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The Great Epics
Before Ashwatthama became one of the Mahabharata's most feared figures, he was a child whose family struggled to feed him.
A war killed an age of young men.
And it can be traced back to a cup of flour stirred into water. Given to a child who thought it was milk.
Ashwatthama was born to Drona and Kripi.
And he cried at birth with the sound of a horse. Ashva-sthama, the horse's voice. That is his name.
He was also born with a thing set in his forehead. A mani, a gem set into the skin.
The tradition is specific about what it did. It gave him power over beasts, and kept him from hunger, thirst, weariness, illness, weapons and old age. He could not be starved, worn down, sickened or easily killed.
A child arrived in a poor brahmin's house, and almost nothing could hurt him.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.