During the 18 days of the battle of Kuruksetra, almost all warriors on both sides died. That was the plan of Krsna to liberate both the pious and impious warriors on both sides. The ones who were devotees attained the spiritual planets, while the ones who were inimical attained the impersonal Brahmajoti, but all of them were liberated.

Just the five Pandavas and their five sons, as well as a few generals from both sides, had survived the battle. Amongst them was Aśvatthāmā, who was angered at the death of his father, Dronacarya, who he thought had been unfairly killed by Arjuna and Dhristadyumna.

Aśvatthāmā understood he would not be able to fight with the five Pandavas, so he decided to avenge his father by killing the five sons of the Pandavas during their sleep. These were just teenagers, who although also fighting in the battle of Kuruksetra were not as strong as their fathers. Aśvatthāmā did a terrible thing by killing all five of them during their sleep and bringing the severed heads to Duryodhana.

At this point, Duryodana was close to death after having his spine broken during the fight with Bhima. Wanting to please him, Aśvatthāmā lied, telling him that the five heads were the heads of the five Pandavas. Initially, Duryodana was pleased, but when he decided to test, by pressing one of the heads, the skull easily broke, and he understood that these were not the heads of the Pandavas, but of their five sons. Thus, instead of being pleased, he started crying, understanding that now not only he had lost the battle, but the whole lineage of the Kurus was destroyed, with the last descendants of the dynasty, the five sons of the Pandavas being killed. He died thus in a very miserable way, greatly distressed and dissatisfied with the terrible actions of Aśvatthāmā.

Even more distressed was Draupadi, who lost all her five children in such a terrible way. “Draupadī, the mother of the five children of the Pāṇḍavas, after hearing of the massacre of her sons, began to cry in distress with eyes full of tears.”

Arjuna, of course, could not see her in this situation, and he thus tried to console her by promising to bring her the head of Aśvatthāmā so she could take her bath standing on his head, and thus feel that the death of her sons had been avenged. This may sound strange to us, but for Ksatriyas, getting revenge was an important part of the process of grieving for relatives who had been killed.

He started chasing Aśvatthāmā in his chariot and quickly started catching up with Him. He started to notice, in horror, how his horses started getting tired as Arjuna got closer and closer. In a panic, he decided to throw a brahmanastra at Arjuna, even without knowing how to retract the weapon.

A brahmanastra is a type of nuclear weapon that is activated by a mantra, instead of being based on the fission of uranium or plutonium like on modern weapons. The mantra would break the structure of matter, creating a nuclear explosion that would continue growing indefinitely, potentially until the whole universe was destroyed. Because the brahmastra was such a powerful weapon, only very high-level Ksatriyas were allowed to use it. To start the explosion was relatively easy. The difficult part was to be able to contain the explosion, so the brahmastra would destroy only the intended target, acting like an intelligent weapon instead of a genocidal dumb bomb. Aśvatthāmā knew how to start the explosion, but he did not know how to contain it. Still, seeing that death was imminent, he threw the brahmastra at Arjuna, hoping to save himself.

Seeing the explosion, Arjuna very quickly addressed Krsna, Who informed him of the situation and explained how the weapon could be counteracted. Arjuna then used another brahmastra to counteract the first and then invoked the mantra to contain the explosion, retracting both weapons and saving the universe from imminent destruction.

It’s described that when Arjuna finally caught Aśvatthāmā, he was so angry that his eyes were blazing like two balls of copper. He tied him like an animal, threw him on the back of his chariot, and decided to bring him back to the camp.

Draupadi was certainly extremely hurt by the death of her sons, but when she saw Aśvatthāmā in that condition, bound by ropes like an animal, she had a change of heart. She offered respects to him as a brāhmaṇa, even though Aśvatthāmā had fallen from such a platform due to his acts, and asked Arjuna to free him, arguing that he was not only a brahmana, but the son of Dronacarya, from whom Arjuna learned military science and to whom he had a great debt.

Yudhisthira agreed with the proposition of Draupadi and also concluded that he should be pardoned. Nakula and Sahadeva, as well as Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa, and others all unanimously agreed with the King, but Bhima voiced his dissatisfaction, arguing that being the culprit of a heinous crime like murdering children, Aśvatthāmā could not just be forgotten like that.

