Drona

This article is about Dronacharya. For otheruses, see Drona (disambiguation).

Template:IndicText In the epic Mahābhārata, Drona (Sanskrit: द्रोण, droṇa) or Dronacharya (Sanskrit: द्रोणाचार्य, droṇāchārya) is the royal guru to the Kauravas and the Pandavas. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the devastras. Arjuna was his favorite student. Drona's love for Arjuna was second only to his love for his son Ashwatthama. He was a partial incarnation of Brihaspathi.

Birth and early life

Dronacharya was born a Bharadwaja brahmin, in a place considered to be modern day Dehradun. Drona implies that he was not gestated in a womb, but outside the human body in a droon (vessel).

The story of Dronacharya's birth is recounted dramatically in Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXI. Bharadwaja went with his companions to the Ganga to perform his ablutions. There he beheld a beautiful apsara named Ghritachi who had come to bathe. The sage was overcome by desire, causing him to produce a reproductive fluid. Bharadwaja captured the fluid in a vessel called a drona, and Dronacharya himself sprang from the fluid thus preserved. Drona would later boast that he had sprung from Bharadwaja without ever having been in a womb.

Dronacharya spent his youth in poverty, but studied religion and military arts such as archery which he was known to have expertised together with the then prince of Panchala, Drupada. Drupada and Dronacharya became close friends and Drupada, in his childish playfullness, promised to give Dronacharya half his kingdom upon ascending the throne of Panchala.

Dronacharya married Kripi, the sister of Kripa, the royal teacher of the princes of Hastinapura. Kripi and Dronacharya had Ashwathama as a son.

Guru Parasurama

Learning that Parasurama was giving away his fruits of penance to brahmanas, Dronacharya approached him. Unfortunately by the time Drona arrived, Parasurama had given away all his belongings to other brahmanas. Taking pity upon the plight of Drona, Parasurama decided to impart his knowledge of combat to Drona Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXI.

Drona and Drupada

For the sake of his wife and son, Dronacharya desired freedom from poverty. Remembering the promise given by Drupada, he decided to approach him to ask for help. However, drunk with power, King Drupada refused to even recognise Dronacharya and humiliated him by calling him an inferior person.

Drupada gives Dronacharya a long and haughty explanation of why he is rejecting him. Friendship, says Drupada, is possible only between persons of equal station in life. As a child, he says, it was possible for him to be friends with Dronacharya, because at that time they were equals. But now Drupada had become a king, while Dronacharya remained a luckless indigent. Under these circumstances, friendship was impossible. However, he said he would satisfy Dronacharya if he begged for alms befitting a Brahmin rather than claiming his right as a friend. Drupada advised Dronacharya to think no more of the matter, and to be on his way. Dronacharya went away silently, but in his heart he vowed revenge Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXII..

Dronacharya

Dronacharya's legend as a great teacher and warrior exceeds Hindu history by strongly influencing Indian social traditions. Drona inspires great debates about morality and dharma in the Mahābhārata epic.

The ball and the ring

(Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXIII.) Drona went to Hastinapura, hoping to open a school of military arts for young princes with the help of the king Dhritarashtra. One day, he saw a number of young boys, the Kauravas and Pandavas gathered around a well. He asked them what the matter was, and Yudhisthira, the eldest, replied that their ball had fallen into the well and they did not know how to retrieve it.

Drona laughed, and mildly rebuked the princes for being helpless over such a plain problem. Yudhisthira replied that if he, a brahmin, could retrieve their ball, the king of Hastinapura would provide all the basic necessities to him for life. Drona first threw in a ring of his, collected some grass blades, and uttered mystical Vedic chants. He then threw the blades into the well one after another, like spears. The first blade stuck to the ball, and the second stuck to the first, and so on, forming a chain. Drona gently pulled the ball out with this rope of grass.

In a feat that was even more amazing to the boys, Drona then chanted Vedic mantras again and fired a grass blade into the well. It struck within the center of his floating ring and rose out of the well in a matter of moments, retrieving Drona's ring. Excited, the boys took Drona to the city and reported this incident to Bhishma, their grandfather.

