Ashvatthama

Ashvatthama (IAST: Aśvatthāmā, also spelt as Ashwatthama and Ashvatthaman) is one of the major characters in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. He is the son of Drona, the royal preceptor to the Kuru princes—the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Ashvatthama is a close companion of Duryodhana, the leader of the Kauravas, and receives military training alongside the Kuru princes under the tutelage of his father. Favoured by his father, Ashvatthama is entrusted with the knowledge of several celestial weapons, including the Narayanastra and the Brahmashirastra. During the Kurukshetra War between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, he fights on the side of the Kauravas and emerges as one of the three surviving warriors from their faction by the war’s conclusion. On the night following the eighteenth day of battle, after the war has formally concluded, Ashvatthama temporarily gains supernatural strength and weapon after a sacrifice to the god Shiva. He launches a night raid on the Pandava camp and kills Dhrishtadyumna—the commander-in-chief of the Pandava army, who beheaded Drona during the war—and remaining warriors including the sons of Draupadi, the queen of the Pandavas. In response the Pandavas pursue him, and upon being confronted, Ashvatthama releases the Brahmashirastra. Unable to recall the weapon, Ashvatthama instead targets the Pandava lineage and Pandavas' women including Uttara—who is pregnant with Parikshit. Although the child dies, Krishna later revives him. As punishment for his actions, Krishna curses Ashvatthama to wander the earth for three thousand years, afflicted by isolation, suffering and decay. He retreats to forests afterwards.