The Sauptika parva of the Mahabharata is about revenge and whether revenge is justified. Sri Vaishnava Acharyas refer to Mahabharata as poosal pattolai — the literary work about fights. According to them, the best portions of the Mahabharata are Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu Sahasranama and Sanath Sujateeyam, because in these portions we are told about Bhagavan’s rupa and gunas, elaborated P.T. Seshadri in a discourse. The rest of it is about deceit, jealousy, cunning, quarrels and revenge. If one were to list those who sought revenge in the Mahabharata, Aswathama, son of Drona, perhaps heads the list. Duryodhana was dying. His army had been wiped out. The only survivors in the Kaurava army were Aswathama, Kripacharya (Aswathama’s maternal uncle) and Krithavarma. Aswathama vowed to kill the Pandavas. While resting in a forest, he noticed an owl resting on a tree, which had the nest of a crow. The mother crow was away, but the baby crows were in the nest. The owl attacked the baby birds, and ate them. Aswathama had an idea, when he saw this. What could cause greater anguish to a person than the death of his children? So he decided that the best way to hurt the Pandavas was to destroy their children. He knew that he could not destroy the Pandavas, but he could make their lives miserable.

Killing at night is forbidden, and Aswathama, who had been trained in the rules of warfare by his father Drona, knew this. Yet, he was raging, because his father had been killed by the Pandavas. Kripacharya advised him and said that whatever had happened was due to Divine Will. The best time to attack the sons of the Pandavas was on the battlefield. They should not be hurt by stealth. But Aswathama paid no heed, and killed all the five sleeping children of the Pandavas.