Cause of HUDHUD rooted in 5000 years old Indian History- Ashwathama the wandering immortal

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Hudhud was the strongest tropical cyclone of 2014 within the North Indian Ocean. Why did it occur after all?

The Cyclonic eye has its roots in nearly 5000 years old Hindu Mythology.

It is a very strong belief amongst the people of the Coastal regions that such calamities occur for a reason.That reason being Lord Krishna's curse on Ashwathama -One of the Kaurava Generals in the Indian epic war Mahābhārata. 

Ashwathama, an Avatar of Rudra (Lord Shiva) was an immortal being and thus one of the few survivors of the Kurukshetra war. The story goes that Ashwathama was greatly humiliated by Krishna's rage and curse upon him that for 6000 years he'd be doomed to roam the Earth in total isolation from mankind and society. Ashwatthama, filled with remorse for having fought on the Kaurava side against the Pandavas, sat down in intense penance. It is the Earth-shaking vibrations emanating from this meditation that is the cause of the severe Cyclones that have destroyed the coastal regions of Andhra and Orissa.

As per the epic Mahābhārata, Ashwathama was the son of the great DronaAcharya- Guru to the Pandava brothers who through his devoted penance had won the favour of Lord Shiva. DronaAcharya had prayed that he be blessed with Lord Shiva arriving as his son himself. Lord Shiva was so pleased with Drona's devotion that he granted him his wish. Thus was born Ashwathama who had a little of Kaal (The God of time), Krodh (The God of Anger), Yama (The God of Death) and Lord Shiva himself. Ashwatthama was an Avatar of Lord Shiva, one of the 8 Rudras known as Savantik Rudra, known as the immortal who is still walking the Earth.

A particular Shloka has been written in this context.

अश्वत्थामा बलिव्र्यासो हनूमांश्च विभीषण:

।कृप: परशुरामश्च सप्तएतै चिरजीविन:॥ सप्तैतान् संस्मरेन्नित्यं मार्कण्डेयमथाष्टमम्।जीवेद्वर्षशतं सोपि सर्वव्याधिविवर्जित।।

Which means Ashwathama, Raja Bali, Vyas Muni, Hanuman, Krupa Acharya, Vibhishan, Parshuram and Markendeya Rishi are all immortals, all eight of them.

It is not just a notion but a strong belief that Ashwathama has been living on this Earth since the past 5000 years. At a distance of just 20 Kms from the city of Burhanpur in MadhyaPradesh, there's a fort called Asirgad. It is said that Ashwathama offers prayers every day, till date, at the oldest Shiva temple that exists inside this fort.The local residents have many anecdotes and tales to share about Ashwathama. All those who have seen Ashwathama in actuality are all said to have gone permanently mad! It is also said that prior to performing his daily Pooja, Ashwathama also takes a bath in the pond, that exists within the temple premises. Some villagers also claim that they have proof of this.

Besides Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, there's a city called Jabalpur in MadhyaPradesh, where it is said that Ashwathama can be sometimes actually seen strolling along the banks of the Narmada River at GauriGhat. Ashwathama was born with a gem on his forehead that protected him from snakes, ghosts, demigods, demons,old age and diseases. Ashwathama was asked to surrender this gem by Lord Krishna and was also cursed that the wound from the removal of the gem would never heal. Locals who reside near the GauriGhat have also reported that Ashwathama still comes begging for a Turmeric and Oil salve in order to stop the flow of blood from his forehead.

पराजयो वा मृत्युर्वा श्रेयान् मृत्युर्न निर्जयः। विजितारयो ह्‍येते शस्त्रोपसर्गान्मृतोपमाः।।
Meaning:   Those who have surrendered their arms, surrendered themselves, stand defeated before their adversaries, are as good as dead. - Ashwatthama.

Mahābhārata describes the son of DronaAcharya- Ashwathama as a Maharathi, a warrior who was strong enough to have battled and won the war all on his own. The Kauravs had so many  warriors amongst them, one greater than the next. While the Pandavas were weaker than them in every aspect, outnumbered too and yet they won the war!

