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Ashwatthama, one of the seven immortals, is still alive.

  1. But can anyone tell where he is now? Many people claimed seeing him; he was much taller than an average man, peculiar was his physique too.

  2. When will be his curse lifted? Can anyone tell?

(To see him, one has to be devoid of all physical comforts and all mundane existence and obviously should have the zeal for the omnipotent knowledge! Difficult, heh??)

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  • Hye! Community!! I am new here and at the beginning I will be sorry if I make any stupid mistake but hope this fantasic community will let me rectify this. Thanks:)
    – user1081
    Nov 21, 2014 at 4:46
  • Possible duplicate: hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/2388/36 Nov 21, 2014 at 4:52
  • @KeshavSrinivasan If its a duplicate then close straight away as a duplicate and please delete this comment after you read and take necessary action.
    – Mr. Alien
    Nov 23, 2014 at 13:46
  • I asked the same question once in another website and there I got the following reply: "There is a place near Burahanpur in MP called Aseergarh. The place is haunted and there is an old ruined fort there that is the centre of haunting. Ashwatthama is said to roam there. Many people over the centuries have claimed seeing him. Some people went mad after the sighting. Some say he asked them to pour ghee on his head on the wound caused by Shri Krishn pulling his mani out. Many news channels have shown this." Hope this helps.
    – Aby
    Nov 24, 2014 at 12:19
  • I don't understand why this question is marked as a duplicate of the other. This question is asking where is Ashwatthama right now without all the history!! Jan 16, 2017 at 19:32

1 Answer 1

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As I discuss in this answer, the Sauptika Parva of the Mahabharata describes how after Ashwatthama launched a Brahmastra at the womb of Abhimanu's wife Uttara, Krishna put the following curse on Ashwatthama:

As regards thyself, all wise men know thee for a coward and a sinful wretch! Always engaged in sinful acts, thou art the slayer of children. For this reason, thou must have to bear the fruit of these thy sins. For 3,000 years thou shalt wander over this earth, without a companion and without being able to talk with anyone. Alone and without anybody by thy side, thou shalt wander through diverse countries, O wretch, thou shalt have no place in the midst of men. The stench of pus and blood shall emanate from thee, and inaccessible forests and dreary moors shall be thy abode! Thou shalt wander over the Earth, O thou of sinful soul, with the weight of all diseases on thee.

So at least for the duration of the curse, the answer to the question "Where is Ashwatthama" is "wandering all over the Earth". But there's some reason to believe that the curse is over by now, because Krishna said that it would last 3000 years, and Krishna died in 3102 BC, so assuming Krishna was talking about normal years the curse ended over two millennia ago.

In any case, Ashwatthama made clear what his plans would be after the end of the curse; he told the sage Vyasa "With thyself among all men, O holy one, I shall live! Let the words of this illustrious and foremost of men become true!" So he's presumably living with Vyasa now. And as I discuss in this answer, the time he will have spent with Vyasa will enable him to become the Veda Vyasa (i.e. the compiler of the Vedas) in the next Dwapara Yuga.

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  • Sir,if His curse is removed, is he still alive now? Then all the witnesses that claimed seeing Him are wrong,right? I read somewhere that after Kali yuga, he would meet with Lord Kalki. Then is it wrong?
    – user1081
    Nov 21, 2014 at 5:25
  • @user36790 No matter what he is definitely alive right now, because he is going to be the Veda Vyasa in the next Dwapara Yuga. (The ending of his curse doesn't mean the ending of his life.) As far as Kalki goes, this abridged version of the Kalki Purana says that Ashwatthama will visit Kalki at his birth: books.google.com/… Nov 21, 2014 at 6:22
  • @user36790 [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… Kannada Version of Mahabharatha says he is alive and was relieved curse by praying to AdiParashakti. He's now living somewhere in Himalayas with other sages.
    – The Destroyer
    Nov 13, 2015 at 17:19
  • @KeshavSrinivasan i tried a lot to get English translation of that Mahabharatha. it is believed Aswathama narrated it to Kumara Vyasa. That kannada version claims so. He might be relieved after 3000 years. A user already asked a question about that book hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/9179/3500
    – The Destroyer
    Nov 13, 2015 at 17:24