Bhishma instantly realized that this was Drona, and his prowess exemplified, asked him to become the Guru of the Kuru princes, training them in advanced military arts. Drona then established his gurukul near the city, where princes from numerous kingdoms around the country came to study under him. This village came to be known as Guru-Gram(guru means teacher and gram means village), and has now developed into the city of Gurgaon.

Arjuna

Of all the Kaurava and Pandava brothers training under Drona, Arjuna emerges as the most dedicated, hard-working and most naturally talented of them all, exceeding Drona's son Ashwathama as well. Arjuna assiduously serves his teacher, who is greatly impressed by his devoted pupil.

Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXV Arjuna surpasses Drona's expectations in numerous challenges. When Drona tests the princes' alertness and ability by creating an illusion of a crocodile attacking him and dragging him away, most of the princes are left dumbfounded. But Arjuna swiftly fires arrows that slay the illusionary animal, and Drona congratulates Arjuna for passing this test. As a reward, Drona gives Arjuna the super-powerful divine weapon of Brahma known as Brahmasira,but tells Arjuna not to use this irresistible weapon against any ordinary warrior. The weapon had a sharp edge surrounded below by 3 heads of Lord Brahma. In another challenge, Drona gives each prince a pot to fill with water and swiftly return. Whoever returns fastest would receive instruction in some extra special knowledge. He gives his son Ashwathama a wide-necked pot unlike the other's narrow-necked ones, hoping he will be the first to return. But Arjuna uses his knowledge of a mystical water weapon to fill his pot swiftly and returns first.

Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section CXXXIV - Section CXXXV.) In a great challenge, Drona sets up a wooden bird upon a tree, and from across the adjacent river, asks the princes to shoot it down by striking its eye. When prince Yudhisthira tries first, Drona asks him what he saw. Yudhisthira replies he saw Drona, his brothers, the river, the forest, the tree and the bird. Drona replies that Yudhisthira would fail and asks another prince to step forward. The others give the same reply, and Drona is disappointed with all. But when Arjuna steps forth, he tells Drona that he sees only the eye of the bird and nothing else. When Drona excitedly asks him to continue, Arjuna replies that he saw only the bird's eye. Drona asks him to shoot, and Arjuna strikes the bird down in the eye.

One day Arjuna observed that his brother Bhima was eating in the night in complete darkness. He subtely observed that he was able to eat food in dark. By practice, hands would reach one's mouth even in darkness. This striked Arjuna to practice archery in darkness. He begins training by night to use his weapons in absolute darkness, and steadily achieves a great level of skill.

Drona is greatly impressed by Arjuna's concentration, determination and drive, and promises him that he will become the most powerful warrior on earth. Drona gives Arjuna special knowledge of the devastras that no other prince possesses.

Ekalavya and Karna

(Mahābhārata, Book I: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Section XXXIV.) Ekalavya is a young prince of the Nishadha tribes, who comes to Drona for instruction. Drona cannot train him along with the Kshtriya Princes because he did not belong to the Kshatriya varna (caste). But, he grants Ekalavya a boon that whenever he meditates upon Guru Drona he will acquire the knowledge of Divine Astras. Ekalavya begins study and practice by himself, having fashioned a clay image of Drona and worshipping him. Solely by his determination, Ekalavya becomes a warrior of exceptional prowess, at par with the young Arjuna. One day, a dog barks while he is focused upon practice, and without looking, the prince fires arrows that seal up the dog's mouth while not causing any harm. The Pandava princes see this dog running, and wonder who could have done such a feat. They see Ekalavya, who announces himself as a pupil of Drona.

Arjuna is worried that his position as the best warrior in the world might by usurped. Drona sees his worry, and visits Ekalavya with the princes. Ekalavya promptly worships Drona. Drona asks Ekalavya for a dakshina, or a deed of thanks a student must give to his teacher upon the completion of his training. Drona asks for Ekalavya's right thumb, which Ekalavya unhesitatingly cuts off and hands to Drona, despite knowing that this would irreparably hamper his archery skills.

Drona similarly rejects Karna, as he does not belong to the ksatriya caste. Humiliated, Karna vows to exact revenge. He obtains the knowledge of weapons and military arts from Parasurama, by appearing as a brahmin, and challenges Arjuna in the martial exhibition. Thus, Drona inadvertently laid the foundation for Karna's great rivalry with Arjuna.

