The attack of the Pandavan camp came as a real surprise to me the first time that I read the story. I was not expecting something of this nature to occur because I was certain that the Pandavan's would not experience an act as egregious as this. It was a cowardly attack that took place in the dead of the night while the Pandavan camp was asleep. This definitely took me back to the time Rama ambushed a foe to reclaim the monkey kingdom. The circumstances, of course, were definitely different. However, I think the act was done so in a very shady and cowardly manner. It did not come as a shock to me later when Ashwatthama was later forced to give up his gem. I knew that he would get what was coming to him in due time. I noticed that the actual combat is not described in the story at all. There might not be much combat to begin with. However, I would like to expand upon what is already there. I also noticed that this attack has a lot of impact on the future. I think I should touch on just how impactful the acts Ashwatthama committed were. I decided to expand my knowledge on Ashwatthama, so I did some research.
I used Wikipedia as my main source. Ashwatthama is actually considered to be an avatar of one of the Rudras. He is also an avatar of the Chiranjivi. It is interesting to note just how powerful the gem in his head was. It gave Ashwatthama the power over many different kinds of beings except humans. This gem protected him from a lot of earthly desires and necessities like thirst. What I found most interesting is that Ashwatthama is considered to be like Shiva himself. He has the ability to hone his strengths and become a Shiva like being while in battle. So, it is almost impossible to defeat him while he is enraged and in battle. I also did some research on the Narayanastra. This is the weapon this Ashwatthama uses to defeat the Pandavan forces. It is actually the weapon belonging to Vishnu while he is in another form. It is such a powerful weapon that it brings about total destruction or the target surrenders. I think it would be cool to incorporate its ability into my story. I got my information from Wikipedia.
Overall, there is a lot of detail that I came across while doing my research. I think this is an important step in the story writing process. I may not use all of the information that I came across in my story. However, it gives me a far better understanding of what I am writing about.
(A photo of Ashwatthama losing his gem. Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Bibliography: Public Domain Edition Mahabharata, from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. Source: PDE
The Narayanastra information came from Wikipedia.
The Ashwatthama information came from Wikipedia.
