Please read the whole conversation you will be able to understand what does it mean

The Fall of Drona: “Aswathama Hatha, Iti Narova KunjaRova”

After Bheesma’s death, Dronacharya became the commander in chief of Kaurava army.
Dronacharya is an formidable warrior who must be removed to secure victory for Pandavas.

Krishna told Pandavas that it is impossible to get rid of Drona, so long he is armed. Drona is
the only warrior in battlefield who has Brahmastra and Divyastra, even the gods cannot
fight with him. Only Arjuna can counter his weapons but not remove him, Arjuna being his
favorite student.

Hence, Drona can only be pacified when he is unarmed.

Krishna

In today’s battle, nobody can defeat acharya Drona. The only way to remove Drona is to
convince him that his son, Aswathama is dead. Acharya Drona has only one weakness – his
son. If he believes that his son is dead, he will drop his weapons and then we can get rid of
him.

Arjuna

I beg your pardon. But I cannot use unfair means to kill my teacher and I do not want to win
this war at the cost of incurring a sin.

Krishna

Who are you to win or lose this war? Your dharma is to fight against Adharma, so just do the
task given to you. Don’t do imaginary analysis of the result, because you have no control
over the result

Arjuna

But I cannot kill my teacher using unfair means. This is something I will not do since this is
a violation of the “Guru- Shisya” pact.

Krishna to Yudhisthir

If there is anyone who can help Dharma today, it is you. You are the epitome of Dharma and
Righteousness and hence Dharma is looking upto you for an answer. Ironically, you will
have to tweak Dharma to restore it. Will you help?

Yudhisthir

If no other way to restore Dharma is open, I will carry the weight of this sin on my
shoulders.

Krishna to Bheema, pointing towards an Elephant

Do you know the name of that Elephant?

Bheema

I do. His name is Aswathama.

Bheema goes ahead and kills the Elephant. Then he moves to the center of battlefield and
announces that he had killed Aswathhama.

A distressed Drona, refused to believe him. He turned towards Yudhisthir.

Drona

I have not come here to seek your blessings, O Yudhisthir. I have come here for the truth. Is
it true that my son, Aswathama is no more?

Yudhisthir

Aswathhama hatha (and then he murmured) iti Narova Kunjarova

Yes Aswathhama is dead (and then he murmured). I don’t know if its a man or an Elephant.

A shaken Drona lost the will to fight. He listens with half ear and lost the will to live. He
dropped his weapons and sat down in deep meditation. His soul went on in a journey across
the heavens in search of Aswathama’s soul.

Krishna

This is the moment of truth. It’s now or never, we must act now and kill him.

But Drona is a teacher and a renowned Brahman. To kill a Brahman is the greatest sin of all.
“Brahman-hatya” is a sin which has no penance and hence, none of the soldiers could gather
the courage to kill an unarmed Brahman who has laid down all his weapons and is
meditating.

Krishna

He is Brahman by birth but a Khastriya by Karma. He had taken the path of a Khastriya for
vengeance against his friend Drupad. He lived as a Khastriya for wealth, power and
recognition. Had he been a real Brahman, he would have won his anger over Drupad and
forgiven him. But No, he did not. He has lived all his life training princes of the royal clan,
so he can use them for his personal vengeance. He has already achieved his vengeance by
killing Drupad earlier this morning.

Look at him. His soul has already left the body in search of his son’s soul, Aswathama.
Hence, there is no killing, just the decapitation of a lifeless body. There is no crime in
beheading him now, for he is a barrier to Dhrama.

Dhristyadhumna, the commander in chief of Pandava army, jumps from his chariot and
beheads Drona.
When Aswathama learned the death of his father, he went outraged and released a
dangerous weapon – “Narayana-astra”. This weapon can never be stopped by any other
weapon and anybody who tries to counter this weapon would certainly die.

Yudhisthira

Now that Aswathama has fired Narayanastra, we are all going to die.

Krishna

Just drop your weapons and salute it. This weapon will do no harm if you do not counter it.