Krsna is called Caturbhuja [the four-armed one] in this passage, because after speaking, Bhima rushed to attack Aśvatthāmā, while Draupadi obstructed him. Krsna them exhibited four arms to keep them apart. Summarizing the situation, the Lord spoke to Arjuna:

“A friend of a brāhmaṇa is not to be killed, but if he is an aggressor he must be killed. All these rulings are in the scriptures, and you should act accordingly. You have to fulfill your promise to your wife, and you must also act to the satisfaction of Bhīmasena and Me.” (SB 1.7.53-54)

Now, Arjuna was in a dilema. Aśvatthāmā had to be killed due to his crime, but at the same time pardoned following the conclusions of King Yudhisthira and the others. Understanding the real intention of the Lord, Arjuna used his sword to cut in a single stroke both the hair and the jewel Aśvatthāmā had in his head.

Aśvatthāmā had a natural jewel on his forehead, that was the source of much of his power. When this jewel was severed, his military power was reduced. At that same time, having his hair cut by an opponent is an extreme humiliation for a ksatriya, which equals a form of death. Having done so, Arjuna freed Aśvatthāmā and drove him out of the camp.

In this way, he was killed and pardoned at the same time. As Suta Goswami concludes: “Cutting the hair from his head, depriving him of his wealth and driving him from his residence are the prescribed punishments for the relative of a brāhmaṇa. There is no injunction for killing the body.” (SB 1.7.57)

After this, the Lord was preparing to return to Dvaraka, when a new danger appeared. Uttara, the daughter-in-law of Arjuna appeared screaming for help!

Aśvatthāmā was not done yet! After killing the five sons of the Pandavas, and being captured, chastized, and then freed, he returned to throw two other brahmastras, one aimed at the five Pandavas, and another aimed at the child Pariksit, who was still inside the womb of his mother, Uttara.

Pariksit was the grandson of Arjuna, son of the powerful Abhimanyu, who during the battle of Kuruksetra had saved Maharaja Yudhisthira by fighting simultaneously with all the commanders of the Kuru army inside the Chakravyuha. After the death of the five sons of the Pandavas, he was the heir of the family. With these two brahmastras, Aśvatthāmā tried to kill simultaneously all the surviving male members of the dynasty.

Krsna acted quickly to protect His devotees. He manifested simultaneously externally, protecting the five Pandavas from the first brahmastra, and inside the womb of Uttara, protecting Pariksit from the second. Krsna is present everywhere as Paramatma, therefore it was not difficult for Him to appear inside the womb of Uttara with His Sudarshana chakra to save both her and the baby. The brahmastra is an extremely powerful weapon, but it is no match for the power of the Sudharshana chakra of the Lord.

Pariksit had already been burned by the Brahmastra, but the Lord restored his body, and by his mercy, he was born as a healthy baby. This is mentioned in SB 3.3.17, where Prabhupada comments: “The embryonic body of Parīkṣit which was in formation after Uttarā’s pregnancy by Abhimanyu, the great hero, was burned by the brahmāstra of Aśvatthāmā, but a second body was given by the Lord within the womb, and thus the descendant of Pūru was saved.”

From inside the womb, the baby could see the Lord, this beautiful personality who had come to save Him at the most dangerous moment. The name “Pariksit” means “examiner”, because as he was growing, Pariksit was attentively examining all classes of men, trying to find this beautiful Supreme Person whom he had seen from inside the womb.

Because of all his mistakes, Krsna cursed Aśvatthāmā to wander as an indigent for the first 3000 years of Kali-yuga, bereft of his powers, always alone and suffering from unbearable pains. Just like other similar curses, like when Narada Muni cursed the sons of Kuvera to become trees, this curse was actually a blessing in disguise, designed to purify Aśvatthāmā of all his sins and bring him back to the right consciousness. Aśvatthāmā was originally a qualified Brahmana, and Krsna wanted to save him from his degradation and bring him back to his original pure self.

After suffering for these 3000 years and regretting his mistakes, he returned to his original glory and was able to join Vyasadeva and other great sages in Badarikadsrama, where he is still alive. Purified, Aśvatthāmā became a great sage and achieved a celestial body in which he can live for millions of years. He is now meditating, waiting to become one of the seven great sages of the universe at the beginning of the next Manvantara.