drupada and were captured by him and his daughter, the Commander-in-Chief [[Shikhandini]]. Later, Pandavas defeated Drupada and presented him before Drona. Drona crowned Ashwatthama as king of the southern part of Panchala.

== Role in the Kurukshetra war ==
Since Hastinapura, ruled by [[Dhritarashtra|King Dhritarashtra]], offered Dronacharya the privilege of teaching the Kuru princes, both Dronacharya and Ashwatthama are loyal to Hastinapur and fight for the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra war. Before Dronacharya's death, Ashwatthama visits his father, desiring a blessing of victory that he is denied. Drona advises Ashwatthama to win the war using his own strength and not through a blessing.

On the 14th day of the war, he kills a division of [[Rakshasas]] and Anjanaparvan (the powerful son of Ghatotkacha) and defeats [[Ghatotkacha]] several times as well breaking all his illusions but fails to kill the powerful demon everytime. He also stands against Arjuna several times, trying to prevent him from reaching [[Jayadratha]], but is eventually defeated by [[Arjuna]].

=== Death of Drona ===
[[File: Sadiq, bhima uccide l'elefante asvatthama, india del nord, periodo mogul, 1598.jpg|thumb|Bhima kills an elephant named Asvatthama, folio from Razmnama]]
On the 10th day of the war, after [[Bhishma]] falls, [[Drona]] is named the supreme commander of the armies. He promises [[Duryodhana]] that he will capture [[Yudhishthira]], but then he repeatedly fails to do so. Duryodhana taunts and insults him, which greatly angers Ashwatthama, causing friction between Ashwatthama and Duryodhana. [[Krishna]] knows that it was not possible to defeat an armed Drona. So, Krishna suggests to [[Yudhishthira]] and the other Pandavas, if Drona were convinced that his son was killed on the battlefield, then his grief would leave him vulnerable to attack.

Krishna hatches a plan for Bhima to kill an elephant by the name Ashwatthama while claiming to Drona it was Drona's son who was dead. Ultimately, the gambit works (though the details of it vary depending on the version of the Mahabharata), and [[Dhristadyumna]] beheads the grieving sage.

=== Narayanastra usage ===

After learning of the deceptive way his father was killed, Ashwatthama becomes filled with wrath and invokes the celestial weapon called the [[Narayanastra]], against the Pandavas.

When the weapon is invoked, violent winds begin to blow, peals of thunder are heard, and an arrow appears for every Pandava soldier. This puts fear into the Pandava army, but on [[Krishna]] instructions all the troops abandoned their chariots and also lay down all its weapons and surrender it to the weapon. As Lord Krishna himself is the incarnation of Narayana, he knows about the weapon, as the weapon only targets an armed person while ignores unarmed ones. After getting their soldiers to disarm (including [[Bhima]] with some difficulty), the Astra passes by harmlessly. When urged by Duryodhana to use the weapon again, desirous of victory, Aswatthama sadly responds that if the weapon is used again, it will turn on its user.

According to the [[Neelakantha Chaturdhara]] compilation, the [[Narayanastra]] destroys one [[Akshauhini]] of the Pandava army completely. After the use of Narayanastra, a terrible war between both armies takes place. Ashwatthama defeats Dhrishtadyumna in direct combat, but failed to kill him as [[Satyaki]] and [[Bhima]] cover his retreat in the process both Bhima and Satyaki engages in a battle against Ashwatthama, furious Kripi Kumara defeats both the warriors and makes them retreat from the battlefield as well.[4] .<ref>K M Ganguly(1883-1896). [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07197.htm The Mahabharatha Book 7: Drona] page 478-479 Aswathama defeated Satyaki, Bhima, Drishtadyumna, October 2003, Retrieved 2015-01-13</ref>
As the battle progresses he fights Arjuna on day 16

=== 16th Day War ===
By using an ordinary yet powerful bow Ashwatthama fires millions of arrows at a time which results in the stupefaction of Arjuna himself. Then after some time Ashwatthama again overpowers Arjuna as he is bathing in blood, but at last Arjuna with no other option pierce his steeds and the wounded steeds carries Ashwatthama away from Arjuna and also his weapons gets exhausted.
King Malayadhwaja of Pandya Kingdom, one of the mightiest warrior of Pandavas fights brilliantly against Ashwatthama. After a long duel of Archery between them Ashwatthama makes Malayadhwaja carless, weaponless and obtains an opportunity to kill him on the spot but he spares him temporarily for more fight.Then Malayadhwaja proceeds against Ashwatthama on an elephant and throwa a powerful lance which destroys latter's diadem.Then Ashwathama cut off the head and arms of Malayadhwaja and also kills 6 followers of Malayadhwaja. All the great warriors of Kauravas then started applauding Ashwatthama for his act.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Mahabharata, Book 8: Karna Parva Index|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/index.htm|access-date=2022-12-24|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

=== Becoming commander ===

After the terrible death of [[Dushasana]], Ashwatthama suggests Duryodhana make peace with the Pandavas, keeping in mind the welfare of [[Hastinapur]]. Later, after Duryodhana is struck down by [[Bhima]] and facing death, the last three survivors from the [[Kaurava]] side, Ashwatthama, [[Kripa]], and [[Kritvarma]] rush to his side. Ashwatthama swears to bring Duryodhana revenge, and Duryodhana appoints him as the commander-in-chief.

=== Attack on Pandava Camp ===

Along with [[Kripa]] and [[Kritavarma]], Ashwatthama plans to attack the Pandavas camp at night.

