JOIN USAshwathama the anti-hero of Mahabharata, the son of Drona and Kripi, condemned to roam the earth till eternity, wounded, lonely and pitiful — well, may he not represent modern man by these very attributes? The curse that Ashwathama drew upon himself was that he should be deathless, but this was not the immortality of the gods but rather the repeated cycle of existential misery that he was to live through, very much like the Greek mythological figure, Sisyphus.
Stung by anger to avenge his father’s death in the Kurukshetra war, Ashwathama unleashes a reign of terror and bloodshed. He enters the Pandava camp where the victorious warriors are asleep and kills every offspring of the Pandava brothers. Yet again drunk with power, in his mad anger he releases the Brahmastra, the most deadly of weapons on Uttara’s womb which kills her unborn child.
However , Lord Krishna, moved by the pleas of Draupadi and enraged at the heinous crime of the killing of innocent children, especially, the foetus in Uttara’s womb, restores the unborn child to life who as Parikshit is destined to rule the world.
So how does one read Ashwathama’s actions? That he was endowed with great power was beyond question. He was invincible in warfare. But power without responsibility can be a dangerous thing. Power used for the betterment and welfare of humanity has been applauded everywhere in the world.
Think of Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. But Ashwathama, in a fit of madness, used his power to kill in order to quench his baser emotions. The evil consequences of the abuse of power can only bring death and destruction to the good and the innocent.
Today‘s warmongering and the atmosphere of terror could be avoided only if wisdom prevails and there is freedom from hatred and rivalry. Blinded by unbridled power, the netas of the modern world who seem hell bent on desecration of all that was sacred to our ancestors, from Mother Earth to ethical values may well read the warning signs in the example of Ashwathama who, going out to hunt, became the hunted.
Yes, Ashwathama is very much alive.