NIGHT TIME MURDER

Ashwatthama  was a  Brahaman by birth and was supposed to posses the qualities of  forgiveness, compassion, large heartedness, free from cruelty, simplicity and austerity due to his being a Brahman. 
Brahmanas are supposed to be thoughtful and analytical during the day and reflective at night.
They analyse their good  and bad behaviour, and beg forgiveness from superiors within their heart, and this way they are peaceful.

But Ashwattama  in spite of his being a Brahmana was razing with intense passion, and contemplating the murder of the last heir of the pandavas.
He brutally murdered them at night, strangulated  Dristhadymna, and butchered Shikhandi.
It was the deadliest crime in the entire battle of Kuruksetra -even Duryodhana kind of condemned this act of killing the kuru kula.
Ashwatthama even after this condemnation continued scheming to kill.
He wanted to kill the last member of pandava family -Pariksita who was in the womb of Uttara the wife of Abhimanyu.

When he was caught  by  the pandavas, Krishna gave him  severe punishment, in the form of not killing him .
Krishna did not punish Ashwatthama by killing him the way Bhima killed Dushyshana or Duryodhana  for that was instataneous punishment . Nor did he give Ashwatthama a suffering like that of Dhritharasthra for a few years. Instead he  gave  him a long life of 3000 years  with a body that smelt rotten in which he had to wander without shelter .

In the entire Mahabharata, Krishna killed many demons, punished  mighty kings, and rectified few gods who had become temporarily arrogant, and all of  them were either killed or punished and were then liberated and blessed.
Ashwatthama  who had the privileges of being a brahmana  had committed  henious crimes .
So Ashwatthama alone in the entire mahabharat in spite of his having the  position of  being the  son of the  Great Drona  was not  killed  blessed or liberated .
Instead Krishna punished him by not killing him but by  allowing him to live with  the stench of guilt and restlessness for 3000 years .
What  is pertinent is not what we are born with  but rather  how we use what we are born with...