Ashwatthama first kicks and awakens [[Dhrishtadyumna]], the commander of the Pandava army and the killer of his father.<ref>K M Ganguly(1883-1896). [http://sacred-texts.com/hin/m10/m10007.htm The Mahabharata Book 10: Sauptika Parva section 8] Ashvatthama killing Dhrishtadyumna, October 2003, Retrieved 2015-04-17</ref> Ashwatthama strangles the half-awake Dhrishtadyumna by choking him to death as the prince begs to be allowed to die with a sword in his hand. Ashwatthama proceeds with butchering the remaining warriors, including the Upapandavas, [[Shikhandi]], Yudhamanyu, [[Uttamaujas]], and many other prominent warriors of the Pandava army. Even as some soldiers try and fight back, Ashwatthama remains unharmed due to his activated abilities as one of the eleven [[Rudras]]. Those who try to flee from Ashwatthama's wrath are hacked down by Kripacharya and Kritavarma at the camp's entrances.

After the slaughter, the three warriors go to find Duryodhana. After relaying to him the deaths of all the [[Panchalas]], they announce that the Pandavas have no sons with whom to rejoice their victory. Duryodhana felt greatly satisfied and avenged at Ashwatthama's ability to do for him what Bhisma, Drona, and Karna could not. With this, Duryodhana breathes his last, and mourning, the three remaining members of the Kaurava army perform the cremation rites.

==Aftermath of the Attack==
The [[Pandavas]] and [[Krishna]] who were away during the night, now return to their camp the next day morning. Hearing the news of these events [[Yudhishthira]] faints and the Pandavas become inconsolable. Bhima angrily rushes to kill Drona's son. They find him at sage [[Vyasa]]'s ashram near the bank of Bhagiratha.

The now triggered Ashwatthama invokes the [[Brahmastra]] against the Pandavas to fulfill the oath of killing them. Krishna asks [[Arjuna]] to fire the Brahmashira, the anti-missile, against Ashwatthama to defend themselves. Vyasa intervenes and prevents the weapons from clashing against each other. He asks both Arjuna and Ashwatthama to take their weapons back. Arjuna, knowing how to do so takes it back.

[[File: Narada and Vyasa came to stop Brahmasironamakastra used by Aswatthama and Arjuna.jpg|thumb|Narada and Vyasa came to stop Brahmastras used by Ashwatthama and Arjuna respectively]]

Ashwatthama not knowing the process to retrieve the [[Brahmastra]], instead directs the weapon towards the womb of the pregnant [[Uttarā (Mahabharata)|Uttara]],( daughter-in-law of Arjun) in an attempt to end the lineage of the Pandavas.

Krishna saves [[Uttarā (Mahabharata)|Uttara]]'s unborn child from the effects of Brahmastra, on the request of Draupadi, Subhadra and Sudeshna. As the child faced a test of life even before being born, Lord Sri Krishna named him Parikshit (Literally "the tested one") and later on this child succeeds Yudhisthira to become the next king of Hastinapur.

==Lineage==
A theory is propounded by historians R. Sathianathaier and D. C. Sircar, with endorsements by Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund and Burton Stein.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Burton |title=Book Reviews: Kancipuram in Early South Indian History, by T. V. Mahalingam (Madras: Asia Publishing House, 1969), pp. vii-243 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=7 |issue=2 |year=2016 |pages=317–321 |issn=0019-4646 |doi=10.1177/001946467000700208|s2cid=144817627 }}: "...the rather well-argued and plausible stand that the Palavas were indigenous to the central Tamil plain, Tondaimandalam..."</ref> Sircar points out that the family legends of the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallavas]] speak of an ancestor descending from Ashwatthama and his union with a Naga princess. It was the son born from this union, that would have started this dynasty. This claim finds support in the fact that [[Kanchipuram]] was where the Pallavas would dwell, and this was earlier a part of the ''Naga Kingdom''.

A further corroboration is that the [[gotra]] of the Pālave Maratha family is [[Bharadwaja]] (grandfather of Ashwatthama), same as the one which Pallavas have attributed to themselves in their records.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.16652/page/n297/mode/2up Vaidya C.V., History of Medieval Hindu India, pg.281]</ref>

== In Popular Culture ==
* In Vaibhav Modi's [[Dharmakshetra]] TV series, the role Ashwatthama was played by Saurabh Goyal.
* In [[Chandraprakash Dwivedi]]'s [[Ek Aur Mahabharat]], the role of Aswatthama was played by [[Ashok Lokhande]].
* In Jamshed Ashraf's [[Mrityunjay (TV series)|Mrityunjanya]], the role of Ashwattha was played by Ashok Lokhande. The younger version of Ashwatthama was played by Prasad Barve.
* In [[B. R. Chopra]]'s [[Mahabharat (1988 TV series)|Mahabharata (1988)]], the role of Ashwatthma was played by [[Pradeep Rawat (actor)|Pradeep Rawat]] while the younger version was played by Ayush Shah.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Ashwatthama}}

'''Original text online {{in lang|sa}}'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090724075838/http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gret_utf.htm#MBh#MBh GRETIL etext] (Muneo Tokunaga)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101107222102/http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil/1_sanskr/2_epic/mbh/sas/mahabharata.htm ''Mahābhārata'' online]
* [http://haribhakt.com/aswathama-existed-ashwathama-seen-by-people-ashwathama-is-alive/ History: Encounters with Ashvatthama]

{{Mahabharata}}
{{Hindu Culture and Epics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Chiranjivins]]
[[Category:Characters in the Mahabharata]]