On the instruction of Krishna, all the soldiers dropped their weapons except Bheema.
Bheema hurled his mace and ran towards Aswathama and since he was armed, the
Narayanastra enveloped him. Krishna ran for rescue and pulled the mace from his hands.
The Narayanastra withdrew, since it would not harm anyone who was not armed and
hostile.

Aswathama could not use Narayanastra since it can be used only once.

The grief of Arjuna and vengeance against Dhristyadhumna

Arjuna was the favorite student of Drona and he could not bear his Guru’s death. He jumped
from his chariot and ran towards Dhristyadhumna in an attempt to kill him.

Arjuna

I will not forgive you Dhristyadhumna for unfairly killing my Guru Dronacharya. I know you
are my brother in law but I have to do the duty of a student first. You are a coward who has
killed a Brahman when he is unarmed. I am Dron Shisya Arjuna and it is now my duty to kill
the murderer of my Guru.

Krishna

Hey Parth, you are not attacking your brother in law. You are not attacking the murderer of
your Guru. At this point in time, you are attacking the commander in chief of your army.
You are attacking the commander in chief of the army that is fighting for Dharma. You are
just a part of this army and in this battlefield, you have no right to attack your commander
in chief. You do not have the authority to attack him. As far as personal vengeance is
concerned, you can sort it out outside this battlefield but so long you are in this battlefield
and Dhristyadhumna is the commander in chief of your army, you will have to abide by his
orders. Hence, go back to your chariot.

When the war finished for the day, Arjuna becames restless and plans to kill
Dhristyadhumna. This is when Draupadi comes to the rescue

Draupadi

My brother has not commited any crime. Why are you so restless?
Arjuna

Nobody in this planet holds the right to kill my guru using unfair means. So long as I am
alive, so long Gandiva is in my hands, Mahadev ki saugandh, I cannot let the murderer of
my Guru remain alive.

Draupadi

Hey Sharvashrestha dhanurdhar Kunti Putra Arjuna, I am that same Draupadi who was
dragged to the court. I am that same Draupadi who was humiliated and attempted to be
disrobed infront of your Guru, Drona. He was there and he was quiet, he did not even
protest once.

If you cannot protect your own wife and punish the person who sits in the court and
observes the practice of Adharma with deaf ears, please do not try to be an obstruction in
the path of other people who do it. He may be a guru to you but to me, he is just a coward.
He is the coward who led the army that killed your son Abhimanyu, when he was unarmed.

You are his favorite student and you seek vengeance against my brother Dhristyadhumna.
Please wait. Let this war be over. Let all the Adharmiks die first and let me get my vengeance
which I deserve. Let me tie my hair first. Let Bheema fulfill his vow first.

Once I have received my vengeance, you can work towards getting your vengeance by killing
my brother. So long as I am your wife and my hair does not get the blood of Dushashana
and Duryodhana’s thigh is not broken, you have no right to seek vengeance against the
commander in chief of the army which is working towards your wife’s vengeance that she
deserves. You have no right to overshadow Bheema’s vow. Let us seek what we deserve, you
can fulfill your personal enmity later.

During the cremation ceremony of Drona, Aswathama pledges to become the reason for the
destruction of entire Pandava clan, which he later fulfilled by firing his Brahmastra towards
Uttara’s womb.

The Fall of Drona: “Aswathama Hatha, Iti Narova KunjaRova”

Hope this will help you to understand

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Palaash Barot, Much Interested about Mahabharata

Updated Jun 8, 2017 · Author has 78 answers and 128.9k answer views
Its actually, “अश्वत्थामा हताहत, नरोवा कुं जरोवा”

(Ashwatthama hathahath, narova kunjarova)

Ashwathhama: Name of Dronacharya's son. Also the name of a mad elephant killed
by Bheema.
Hathahath: Indeed is killed.

Narova Kunjarova: Human or an elephant

So, simple translation: “Ashwatthama is indeed killed, but whether a human or elephant, I
don't know.”