The five sons of Draupadi and the Pandava brothers, killed by Ashwathama as they slept.

The five sons of Draupadi and each of the Pandava brothers, killed by Ashwathama while they slept.

In the Mahabharata, the Upapandavas are the five sons born to Draupadi from the each of the Pandava brothers. 

They fought valiantly in the war between Pandavas and Kauravas from the side of their fathers.

However, as pay back for what their fathers, the five Pandavas did, they were ambushed while sleeping at night and killed by Ashwathama.

He did this out of rage after the death of his friend Duryodhana and father Dronacharya. 

The five sleeping brothers were- 

1 - Prativindhya, 

2 - Satanika, 

3 - Sutasoma, 

4 - Srutasena, 

5 - Srutakarma.

1 - Prativindhya was the eldest (24 years old), he was the son of Draupadi and Yudhisthira. He was also the crown prince to the throne of Hastinapura. He is believed to be the incarnation of Chitraratha, who was a Gandharva. 

As a baby, Prativindhya was left in Ekachakrapura and he later battled his uncle Arjuna during Yudhisthira’s Rajasuya Yajna. 

It is said that his son Kalimshada succeeds Dhritarashtra as the king of Hastinapura, and marries a princess from Kuntibhoja’s family. Indraprastha is inherited by his sister’s son. 

During the battle of Kurukshetra, Prativindhya was 24 years old, and fought alongside his father and uncles.

2 - Satanika was the son of Draupadi and Nakula. He was the second of the Upapandavas. He was considered to be one of the avatars of Visvadevas, and was named after a famous king of the Kuru lineage. He along with his brother Prativindhya was appointed as one of the deputy commander-in-chiefs by Dhrishtadyumna. He killed an ally of the Kauravas, king Bhutakarma.

3 - The son of Darupadi and Bheema, Sutasoma was the third Upapandava. He was a brave and talented warrior, who almost killed Shakuni during one of the battles. He was the favourite of Arjuna, and was given a bow and horses for his chariot by Arjuna. 

4 - Srutasena was the son of Draupadi and Sahadeva and the fourth Upapandava. He had killed Shala, the younger brother of Bhurishravas, in one of the battles of Kurukshetra.

5 - Srutakarma was the youngest of the Upapandavas and the most pampered. He was the son of Draupadi and the great warrior Arjuna. 

He was very young at the time of the battle, but his young age and inexperience did not stop him from facing battled hardened warriors like Dushasana and Ashwathama in the war. It is said, that the horses of his chariot bore the colour of the kingfishers.

A very disheartened and broken Ashwathama sat under a large tree after the death of his friend Duryodhana and the defeat of the Kauravas on the last day of the war. 

He got the idea of attacking the Pandavas at night after seeing an owl attacking the crows which had attacked it in the day time. 

He saw this as a sign and started formulating plans for the death and downfall of the Pandavas, who were the reason behind his pain and suffering.

He gathered the last remaining warriors from the side of the Kauravas- Kritavarma and Kripacharya, and attacked the Pandava camp on the night of the last day of war, day 18. 

He killed many skilled and prominent warriors like Shikhandi and Dhristadyumna while they were sleeping. 

As Kritavarma and Kripacharya were positioned at the entrance of the camp, those who tried to flee the wrath of Ashwathama were hacked down by them.

He saw five figures sleeping in the dark and thought them to be the Pandavas, so he ended up killing them. But it turned out he knew they were the 5 sleeping Upapandavas, Prativindhya, Satanika, Sutasoma, Srutasena, Srutakarma and purposely killed them to outrage their fathers.   

Some versions of the Mahabharata say he purposefully killed the Upapandavas so that the Pandavas won’t be left with any heirs.

This led to Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna and son of Abhimanyu to succeed Yudhisthira to the throne of Hastinapur. 

In another version of the Mahabharata, Parikshit was mentored and trained by Prativindhya, Shrutasoma, Sutasoma, and Satanika. In this version, it is said that Ashwathama killed the other children of the Pandavas, like Yudhisthira’s son through Shaivya, Bhima’s son by Jalandhara, Sarvaga, and Nirmitra, the son of Nakula by Karenumati.

The story of the Upapandavas does not end here. The most interesting aspect of their story begins long, long before the Pandavas or Kauravas were born, many years ago.

Markandeya was one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. He was destined to die at the age of 16, but Lord Shiva was so pleased with his devotion that he stopped Yamaraj, the Lord of Death, from taking Markandeya with him. He also granted him the boon of immortality.

Markandeya is the author of Markandeya Purana, which has stories from the Mahabharata. 