There were only 18 survivors after the bloodshed at Kurkshetra and Ashwathama was one of them. Ashwathama was one warrior in the entire epic fight of Mahābhārata, who was absolutely invincible. Even today, Ashwatthama is regarded as the unvanquished and immortal soul.

I am sharing with you the 10 facts about Ashwathama that everybody would want to know about and at the end I will also share with you 1 mystery which nobody has been able to find out about.

शारद्वतीं ततो भार्यां कृपीं द्रोणोऽन्वविन्दत्। अग्रिहोत्रे च धर्मे च दमे च सततं रताम्।। 46 ।। -महाभारत (संभव पर्व)
Mystery about the Birth: 
Ashwathama was born to Drona, the son of Sage Bhardwaj. His mother was Krupi, the daughter of Sage Sharadvan. DronaAcharya was of the Angira Gotra (clan) Drona Acharya had dedicated himself to severe penance and at the behest of his ancestors, he married Krupi for the sake of progeny. Krupi was also very religious, sincere and devout and both hailed from very prosperous families. When Ashwathama was born, the infant had almost instantaneously made the sounds of neighing, like (Ashwa) a horse, so loudly that it echoed in all the four directions of the Earth and in the entire Universe. That's when a celestial voice declared that this extraordinary newborn child be named 'Ashwathama'.

अलभत गौतमी पुत्रमश्‍वत्थामानमेव च। स जात मात्रो व्यनदद्‍ यथैवोच्चैः श्रवा हयः।।47।।
तच्छुत्वान्तर्हितं भूतमन्तरिक्षस्थमब्रवीत्। अश्‍वस्येवास्य यत् स्थाम नदतः प्रदिशो गतम्।।48।।
अश्‍वत्थामैव बाल्तोऽयं तस्मान्नाम्ना भविष्यति। सुतेन तेन सुप्रीतो भरद्वाजस्ततोऽभवत्।।49।।

The changes in  DronaAcharya's life: After Ashwathama was born, Drona's financial conditions began to worsen. There was not a single morsel of food left at home. They were stricken with utter poverty. To overcome this poverty, DronaAcharya sought knowledge and learning at  Lord Parshuram's Ashram.When DronaAcharya returned home they had lost their cow too. Little Ashwathama would cry for milk as he would see the sons of other sages drinking milk every day. One day DronaAcharya noticed that the other children had prepared a solution of rice flour in water and had fed it to Ashwathama. The unknowing little boy was fooled into believing it was milk and Ashwathama was jumping with joy, shouting "I've had milk!" With this episode DronaAcharya was greatly ashamed of himself. It also goes to show that Ashwathama's childhood had been very difficult and he had grown up eating and drinking whatever little was available. Even if there wasn't any milk at home he would lie to his friends that he had finished his milk, that day.

The father's humiliation:

When Drona saw his son's plight he blamed only himself for the state. He began going from one place to the next to see if someone would donate for the sake of  religious sentiments. Alas! No one would give their cows as donation. It is then that he remembered his childhood friend the great king Dhrupad and decided to approach him. With his son Ashwathama in stow, Sage Drona arrived at the court of the great King Dhrupad. It was here that Ashwathama had seen how his father was humiliated. Ashwathama must have also seen how helpless his father was and the irony that the most knowledgeable  in warfare was being insulted by an inebriated king, corrupted by the power of his throne. It is unimaginable what the little Ashwathama must have gone through to see his father being jostled and pushed, thrown out of the king's court.

Ashwathama the crowned king later turns a sage:

Drona quit the kingdom of Panchal and with Ashwathama in tow arrived at Hastinapur the capital of the Kuru Kingdom where he began training the Kaurav princes in Archery. He also taught them teh art of warfar and Ashwathama began lending a hand in his work too. Soon Drona was appointed as Acharya or the principle teacher to the Kauravas. Besides Duryodhana, Drona also taught Arjuna and the rest. To express their gratitude for DronaAcharya, the large-hearted Pandavas conquered the land that belonged to king Drupad and gave it to him as 'Guru Dakshina'- the tradition of repaying to the teacher. Later Drona returned half of the kingdom back to king Drupad and gave the other half to Ashwathama. Having taken one half of Northern Panchal, Ashwathama built his kingdom and declared Ahichatra as its capital.

