Mahabarta Reading Notes D (EC)

Ashwatthaman and Shiva.

-Gem of Ashwatthaman gives him the power over living beings lower than humans, and protects him from hunger, fatigue, and thirst.
-He grew up in a poor family, a son of Dronacharya who prayed to lord Shiva for a son of the same valiance.
-Ashw became a bloodthirsty individual, slaughtering many in his raid of the Pandava camp.
-His father Drona was killed because of his rumored death, in his grief becoming weak.
-He commanded Kiravas in the the Kurukshetra War.
-He is eventually embodied by Shiva/becomes a rudra (?) in his rage to get revenge, his sacrifice being himself.
-He got revenge on his fathers death by killing Duryodhana, his father’s killer, in his raid on Pandavas.
-his two allies Kripa and Kritavarman helped him in this slaughter
-Ash tried very hard to finish his promise of killing all the Pandavas, even attempting to kill the unborn child of Uttara to end the Pandavas for good.
-the sage Vyasa prevented the Pandavas from killing him, but to punish him made him surrender his gem and cursed him, letting the god decide if he were to suffer for his wrongdoings or not.

This guys seems to have grow up innocent, but being extremely trained for war and violence and having a weapon like narayanastra...the death of his father created something volatile. Growing up poor may or may not have increased the rage in Ash. I mean, he's so angry he tries/manages to kill an unborn child in his attempt to wipe out the Pandavas.

Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

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