Ashwatthama

6000 Year Old Man Still Alive! Believe it or Not But its Interesting.

India is full or varied heritage and its mysterious culture. Life Span of a Normal Person is Maximum 80 Years to 100 Years Average in India. But what will you say to a person whose age is More then 6000 Years. Don't Believe it ? Read more you will know.

Ashwatthama was the son of guru Dronacharya.  Dronacharya did many years dhyan and penance of Bhagwan Shiv Shankar in order to obtain a son who possesses the same valiance as of Lord Shiva. Aswatthama is the avatar of one of the eight Rudras and he is one of the seven Chiranjivi’s or the immortal ones. Aswatthama is the lone survivor still living, who actually fought in the kurukshetra war.
Aswatthama was born with a gem in his forehead which gave him power over all living beings lower than manav yoni. This gem protected him from any attacks of ghost, demons ,poisonous insects, snakes, animals etc. The gem was later removed from his forehead.

Aswathama was cursed to roam in Kaliyuga  due to his sinful deed of killing innocent 5 sons of Draupadi, wife of Pandavas.

There have been various accounts of People seeing Him.Below are few of them.

Incident 1 – Ashwathama seen by Railway Employee

A more than a decade old newspaper article ran about a railway employee on leave. During his wanderings in the jungles of Navsari (Gujarat) he had reported a very tall man of about 12 feet with a wound on his head. He claimed to have conversation with him and learnt that Bheem was much taller and stronger than him.

Incident 2 – Ashwathama met Pilot Baba ?

The last record of his existence came to my notice while reading a book called “Himalaya kah raha hai” by Pilot Baba. you can also go to his website to read the excerpts. The temple where he stayed was washed away in the floods a few years back. But before that he had interesting encounters with Aswathama which he shared and we have detailed as incident 9.

Incident 3 – Prithviraj Chauhan Hindu King Meeting Ashwathama

When in 1192, Prithveeraaj Chauhaan lost the battle from Mohammad Gauree, he left for jungle. There he met one old person with a scar on his head. Being a very good doctor Prithveeraaj Chauhaan confidently asked him that he can cure his scar. The old man agreed. But even after week’s medication it remained as it is. Prithveeraaj was surprised and understood the details. He asked old man if he is Ashwatthaamaa. Because only the scars that is created through taking up the “MANI” the gem from forehead cannot be cured. The old man told that he was Ashwatthaamaa and then he went away. This description is given in “Prithviraj Raso” the book written in 12th century on him.

Incident 4 – Ashwatthama Ecounter with Saint Naranappa

In late 14th, early 15th century there lived in Gadag, Karnaatak, a poor Braahman called Naranappa. Later, because of the Mahabharata epic “Karnata Bharata Kathamanjari” that he wrote in Kannada, he came to be called as Kumara Vyasa. His greatest desire was to write Mahaabhaarat based on original sources, and to this end he prayed day-in and day-out in the Temple of Veera Naaraayan, temple of Trikooteshwar. One day the Almighty decided to answer his prayers and appeared in his dream and said: “Attend the forthcoming Dwaadashee Paaran (Dwaadashee feast) in the Veera Naaraayan Temple. Watch out for one lone Braahman who would leave the feast earliest. He is none other than Ashwathaamaa of MBH. Fall at his feet and ask him to narrate the MahaBharat as it happened. You can record it in writing and claim your share of fame”. Promptly Naranappa (Narayanappa) attended the following Dwaadashee Paaran at the Veera Narayan Temple, and then followed the Brahmin who finished his feast the earliest and started walking out of the Temple. He approached him and fell at his feet saying, “I know who you are, you are the very same Ashwatthaamaa of MahaBharat, please help me”. At this Ashwathaamaa was taken aback and asked him how do you know this? Naranappa responded saying “The Veera Naaraayan Swamy” appeared in his dream and told me so. Ashwatthaamaa was mightily pleased hearing this and asked Naranappa, OK, tell me what can I do for you. Naranappa responded saying he would like to write the Mahaabhaarat in Kannada as it happened.
To this Ashwatthaamaa agreed under two conditions. He said that Naranappa should start writing the Mahaabhaarat everyday after he finished his bath, wearing a wet Veshti (Dhotee). Ashwatthaamaa said – “You can keep writing till such time your Veshti is wet and the MahaBharata would flow from your pen as it happened. The moment your clothes dry up, the flow would stop. He also put a condition that he should not disclose this secret to anyone failing which the flow would stop forever. Needless to say, our Naranappa, was immensely excited about the project, and he kept his secret till the time he reached the “Gadaa Parv” (the time when Duryodhan and Bheem fought the duel of the mace fight). At this moment it is believed that Ashwatthaamaa appeared before Naranappa and he was in tears — remembering his friend Duryodhan and the A-Dhaarmik (unjustified) way in which Bheem defeated Duryodhan. Naranappa overcome with excitement disclosed this secret to his wife, and his writing flow stopped immediately. That is why his Mahaabhaarat ends with Gadaa Parv only. Later someone might have added up from Vyaas’ MahaBharat, but our Kumara Vyaas’s MahaBharata ended only with Gadaa Parv. End of Mahabharat and Beginning of Kaliyuga further suggest that Dronacharya’s son is very much alive and is bound to roam in India to serve the curse bestowed on him. The curse that “Ashwatthaamaa would roam the world carrying his own sins, with people shunning him, and suffering the pain of the wound on his forehead from where the “Mani” was removed by force”, 5000 years ago. Or Vikram Samvat 2070** years, since Mahabharata is now long passed, and I am sure, Ashwatthaamaa is there somewhere in the Himaalaya, performing Tapasyaa.