Drona by now had emerged as the greatest Acharya or teacher in the whole of Bharat (India). He was greatly respected by Bhishma, Dhrutarashtra, Vidur et al. Thus the days of great deprivation were gone forever.

Ashwathama- the most knowledgeable Master of all Arts:

Life's toughest lessons had shaped and molded Ashwathama and he now shone like a brilliant piece of Gold. He had also acquired from his great father DronaAcharya some extremely valuable knowledge like the DhanurVeda. DronaAcharya had also imparted to his son Ashwathama, all the great secrets of the DhanurVeda too. He had gained 'Siddhi' or Mastery over all the celestial weapons like the Agneya, VarunaAstra, ParjanyaAstra, VayavyaAstra, BrahmaAstra, NaryanaAstra, BrahmaAshir, etc. Ashwathama had become as great an Archer as Drona himself or like Bhisma and Parshuram's caliber. Even Krup, Arjun and Karna could not surpass him. NarayanaAstra was one such celestial weapon, the knowledge of which no other warrior in the Mahābhārata had possessed, besides DronaAcharya. This was the most dangerous weapon of them all. 

Nobody had an ounce of doubt either about Ashwathama's magnificence, valour, courage, power of endurance, knowledge of the celestial weapons and strategic warfare or of his intelligence. At the Kurukshetra, the leaders of both the warring sides were fully aware of his prowess. They also greatly appreciated Ashwathama's brainy, brawny and brave demeanour. Bhishma while accounting about their Rathi & Atirathi  (titles or honours attributed to warriors riding a Ratha-chariot ) to King Duryodhan began to extol Ashwathama's qualities and also listed some of his drawbacks too. There was no other as brave as Ashwathama in the Kaurava army.

  A fright called Ashwathama:

When the army of demons attacked with Ghatotkach as their leading force, they scared the daylights out of the Kauravas and they fled within no time but Ashwathama was the only warrior who stood his ground, fearlessly. Ajanparva, the son of Ghatotkach was slain at his hands. Ashwathama killed an entire Akshauhini (battle formation)of the Pandava army and also managed to wound Ghatotkach.

Ashwathama was a prime Maharathi of the Kaurava army. The Kuru kings had appointed one Maharathi (General) to lead every Akshauhini army and had planned 11 such Maharathis namely, Drona, Krup, Shalya, Jayadrath, Sudakshin, Krutvarma, Ashwatthama, Karna, Bhurishrava, Shakuni and Bahlik. Thus Ashwathama was one of the greatest 11 Generals in the Mahābhārata history.

On the Pandava side were Yudishthir, Arjuna, Krishna, Bheema, Nakul, Sahadeva, Dhrupad and  Drushtadyumna. Despite this formidable presence, right before their eyes, Ashwathama had killed Dhrupad, SutSurath, Shatrunjay, the 90 sons of KuntiBhoj, Balanik, Shatanik, Jayashav, Shrutahya, Hemamali,Prushadhra and Chandrasen. Having killed such valiant warriors Ashwathama also had Yudishthira's army running for their lives.   

Ashwathama had wreaked such an havoc on the Pandava camp that they were all frightened out of their and were almost terrorised into quitting. It thus became essential that they put a stop to Ashwathama's tirade right away or their defeat would become inevitable by the following day.

The killing of Ashwathama- the Elephant:

 Bhishma had been laid down on a bed of arrows and on the 11th day of intense battle, at Karna's behest, Drona was appointed as the next Commander-in-Chief of the Kaurava army. Duryodhan and Shakuni advise Drona to capture Yudishthira which would automatically put an end to the war. When at the end of the day, Drona was about to capture Yudishthira after defeating him in combat, Arjuna intervened by showering a curtain of arrows from his bow. Nakul reached Yudishthira's side and Arjun also joined him. Thus their attempt at capturing the king failed.

