Niyoga From Wikipedia

Niyoga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Niyoga (Sanskrit: नियोग) is an ancient Hindu tradition, in which a woman (whose husband is either incapable of fatherhood or has died without having a child) would request and appoint a person for helping her bear a child. According to this Hindu tradition the man who was appointed must be or would most likely be a revered person. There were various clauses associated with this process, as follows:
The woman would agree for this only for the sake of rightfully having a child and not for pleasure.
The appointed man would do this for Dharma, considering it as his duty to help the woman bear a child and not for pleasure.
The child thus born would be considered the child of the husband-wife and not that of the appointed man.
The appointed man would not seek any paternal relationship or attachment to this child in the future.
To avoid misuse, a man was allowed a maximum of three times in his life time to be appointed in such a way.
The act will be seen as that of Dharma and while doing so, the man and the wife will have only Dharma in their mind and not passion nor lust. The man will do it as a help to the woman in the name of the GOD, whereas the woman will accept it only to bear the child for herself and her husband.
In Niyoga, the bodies were to be covered with "ghee" (so that lust may not take root in the minds of participants but actual act may take place for conception). Similar traditions are referred to in the Old Testament as levirate marriages see [1] and the Spartans.

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Ashwatthama From Wikipedia

Ashwatthama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Ashwathama)

Ashwatthama in Javanese Wayang
A hero of the Indian epic Mahabharata, Ashwatthama (Sanskrit: ??????????, Asvatthama) or Ashwatthaman (Sanskrit: ???????????, Asvatthaman) was the son of guru Dronacharya. He is one of the seven Chiranjeevins. Dronacharya loved him dearly. Rumours about his death in the Kurukshetra war led to the death of his father by the hands of Prince Dhrishtadyumna. He is the grandson of the great Brahmin sage Bharadwaja.
Ashwatthama had led a devastating campaign against the Pandavas, who were repeatedly saved from annihiliation by Krishna's interference and subterfuge in the battle of Kurukshetra. The various means of deceit adopted by the Pandavas in winning the war had deeply aggrieved Ashwatthama. Seeking justice for the dishonorable mutilation of his father Acharya Drona as also the treacherous attack on Duryodhana that resulted in his mortal injuries, Ashwatthama swore vengeance to his dying king Duryodhana. He promised to kill the Pandavas and restore the balance of power that had been so grossly upset by Krishna's favouritism and nepotism.
On the last night of the war, after Duryodhana's defeat, a very disturbed and restless Ashwatthama was seated sleepless under a large tree. He observed how an owl, attacked and harrassed by crows in the morning, attacked back at night. He surmised that war was best fought from a position of strength.He gathered the only other surviving Kaurava warriors, Kritavarma and Kripacharya,and attacked the Pandava camp on the last night of the Kurukshetra war.
The Kaurava warriors were initially thwarted by a demon Krishna had employed to guard the Pandava camp. This demon was so powerful that the Kaurava warriors exhausted every means of subduing it. Ashwatthama decided to pray to Lord Shiva, his patron God, and in the face of defeat offer his own body as sacrifice to the great lord. Lord Shiva who was actually disguised as the demon, was so impressed by his ardour that he appeared in person and blessed Ashwatthama. He said that the Pandavas were successful in winning the war only because Lord Shiva, out of his enormous love for Krishna, had kept his protective hands over them. However now their time was over and they too would need to die. He then blessed Ashwatthama that he would be invincible and whoever faced him that night would die. Upon this, Lord Shiva handed Ashwatthama his own sword and entered his body.
Ashwatthama charged the Pandava camp and wreaked havoc. Dhristadumnya, was kicked to death as his punishment for guruhatya. Shikhandi, Bhisma's effective killer and thousands of other prominent Pandava warriors were mercilessly put to the edge of Ashwatthama's sword and perished. Those to tried fleeing Ashwatthama's wrath were hacked down by Kripacharyya and Kritavarma who were positioned at the camp's entrance. Ashwatthama sustained numerous wounds and injuries in this battle but nothing could stop him from executing his vow.
Owing to Krishna's deceit, Ashwatthama killed Draupadi's five sons believing them to be the five Pandava brothers. He was also misled by a bramhin sage at whose ashram the Pandava brothers and Krishna were hiding out of fear of death.After destroying the entire Pandava camp Ashwatthama retreated to Sage Vyasa's ashram. Next morning, the Pandavas instigated by Draupadi and Krishna decided to attack Ashwatthama. After reminding the Pandavas that he was unarmed and meditating as per his Bramhanical tradition,Ashwtthama realised that the Pandava brothers would not stop their attack unless he killed them and enacted his vow completely. Using his sacred knowledge of the Vedas, Ashwatthama devised a Bramhastra from a blade of grass, and invoked it against the Pandavas and Krishna. Arjuna being trained by the Acharya Drona in the same weapon, was the only person who could respond to Ashwatthama's Bramhastra. Acting on Krishna's advice he invoked it against Ashwatthama.
Seeing the two powerful weapons heading for a cataclysmic collision that would result in the end of the world, the sages asked for the weapons to be withdrawn. Arjuna chose to withdraw his weapon. While Arjuna could do so, Ashwatthama's weapon could not be withdrawn and he was given the option of choosing any single target to destroy. Out of strict observation of his promise to Duryodhana, Ashwatthama directed the weapon to the wombs of Pandava women so that their clan would be annihilated just like the Kauravas had been.
Krishna revived Abhimanyu's son who was destroyed in his mother's womb by Ashwatthama's weapon.Acting on the advice of many sages Ashwatthama handed over the precious gemstone embedded in his forehead to Sage Vyasa who in turn granted it to Yudhisthira as he was a weak and defenceless without it. Some believe that Ashwatthama was cursed to be a leper and into exile by Krishna. Others believe that Ashwatthama was so disgusted at the conduct of the significant war of Kurukshetra, that he left India and migrated to the land presently known as the Arabian peninsula.
Ashwatthama was one of the three survivors of the Kaurava army, along with Kritavarma and Kripacharya. He is believed to be an incarnation of Rudra, later day Shiva, who voluntarily consumed the poison of vengeance without concern about its consequences. Ashwatthama is destined to be one of the seven saptarishis in the next manavantara.

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