The Purana is in the form of a dialogue between Jaimini, a student of sage Veda Vyasadeva, and four birds who were considered to be Dronacharya’s sons- Pingaksha, Sumukha, Vibodha and Suputra.

The birds tell the story of the Upapandavas, who had to die at a very young age EVEN though they had Lord Krishna’s protection.

There was a just and noble king in the Treta Yuga, called King Harishchandra. Once when he was on a hunt, he heard someone calling for help. He stopped the hunt immediately and rushed to the place from where the cries were coming.

Over there, he saw sage Vishwamitra deep in meditation, and realized that someone was trying to stop his penance by unfair means. The sage broke his meditation angrily and Harishchandra told him the whole story.

The sage was still angry at Harishchandra for disturbing him, so he asked him for alms. The king said he could have anything that he wanted. Vishwamitra asked for his kingdom and all his wealth. Having no attachment for worldly desires, the king readily agreed. Vishwamitra also asked him to leave the kingdom with his family.

The king did so, but had to face many hardships. His family was sold as slaves. The king worked for a man who worked at a funeral ground, and tended to dead bodies. 

His wife was sold to another family where she worked as a maid. Their son, Rohitashwa died after being bitten by a snake. 

The story ended with the king performing a yagna, which resulted in the king and queen attaining salvation and their son being brought back to life.

However, the sage was not happy with all this. Just when he was about the hit the king with his rod and destroy him, the people of the kingdom, who were filled with wrath, and the gods watching from heaven, who did not like Vishwamitra’s attitude, tried to stop him. 

Angrily, the five Vishwa Devas appeared over there and accused the sage of being inhuman for treating the king that way, and disrespected him.

The sage could not bear the insults and cursed the five Vishwa Devas. He picked up some water from his kamandalam and cursed the Devas to be born as humans. 

He also told them that they won’t have children or get a chance to get married. They will only be able to return to the heavens as celestial beings after their death.

Thus, these five Vishwa Devas were born as the five sons born to Draupadi from the each of the Pandava brothers.

Prativindhya, 

Sutasoma, 

Srutakarma, 

Satanika,

Srutasena.

They were eventually killed by Ashwathama because of the curse given by Vishwamitra, and they went back to the heavens as celestial beings and became the Vishwa Devas again, after their death.

So where is Ashwatthama now?

It is said that Ashwatthama is still alive today, but not as a result of being immortal but rather as being cursed by Krishna. 

Ashwathama at the end of the war promised Duryodhana that he would kill the Pandavas and, as said above, attacked the Pandava camp in the middle of the night, murdering the 5 sons of the Pandavas, borne by Draupadi.

The Pandavas, incensed by this act, chased him resulting in his fight with Arjuna. 

During the fight, Ashwatthama invoked the 'Brahmastra' against Arjuna and Arjuna in response invoked the "Pashupatastra" which is an irresistible and most destructive personal weapon of Shiva, Kali and Adi Para Shakti, which can be discharged by the mind, the eyes, words, or a bow.

Fearing the destruction of the world, the sages advised both to take back their weapons. 

While Arjuna could do so, Ashwathama could not and was given the option of choosing any single target to destroy. 

Out of spite, Ashwathama directed the weapon to the womb of Uttara, Arjuna's daughter-in-law. At this time, Uttara was carrying the unborn Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu, who upon birth would be the future heir to all the Pandava brothers. 

The Brahmastra weapon was successful in fatally burning the foetus, but Krishna revived the stillborn child and cursed Ashwatthama with leprosy and to roam the world for 3,000 years as an unloved castaway.

In another version, it is believed that he is cursed to remain alive till the end of the Kaliyuga. It is believed that Ashwatthama migrated to the land currently known as Arabian peninsula.

Now, if the above story is true, then Ashwatthama should be still alive and there has been proof (even though vague) that he indeed is.

A doctor in Madhya Pradesh claimed to have a tough patient with a septic forehead. 

After several applications of a fail-proof potion, the wound was still fresh and kept bleeding. Amazed at this, the doctor said that his wound seems ageless and cureless. 

He added, by saying, “I wonder, are you Ashwathama”, and laughed.

When he turned to apply the next doze, he found the patient seat empty. The patient just disappeared into thin air - the story it was claimed was true.

Some Yogis like Pilot Baba also claim that they have met Ashwatthama who was living among tribes at Himalayan Foothills. 

It is believed that Ashwatthama offers flowers to a Shivling each morning. 

Apart from this, according to locals a very tall man with noticeable dent in his forehead and in the middle of his forehead visits a restaurant owner once every year, somewhere on the foothills of the Himalayas.

However, even with all these stories, Ashwatthama sightings are very rare since he has the power to choose to be visible or remain invisible.^^