However it was clearly noticed by all that DronaAcharya's prowess was unsurpassed and there was widespread fear between the Pandava platoons. The invincible father and son duo seemed to be out to bring about the defeat of the Pandavas in the Mahābhārata. Preempting that they were certain to lose, Lord Krishna advised Yudishthira that they resort to trickery. It was planned that they would spread the news that Ashwathama had been killed however Yudishthira refused to lie. So AvantiRaja's elephant who was a namesake to Ashwathama was killed at Bheema's hands. This event thus allowed the word to go around that 'Ashwatthama had been killed'.

DronaAcharya approached Yudishthira and asked him for the truth, only then did Yudishthira come forth to say, " Yes, Bheema has killed Ashwatthama....the elephant!" Right then Krishna blew the conch shell so loudly that the sound drained Yudishthira's last words. The news gave Drona so much pain that he dropped his weapons, closed his eyes and was lost in grieving his beloved son's death. Taking advantage of this moment when DronaAcharya stood unarmed, Draupadi's brother Drushtdyumna attacked him with a sword and chopped his head off. The news of his father's death was enormously saddening for Ashwatthama. When he realised that his valiant father had been killed through trickery and lying, Ashwathama went mad with anger and began breaking all the rules followed in the battlefield.

The NarayanaAstra is about to be deployed:

Feeling cheated by the killing of his father Drona through deception, Ashwathama brought out his NarayanaAstra. If Ashwathama had deployed this celestial weapon, the most dangerous of all, the entire Pandava army along with the brothers would have been wiped out within no time. To save themselves from this mass destruction, Lord Krishna immediately ordered all of the Pandavas to alight from their chariots and surrender themselves before the NarayanAstra. As advised all the Pandavas and their army follow suit. The key was to surrender before the weapon to be safe. When Ashwatthama saw that all the Pandavas were saved, he began to doubt the capacities of the weapon. Ashwatthama then releases teh Agneya weapon on Arjuna instead and once again Lord Krishna manages to save Arjuna from it. Having failed at killing Arjuna, Ashwatthama throws away his bow and begins to doubt his own prowess.

The BrahmaAstra is used:

On the 18th day of the war, only 3 of the Kaurava leaders remained, Ashwatthama, KrupAcharya and Krutvarma. It was on this day that Ashwatthama had taken an oath that he would wipe out the Pandavas but was not able to strategise a plan. He spotted an owl attacking a group of crows in the pitch dark of the night and killing them all. This sight triggered an evil plan and with the help of KrupAcharya and Krutvarma, Ashwathama enters the Pandava camp. Ashwathama attacked and killed the Pandava's 5 sons or the UpaPandavas while they were still asleep having mistaken them for the Pandavas in the dark. This woke up Drushtdyumna and he was killed too.

Ashwathama's actions were largely criticised. Draupadi was stricken with grief by the death of her sons, overnight. Her wailing causes Arjuna to take the oath of striking down Ashwatthama dead by slashing off his head. Ashwatthama begins to run away at the knowledge of Arjuna's oath but requesting Lord Krishna to become his charioteer once again Arjuna chased Ashwatthama, armed with his famous Gandiva bow. Ashwatthama was unable to find a secure shelter and in a moment of panic, he released the BrahmaAstra onto Arjuna and Lord Krishna. Arjuna also responded with his own BrahmaAstra. All the sages began to plead them to take their BramhaAstra back and Arjuna did so promptly but Ashwatthama redirected his weapon towards Abhimanyu's widow Uttara who was carrying a child in her womb. Lord Krishna saves the child by his divine powers but addresses Arjuna, " Oh, Arjuna! The saintly one, killing the sleeping, the unknowing, the innocent, the demented, the ignorant, the chariot-less and the women is unacceptable according to the Dharma. Ashwatthama has acted against the laws of the Dharma by killing your sons when they were asleep. If he is to remain alive he will only commit more sins. Hence kill Ashwatthama and by throwing his chopped head at Draupadi's feet, avenge their death and fulfill your promise."

