Aswatthama repeated his oath once again to Duryodhana saying, “I shall annihilate the entire Pandava forces, unless they all put down their arms”. With those words he marched towards the Pandava army. The Kauravas followed him with high hopes of revenge.
Aswatthama did not wait long to take out his all powerful weapon, the arrow called Naaraayanaastra. His aim was revenge by killing all the Pandavas as soon as possible. When the son of Drona lauched the weapon, thousands of fireballs emerged from his arrow aimed towards the Pandava army. Those who tried to fight were immediately knocked down by the power of the weapon. The more they perished on the Pandava side the more powerful the weapon appeared in its path towards them.
Yudhishthira was thunder struck by looking at the power of destruction of the arrow and thought that it was the end of game for them. He called out to his allies. “O!Dhrishtadyumna, Satyaki! You better return with your people to your own land. I am going to perish with my people in no time as we are powerless against this divine weapon of Aswatthama”.
Krishna as the savior
Krishna knew the secret of the weapon. After all, it was the weapon of Narayana whose incarnation Krishna was. He called out. “All of you must immediately put down your arms. Those who are in chariots, or mounted on elephants or on horseback must get down and lie flat on the ground. That is the only way you can escape the impact of the weapon”. Yudhishthira, Arjuna and other Pandavas immediately did as Krishna asked them to do.
Bhima resists
But, Bhima was adamant. “I am not afraid of any one or any weapon, however powerful they may be. Let it be the arrow of Naaraayana or of Brahma. Let the son of Drona face me. I shall destroy him with my mace. It is mere cowardice to put down your own weapons while facing an enemy”.
Krishna knew that force rather than words was required to save Bhima. He and Arjuna rushed to Bhima and pulled him down using all their power. Bhima resented this intrusion into his right to fight and resisted with all his might. He was, with great effort, somehow brought down from his chariot and disarmed.
The spent force of Naaraayanaastra
Meanwhile, the arrow from Aswatthama raged through the Pandava army and destroyed all those who were armed or mounted. Then, it returned to the son of Drona with its power already spent.
Duryodhana was disappointed that his arch enemies escaped the wrath of the Naaraayanaastra. He asked Aswatthama why he could not kill Bhima and Arjuna. The son of Drona replied. “It is the nature of the weapon that it destroys only those who show some resistance. The Pandavas were warned in time and saved by Krishna”. But, Duryodhana was not satisfied. He asked, “then, why don’t you send it again and kill the Pandavas before they have time to disarm themselves?”
Aswatthama replied. “No, if I try to send it a second, it will destroy me”.
Duryodhana was not pleased, but, he requested Aswatthama to use his other divine weapons in his fight against the Pandavas. The son of Drona agreed to that.
Then, breathtaking duels took place between him on one side and one of the Pandava heroes like Bhima, Satyaki and Dhrishtadyumna on the other. The Pandavas faced the son of Drona bravely, but, suffered greatly as a result.
Then, Arjuna came on the scene. Several divine weapons were dispatched by Aswatthama against Arjuna. The Pandava had one of his own to counter the effect of each dispatched by the son of Drona.
The return of the son of Drona
FinallyAswatthama gave up. He was dejected that none of his arrows had the desired impact on his enemy. He put down his bow and arrows, jumped down from his chariot and was about to leave the battle field.
It is said that Veda Vyasa appeared on the scene at that very instant. The son of Drona prostrated in front of the sage and spoke out his disappointment. He said. “Revered sage, why is that my divine weapons which would have destroyed any other enemy failed against Arjuna?”
Veda Vyasa, then, explained the divine origin of Krishna and Arjuna and convinced him that it was futile to fight against the pair.
The war on the 15th day thus ended after Aswatthama left the battle field in total frustration, unable to achieve his objective of destroying the Pandavas. With this end both the chapter on the “launch of Naaraayanaastra (Naraayanaastra Moksha Parvam)” and the “Book of Drona (Drona Parvam)”.