Revenge upon Drupada

On completing their training, Drona asked the Kauravas to bring Drupada bound in chains. Duryodhana appoints Vikarna, the best warrior among the Kauravas, as the army commander. Then he, Dushasana, Sudarshana, Vikarna and the remaining Kauravas attack Panchala with the Hastinapur army. They fail to defeat the Panchala army, whereupon Drona sent Arjuna and his brothers for the task. The five Pandavas attacked Panchala without an army. Arjuna captures Drupada as ordered. Drona takes half of Drupada's kingdom, thus becoming his equal. He forgave Drupada for his misdeeds, but Drupada desired revenge. He performed a yagna to have a son who would slay Drona and a daughter who would marry Arjuna. His wish was fulfilled and thus was born Dhristadyumna, the slayer of Drona, and Draupadi, the consort of the Pandavas.

Drona in the war

Drona strongly condemns the wicked prince Duryodhana and his brothers for their abusive treatment of the Pandavas, and for usurping their kingdom by sending them into exile. But being a servant of Hastinapura, Drona is bound by duty to fight for the Kauravas, and thus against his favorite Pandavas.

Drona is one of the most powerful and destructive warriors in the Kurukshetra War. He is an invincible warrior, whom no person on earth can defeat. He single-handedly slays hundreds of thousands of Pandava soldiers with his powerful armory of weapons and incredible skill. After the fall of Bhishma, he becomes the Chief Commander of the Kuru Army.

Drona had been the preceptor of most kings involved in the war, on both sides.

Abhimanyu's killing

See Also: Abhimanyu, Arjuna

On the 13th day of battle, the Kauravas challenge the Pandavas to break a wheel shaped battle formation known as the Chakra Vyuha (see Wars of Hindu Mythology). Drona as commander forms this strategy as he knows that only Arjuna and Krishna know how to penetrate it. He asks the king of the Samshaptaka army to distract Arjuna and Krishna into another part of the battlefield, allowing the main Kuru army to surge through the Pandava ranks.

Arjuna's young son Abhimanyu is able to penetrate the formation, however, he is trapped when Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu holds the Pandava warriors following him at bay. Abhimanyu does not know how to get out of the Chakra Vyuha, but goes upon an all-out attack on the Kuru army, killing tens of thousands of warriors single-handedly. He even holds Karna and Drona himself at bay. Amazed at his prowess and courage, he is likened by the Kurus as his father's equal in greatness.

With his army facing decimation, Drona asks Karna, Dushasana and others to simultaneously attack Abhimanyu, to strike down his horses, his charioteer and to disable his chariot from different angles. Left without support, Abhimanyu begins fighting from the ground, whereupon all the Kuru warriors simultaneously attack him. Exhausted after his long, prodigious feats, Abhimanyu is weakened, grabs one of the wheels of his chariot and blocks all the attacks, but eventually he is killed by the simultaneous stabbing of seven swords.

All this was an extreme violation of the rules of war, whereby a lone warrior may not be attacked by more than one, and not at all if he is disabled or without chariot. This devious murder of his son enrages Arjuna, who swears to kill Jayadratha, whom he sees as responsible for his son's death. If he failed to do so the next day, he would step into fire and commit suicide.

Drona lines up the entire Kuru army, with an entire akshohini (over a hundred thousand soldiers) in front of Arjuna to thwart his mission. But Arjuna exhibits his full prowess, and before the end of the day slays more than a hundred thousand warriors single-handedly. With the help of Krishna, he slays Jayadratha in the nick of time. On the whole, Arjuna devastates a large portion of the Kuru army dramatically in just one day of fighting.

Yudhisthira's capture and Drona's death

In the war, Yudhisthira is targeted by Drona to be captured. For this plan to be successful, Duryodhana invites King Bhagadatta, son of the great asura Narkasur to fight against the Pandavas. Bhagadatta was the king of Prajokiyatsa, modern day Burma. As Krishna had killed Narakasur, Bhagadatta agreed to join the Kauravas. But, in spite of Bhagadatta's support, Drona fails to capture Yudhistra alive. The Kuru commander and preceptor is however killing hundreds of thousands of Pandava warriors and thus advancing Duryodhana's cause.