Despite Lord Krishna's strict instructions Arjuna felt great sympathy for the son of their revered DronaAcharya. He therefore captured Ashwatthama alive and took him along to their camp to present him before Draupadi. On seeing the Acharya's son in bondage like an animal, Draupadi commented, "Oh, Aryaputra (scion of the Arya race) he is the son of a great teacher as well as a Brahmin. A Brahmin is someone to be revered and the killing of one is equivalent to a sin. You have acquired knowledge of all these celestial weaponry from his father. It is almost like DronaAcharya himself stands in bondgae before you'll. At Ashwatthama's death his mother Krupi will also bemoan his death. Her extreme attachment with her son has kept her from performing the Sati rights at her husband DronaAcharya's pier. Krupi's soul will curse me for life if he is killed at my orders. Killing Ashwatthama will not bring my sons back and hence I ask you to free him!"

Draupadi's decision was praised by all, since her words exemplified a great understanding of the principles and morals of Dharma. To this Krishna responded by saying, " Oh, Arjuna! It is indeed mentioned in the scriptures that killing a tarnished Brahmin is also a sin while punishing the desperate and weak is also a crime. Hence it would be advisable that you do only what would be correct."

Arjuna had understood what Lord Krishna had implied, so he picked his sword up and slashed the hair on Ashwathama's head and also carved out the gem from his forehead. Ashwathama was thus deprived of his protection and source of inimitable power. Lord Krishna then cursed him that he would haunt the Earth for the next 6000 years. Arjuna threw him out of their camp in that humiliated and severely wounded condition.

So where did Ashwathama go?

Humiliated and hurt, cursed and angered, enraged and yet under great repentance, the story of the extremely knowledgeable and the unsurpassed valiant Ashwathama came to an end.

कथं नु कृष्ण पापेन क्षुद्रणाकृत कर्मणा। द्रौणिना निहताः सर्वे मम पुत्रा महारथः।।
किन्नु तेन कृतं कर्म तथा युक्तं नरर्षभ। यदेकः समरे सर्वानवधीन्नो गुरोः सुतः।।
Yudishthira had placed a question before Lord Krishna that how was it possible for Ashwathama to have carried out such epic destruction all by himself?

And Krishna answered saying Ashwathama had done it through the strength acquired from Lord Shiva himself. DronaAcharya had acquired a RudraAvatar of Lord Shiva as his son. Ashwathama thus possessed many powers that he had directly received from Lord Shiva since he was actually a part of him. He was born with a gem in his forehead that was his protection against men, demons and Gods, from science and magic, from snakes and that gave him fearlessness. It was that gem that kept any of our Astras from working on him.

Though Draupadi had granted him life, she had suggested that this gem be removed. Arjuna extricated the gem and gave him a lease of life. The gem that was handed over to Draupadi, she in turn gave to Yudishthira for safe keeping.

न तन्मनसि कर्तव्यं न च तद्‍ द्रौणिना कृतम्। महादेव प्रसादेन कुरू कार्यमनन्तरम्।।
नूनं स देव देवानामीश्‍वरेश्‍वरमव्ययम्। जगाम शरणं द्रौणिरेकस्तेन बधीद्‍ बहून्।।

Krup, Hardikya and Ashwatthama after all the mass destruction went up to Duryodhana and then reported to King DhrutaRashtra too that they and the 5 Pandava brothers were the only survivors of the Kurkshetra war. Then they dispersed into three different directions and walked away. Krup left for Hastinapur while Krutavarma left for Dwarika and Ashwatthama took to the forests along with Sage Vyasa.

Shiva Mahapuran (ShatRudraSanhita-37) clearly states that Ashwatthama still lives along the banks of the Ganga but the exact location of his abode has not been given. Till date people have been reporting having seen Ashwathama. Sometimes he has been apparently seen in the dense jungles of MadhyaPradesh or sometimes in Orissa while he has also been seen in the forests of  UttaraKhand.

Residents of the coastal regions of Orissa and Andhra strongly believe that out of guilt and anguish at having killed so many innocent people, the immortal Ashwathama has been performing a very severe and relentless penance to please Lord Shiva and to ask for his forgiveness. The reverberations generated by his chanting are the actual cause for the tremendously destructive Cyclones occurring in the Oceanic regions along the coasts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. 


As translated from the Hindi article written by Astro-Maestro Abhay Guruji.