It is said that in Kaliyuga, Kalki incarnation of Lord Vishnu will take place in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh. Then this human will fight his last battle along with Lord Kalki. Actually, this great man is Ashwatthama. Ashwatthama, who set out to avenge the death of his father Dronacharya, suffered a costly mistake and was cursed by Lord Krishna to wander for ages. Ashwatthama is still alive for the last 5,200 years.
According to Hindu tradition, Ashwatthama is 5,200 years old. His age is estimated to be 3102 BC from the beginning of Kaliyuga. According to this, Ashwatthama was 78 years old at the time of Kurukshetra war. Ashwatthama was the son of Guru Dronacharya. Like his father, he was brave by birth and expert in archery. It is believed that Ashwatthama is still alive and will remain alive till the end of Kaliyuga. The place of Khodra Mahadev on the Vindhyachal hills, about 12 kilometers from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, is worshiped as the penance place of Ashwatthama. It is believed that even today Ashwatthama comes here.
Let us tell you, the first and biggest era in the scriptures is considered to be Satyayuga. This has lasted for 17,28,000 years. In this, the age of man is said to be around 1,00,000 years. The second major era after Satyayuga was Tretayuga. Its age is said to be around 12,96,000 years. In this era the age of man was approximately 10,000 years. Dwaparayug is at number three. Its age was about 8,64,000 years and humans have lived up to the age of about 1000 years. In the scriptures it has been described as the last and shortest era. Its total age is about 4,32,000 years. The maximum age of humans is around 100 years. In this era, Lord Kalki will incarnate in a Brahmin family. Lord Kalki will kill the demons. In this war, Ashwatthama will also fight with Lord Kalki.
Ashwatthama was born during the Mahabharata period. He was counted among the best warriors of that time. He was the son of Guru Dronacharya and nephew of Rajguru Kripacharya of the Kuru dynasty. It was Dronacharya who made Kauravas and Pandavas proficient in the art of weapons. During the Mahabharata war, Guru Drona thought it appropriate to support the Kauravas because of his loyalty to the Hastinapur kingdom. The father-son duo had disintegrated the Pandavas' army during the Mahabharata war. Seeing the Pandava army demoralized, Shri Krishna asked Yudhishthir to take the help of diplomacy to kill Dronacharya. Under this plan, the word was spread in the battlefield that Ashwatthama had been killed. When Dronacharya wanted to know the truth of Ashwatthama's death from Dharmaraja Yudhishthira, Yudhishthir replied that 'Ashwatthama hato naro va kunjaro va' (Ashwatthama has been killed, but I do not know whether he was a male or an elephant).
Hearing this, Guru Drona's son left his weapon in fascination and sat on the battlefield and taking advantage of the same opportunity, Dhrishtadyumna, son of Panchala king Drupada, killed him. The death of his father distraught Ashwatthama. After the Mahabharata war, Ashwatthama killed the Pandava sons to avenge his father's death and used Brahmastra to kill Abhimanyu's son Parikshit, who was growing in Uttara's womb, for the complete destruction of the Pandava dynasty. Lord Shri Krishna, after protecting Parikshit, as a punishment, removed the gem from Ashwatthama's forehead, made him dull and cursed him to keep wandering for ages. Since then Ashwatthama has been wandering on earth. Worship Lord Shiva. It is said about Ashwatthama that he has been seen in many areas of India. People worshiping in the Shiv temple at Shivrajpur in Kanpur have claimed to have seen Ashwatthama.
Apart from Kanpur, it is also claimed to have seen Ashwatthama in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. Local people say that after taking bath in the pond located in the fort, Ashwatthama goes to the Shiva temple to offer prayers. Some people say that they come here for worship after taking bath in Utavali river. The surprising thing is that this pond situated in the fort built on the top of the mountain never dries up even in the scorching heat of Burhanpur. A little ahead of the pond is the temple of Gupteshwar Mahadev. The temple is surrounded by ditches on all sides. According to legend, there is a secret passage in one of these ditches, which passes through the Khandava forest (Khandwa district) and leads directly to this temple. Through this route we come inside the Ashwatthama temple. Fresh flowers and gulal are placed on Shivling every day.
According to the book Bhavishya Purana of Sanatan Dharma, there will be a big crisis for Sanatan Dharma in the future. At that time man's thinking and character would have fallen. Then man will try to erase Sanatan Dharma from the world and at the same time Kaliyuga will also end. At this time, Lord Vishnu will be born on earth in the form of "Kalki" incarnation and Ashwatthama will also join his army and fight against unrighteousness. The warrior Ashwatthama would continue to wander on earth protecting the religion for about 5000 to 6000 years. In fact, while serving the punishment for the injustice done by the warrior Ashwatthama, he will keep wandering like this till the Kalki incarnation of Lord Vishnu takes place, protecting the religion. The reason for the wandering of the warrior Ashwatthama is to join the fight of Dharma Yuddha and to attain salvation by freeing himself from this curse.
