Aswatthaman answered not his father's slayer, but took his life with a single blow.... Through the camp he went, striking down each one he met, and shrieks and moans arose on every side.
Draupadi was awakened by the clamour, and her five young sons sprang up to protect her. Aswatthaman slew each one without pity.... Then he lit a great fire to discover those who had concealed themselves, and with reeking hands he completed his ghastly work of slaughter. Meanwhile Kripa and Kritavarman, with weapons in their hands, kept watch at the gate, and cut down all who endeavoured to escape.
Now the Pandava princes slept safely on that night of horror in the camp of the Kauravas, so that they escaped the sword of Drona's son.
When his fell work was accomplished, the bloodthirsty Aswatthaman cut off the heads of Draupadi's five sons and carried them to Duryodhana, who rejoiced greatly, believing that they were the heads of Yudhishthira and his brethren. But when he perceived that the avenger of night had slain the children of Draupadi instead, he cried out: “Alas! what horror hast thou committed? Thou hast slain innocent children, who, had they lived, would have perpetuated our name and our fame. My heart burns with anger against the sires and not their harmless sons.”
Duryodhana groaned heavily: his heart was oppressed with grief, and, bowing down his head, he died sorrowing.
Then Aswatthaman and Kripa and Kritavarman fled away, fearing the wrath of the Pandavas.
FOOTNOTES:
[280] The late Professor H. H. Wilson considered that the Kamboja were troops of Khorasan, Balkh, and Bokhara, that the Sakas, the Sacæ of the ancients, were some of the Scythians from Turkestan and Tartary, and that the Yavanas, “Ionians”, were the Greeks of Bactria. The peoples of south and east included half-breeds and aborigines.
[281] A long section of the Mahábhárata occurring here, and forming a sort of episode or discussion by itself, is called “Bhagavadgita”, and is dealt with more fully in Chapters [VI], [VII].
[282] Although the brother of Madri, mother of the two younger Pandava princes, he was an ally of the Kauravas.