ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ashwatthama

Ashwatthama is a famous character from a very old Indian story called the Mahabharata. In the story, he was the son of a very powerful warrior named Dronacharya who had a lot of skills in fighting and was a teacher to many warriors.

Ashwatthama was also very good at fighting and learned how to use weapons from his father. He was very loyal to a group of warriors called the Kauravas and fought alongside them in a big battle called the Kurukshetra war.

During this war, Ashwatthama did something very bad. He was angry that the Kauravas had lost the battle, and he used a special weapon called the Brahmastra to attack a group of warriors who were sleeping. This was a very bad thing to do, and even though he didn't mean to harm innocent people, his actions caused a lot of pain and suffering.

Ashwatthama was punished for what he did, and he was cursed to wander the earth forever. People still talk about him today as a cautionary tale about the dangers of anger and the importance of making good choices.