Curse of Krishna to Ashwathama

Incensed over the cowardly act of Ashwathama, the Pandavas went after him to sage Vyasa’s ashram. Seeing this, Ashwathama, as a last resort, used his sacred knowledge of the Vedas to devise a Bramhastra from a blade of grass and invoked it against the Pandavas and Krishna, although he was strictly forbidden to do so by his father Dronacharya for any purpose. Krishna asked Arjuna to invoke the same. Arjuna invokes Bramhastra, which he received by Dronacharya itself, towards Ashwathama.
On seeing the two powerful astras heading for a head on catastrophic collision that would result in the total devestation of the entire Earth, sage Vyasa stopped these divine weapons from colliding with each other by using his yogic power. He asked both these warriors to withdraw their respective weapons. Arjuna was able to withdraw his Brahmastra, while Ashwatthama could not do so as Dronocharya did not teach his son how to withdraw it. An archer who is able to invoke and withdraw any Divyastra (Divine Weapon) can invoke it as many times as he wishes. Dronacharya taught Arjuna to withdraw Brahmastra but he did not do so to Ashwathama, thus limiting the power of Ashwathama to invoke Brahmastra for only one instance. However, Ahswathama was given the option of deviating his weapon towards one single isolated object in a place that was not inhabited by any form of life. But Ashwathama, out of spite, directed the weapon towards the womb of Uttara (wife of Abhimanyu) who was carrying Abhimanyu’s son (Parikshit) in an attempt to end the lineage of the Pandavas. Krishna used his Sudarshan Chakra to stop the Brahmashirastra and save Uttara’s unborn child.
Lord Krishna then placed a curse on Ashwathama that “he will carry the burden of all people’s sins on his shoulders and will roam alone like a ghost without getting any love and courtesy till the end of Kaliyuga; He will have neither any hospitality nor any accommodation; He will be in total isolation from mankind and society; His body will suffer from a host of incurable diseases forming sores and ulcers that would never heal”. Ashwathama was asked to surrender his gem which was on his forehead. Lord Sri Krishna further states that “the wound caused by the removal of this gem on his forehead will never heal and will suffer from leprosy, till the end of Kaliyuga”. It is believed that in Kaliyuga, his name will be “Suryakant”. Thus, Ashwathama will be in search of death every moment, and yet he will never die. At the end of Kali Yuga, Ashwatthama is to meet Sri Kalki, the tenth and final avatar of Lord Vishnu.

We don't know whether this accounts are real or Not. But this mystery is Interesting isn't it?
Also If Any of you Meet Ashwatthama please let me know as seeing the Person who is 6000 years old is itself a honor.

Keep reading for more mysteries.