Drona’s son Ashwatthama was one of the friends of Dhritarashtra’s sons. And one of the enemies of the Pandavas. Ashwatthama was the son of Guru Drona and his mother Kripi. However, Ashwatthama made enemies with the Pandavas out of greed for more wealth and made friends with the sons of Dhritarashtra.

Ashwatthama’s father Guru Drona was a Brahmin.

Despite being a Brahmin, he was as skilled in warfare as a Kshatriya. He learned his war skills from his father Bharadwaj Muni. He taught his students the same lessons his father gave him. Once, when he went to his childhood friend King Drupada, he insulted Guru Drona. And to avenge that insult, he came to Hastinapur and started looking for a worthy disciple. There he taught his only son Ashwatthama how to fight with the Kaurava princes. Guru Drona saw that Arjuna was gaining special skills in archery, so he tried his best to make his son Ashwatthama the best archer. Ashwatthama learned many secret weapon techniques from his father.

In the Kurukshetra War, Ashwatthama sided with the Kauravas, so Drona also sided with them. Drona had killed so many soldiers on the battlefield that it became necessary to stop him. And then Shri Krishna told the Pandavas that if the news of Ashwatthama’s death reached Guru Drona’s ears, then Dhrishtadyumna would kill him. As per Shri Krishna’s advice, Bhima killed an elephant in the forest. And Yudhishthira was present there at that time. And only Guru Drona would believe Yudhishthira’s words. So Yudhishthira uttered the words ‘Ashwatthama hatah- iti gaja’ to Drona. Dronacharya thought that the news of his son Ashwatthama’s death had been conveyed to him. Then, when Dronacharya laid down his weapon, Dhrishtadyumna killed him. And Ashwatthama became very angry at that.

Later, after the war was over, Duryodhana appointed Ashwatthama as the commander-in-chief. When Duryodhana and all the Kauravas died in the Kurukshetra war, Ashwatthama came at the last moment and asked Duryodhana what he should do so that Duryodhana could die happily at the time of death. And in response, Duryodhana said that he wanted to wipe out the Pandava lineage. To keep his friend’s word, Ashwatthama immediately went to the Pandava camp. With him were two surviving Kauravas, Kripacharya and Kritavarma. At night, Ashwatthama saw an owl attacking a crow’s nest on a tree branch. He plotted to kill the Pandavas while they were sleeping. Even though Kripa objected to this heinous act, Ashwatthama did not listen. They went to the camp and killed Dhrishtadyumna on sight. Then Ashwatthama killed Draupadi’s five sleeping sons, Shikhandi and other Pandava heroes. It is worth noting that at this time, the Pancha Pandavas, Krishna were staying on the banks of the Ganges. When they got the news, Ashwatthama fled. Arjuna went to kill Draupadi in any way to calm her son’s grief. Seeing them, Ashwatthama used the powerful Brahmashi weapon, and Arjun was forced to resist it with the Brahmashi. The disaster was averted with the intervention of Vyasa, but it fell on the child in Uttara’s womb. After that, Krishna himself came to punish Ashwatthama.

Then, as punishment, he took away the jewel from Ashwatthama’s head and cursed him that he would never die. Even if Ashwatthama wanted to, he would never die. He would remain immortal for life. After this incident, Ashwatthama was never found anywhere.