On the 15th day of the Mahābhārata war, Drona, instigated by King Dhritarastra's remarks of being a traitor, uses the Brahmadanda. This spiritual divine weapon contained the power of the 7 greatest sages of Hinduism. Drona had neither imparted the knowledge of this divine weapon to either Ashwattama or Arjuna. Thus, he proves unconquerable on the 15th day of war.

Observing this, Krishna devises a plan to bring down the invincible Drona. Following the plan, Bhima locates and kills the war elephant named Ashwatthama. He then loudly proclaims that he has slain Ashwatthama to make Drona think that his son who was also named Ashwatthama is dead. Drona however, does not believe Bhima's words and approaches Yudhisthira knowing that with his firm adherence to honesty and dharma, only Yudhisthira's word was completely reliable. When Drona approaches Yudhisthira and questions whether his son has truly been slain in battle by Bhima's hand, Yudhisthira responds with the cryptic Sanskrit phrase "Ashwatthama hathaha iti, narova kunjarova" (Sanskrit: "अश्वत्थामा हतः इति, नरोवा कुंजरोवा..." meaning 'Ashwatthama is dead, whether human or an elephant'). Krishna knew that it was impossible for Yudhisthira to outrightly lie, thus on his instructions, other warriors blow trumpets and conches, raising a tumultuous noise to drown out the latter part of Yudhisthira's reply. Thus believing that his son is dead, Drona is overcome with grief. Laying down his weapons, he descends from his chariot and sits down on the ground, closing his eyes. Dhristadyumna takes this opportunity and decapitates the unarmed and unaware Drona, albeit in an act of cowardice.

It is said that Drona's soul, by meditation had already left his body before Dhristadyumna could strike. His death greatly aggrieves and enrages Arjuna, who had immense affection for his teacher and had hoped to capture him alive, rather than kill him.

Modern assessment

Drona was often without doubt, partial towards Arjuna. Any great teacher would feel enthralled if his protege so excels as Arjuna did, thus, so was Drona. Drona was somewhat parallel to Bhishma both in martial prowess, and in his unwavering commitment to fighting for the kingdom of Hastinapura irrespective of who the ruler was and whether or not the cause was just.

Lord Krishna was critical of Drona for remaining a mute spectator and not having protested the humiliation of Draupadi by Dushasana and Duryodhana following the fateful game of dice. He is also criticized for his pride and conceit, siding with evil despite knowing of and acknowledging the righteousness of the Pandava cause. However, he was compelled to side with the Kauravas because he was indebted to their royal household, which had provided him and his family with shelter, wealth and an occupation.

It may also be concluded that he was responsible for the devious murder of Abhimanyu, as it was he who had suggested simultaneously attacking and disabling the tired, outnumbered and trapped warrior. However, he remains a revered figure in Hindu history, and a pillar of the Indian tradition of respecting one's teacher as an equal not only of parents, but even of God.

The Government of India annually awards the Dronacharya Award for excellence in sports tutelage to the best sports teachers and coaches in India.

It is believed that the city of Gurgaon (literally - "Village of the Guru") was founded as "Guru Gram" by Drona on land given to him by Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapur in recognition of his teachings of martial arts to the princes, and the 'Dronacharya Tank', still exists within the Gurgaon city, along with a village called Gurgaon.

See also

• The Mahabharata, by Krishna Dharma
• Hindu mythology, Hinduism
• Wars of Hindu Mythology

When Arjuna is showing his provess in the battle filed and causing damage to the Kavurava Sena, Aswathama asks drona why you too cannot stop Arjuna? Drona replies, what the injustice Dhuryodana has done to them is firing Arjuna. He fights for justice. I know Narayana Astra, which I didn't teach Arjuna, but we cannot use that now, as Arjuna makes an honest fight, he didn't do a single act that violates the rules of dharma yudh. Also, he replies Lord Krishna who is also with their side. This proves that Dhrona is not partial. He follows the rules. Even when Abimanyu is getting caught he tells karna to let lose the horses of abhimanyu's chariot by firing arrows from behind to cut the chords. This is to reduce abhimanyu's speed and not to harm him. Arjuna,gets the whole picture of how is son is getting killed in the battle and he didn't find problem with the act of Drona but with the act of Jayathratha.

References

• Wikisource: The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva/Sambhava Parva
• The Story of Drona - the Teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas