A MOTHER’S HEART
The horrendous Kurukshetra war had just ended. The victorious Pandavas were closeted with Sri Krishna, discussing the implications of their momentous, yet in some ways, tragic victory.
In their absence, Ashwathama, the son of their guru, Dronacharya, attacked the Pandava camp, setting it ablaze. He swooped down upon Draupadi’s sons, killing all five of them.
A distraught, heart-broken Draupadi it was, who met the Pandavas on their return. Her piteous, heart-rending cries moved them to sorrow and anger.
“Do not weep,” Arjuna said to her. “I promise you, I shall bring the head of Aswathama and lay it at your feet!”
Arjuna was as good as his word. Aswathama was sought out, and vanquished in a one-to-one battle of might. As he was about to kill him, Arjuna hesitated a fraction of a second. Was not Aswathama the son of his revered Guru Dronacharya?
Bhima admonished Arjuna, “Remember our sons, whom he slaughtered ruthlessly in the darkness of the night,” he urged. “You must kill him, for it is your sacred promise to the mother of our sons.”
However, when Aswathama was brought before Draupadi, her heart melted.
“Let Aswathama live,” she said to Arjuna. “If you kill him, my heart shudders to think the plight of his mother!”
A grievously wronged mother, Draupadi’s heart, nevertheless, went out to the mother of the man who had killed her own sons!
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