"We are only three," said Kripa.

"What can we do?" asked Kritavarma.

Then they saw a single owl kill a flock of crows sleeping in a tree.

"We can do that!" said Ashwatthama. "We'll sneak in and kill them as they sleep."

Ashwatthama found Draupadi's brothers, Shikhandin and Dhrishtadyumna, and killed them both. "That is for Bhishma," he whispered, "and for my father!"

Next, Ashwatthama beheaded five warriors sleeping together, thinking they were the Pandavas, and put their heads into a sack. Finally, he set fire to the camp, while Kripa and Kritavarma shot down soldiers who fled the fire.

Ashwatthama returned to Duryodhana, proudly carrying the bag of five heads.

"I killed the Pandavas!" he said.

"Show me," Duryodhana said in disbelief. "Give me Bhima's head."

Ashwatthama gave him a head, and Duryodhana took it and crushed it between his fingers.

"No!" said Duryodhana. "This is not Bhima; I would not be able to crush his head so easily. Who have you killed?"

Then Ashwatthama realized: he had killed the five sons of Draupadi. These were not the Pandavas.

"I have lost the war," Duryodhana sighed, "but the Pandavas... they too lost everything."

And with those words, he died.

Duryodhana, Dushasana, Duhsaha, Duhsala, Jalasandha, Sama, Saha, Vinda, Anuvinda, Durdharsha, Suvahu, Dushpradharshana, Durmarshana, Durmukha, Dushkarna, Vivinsati, Vikarna, Sala, Satva, Sulochana, Chitra, Upachitra, Chitraksha, Charuchitra, Sarasana, Durmada, Durvigaha, Vivitsu, Vikatanana, Urnanabha, Sunabha, Nandaka, Upanandaka, Chitravana, Chitravarman, Suvarman, Durvimochana, Ayovahu, Mahavahu, Chitranga, Chitrakundala, Bhimavega, Bhimavala, Balaki, Balavardhana, Ugrayudha, Bhima, Karna, Kanakaya, Dridhayudha, Dridhavarman, Dridhakshatra, Somakitri, Anudara, Dridhasandha, Jarasandha, Satyasandha, Sada, Suvak, Ugrasravas, Ugrasena, Senani, Dushparajaya, Aparajita, Kundasayin, Visalaksha, Duradhara, Dridhahasta, Suhasta, Vatavega, Suvarchas, Adityaketu, Vahvashin, Nagadatta, Agrayayin, Kavachin, Krathana, Kunda, Kundadhara, Dhanurdhara, Ugra, Bhimaratha, Viravahu, Alolupa, Abhaya, Raudrakarman, Dridharatha, Anadhrishya, Kundabhedin, Viravi, Dhirghalochana, Pramatha, Pramathi, Dhirgharoma, Dirghavahu, Mahabahu, Vyudhoru, Kanakadhvaja, Kundasi, Virajas.

Only seven warriors survived Ashwatthama's raid on the camp: the five Pandavas themselves, plus two Yadavas, Krishna and Satyaki.

Draupadi wailed over the bodies of her sons, beheaded in the night. Her brother Dhrishtadyumna's charioteer had seen it all. "Ashwatthama did this," he said. "He beheaded the boys."

"I want Ashwatthama's head as vengeance!" Draupadi moaned.

"No," said Krishna. "The killing is over. Capture him alive, and we will subject him to a punishment worse than death. I curse Ashwatthama to live forever, driven from civilization and shunned by all humanity."

Thus Ashwatthama became one of the Chiranjivi, the immortals.

The Pandavas then saw their mother Kunti walking slowly across the battlefield, bending down to look at the faces of the fallen Kaurava soldiers. "Mother!" they shouted. "What are you doing? Those are the Kauravas."

"I am looking for your brother," she said.

They stared at her in confusion.

"I am looking for Karna, my first-born son."

At her words, Arjuna felt faint. "You mean I killed my own brother?" he gasped.

"And did Karna know this?" Yudhishthira asked.

"Yes," said Kunti sadly. "He knew, and he promised I would see five sons survive the war. He kept his promise."

The Pandavas were stunned when Kunti told them the story of Karna's birth.

Yudhishthira, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva now realized why Karna had spared them on the battlefield; that had been his promise to Kunti.

Arjuna remembered the years he had spent hating Karna, when he should have loved him instead as a brother.

"Why did you not tell us?" Arjuna asked Kunti.

Krishna answered for her. "If she told you, you would not have fought," he said. "But you had to fight. It was dharma. All is as it must be."

Then they honored Karna with a hero's funeral.

Gandhari spent the night on the battlefield, stumbling among corpses, seeking her sons.

But suddenly, she felt hungry.

So very hungry.

Smelling a mango, she jumped and grabbed, but the mango was out of a reach. Then she made a pile of stones to reach the mango.

It was delicious!

As she ate, she realized these were not stones.

They were skulls.

She had been standing on the skulls of her sons to reach the fruit.

"All we see is maya, the illusion of the world!" she groaned. "Blindfold or no blindfold, we are all maya's fools."

Then Gandhari wept.

Having won the war, the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura to claim the kingdom.

Dhritarashtra greeted them. "Where is Bhima?" the blind king asked. "I wish to embrace him."

But Krishna had foreseen this moment and warned the Pandavas to give Dhritarashtra an iron statue of Bhima to embrace instead.

With the power of his grief, Dhritarashtra crushed the statue. Then, realizing what he had done, he burst into tears. "Oh Bhima, my nephew, what have I done?"

"That was only a statue of Bhima," Krishna said reassuringly. "You have had your revenge."

Dhritarashtra wept with gratitude and embraced Bhima warmly.

Gandhari, however, was inconsolable. "Are you happy now, Krishna?" she said. "Your tricks killed all my sons."

"Not so," Krishna replied. "Their karma killed them: the consequences of their actions and the wicked choices that they made. But in death they are transformed; you should rejoice that they are in heaven."

"Your words mean nothing," shouted Gandhari, "and your actions also have consequences. Hear my curse: all the people of your tribe will destroy one another, and you will be left to die alone."

Krishna said nothing, as he already knew of these events to come.

All actions have consequences.

Mourning the dead, the survivors went to the banks of the sacred river. The Pandavas were there, along with Dhritarashtra and Vidura, and all the women: Gandhari and Kunti, and all the wives, the widows, all the mothers and sisters and daughters.

The rishi Narada joined in the mourning.

"Do you rejoice in your victory?" he asked Yudhishthira.

"I see only death," Yudhishthira replied. "I see only defeat. Worst of all, I have learned that Karna was Kunti's son. Karna knew, and said nothing. My elder brother is dead now, and I rule a kingdom that should have been his."