Drona

Droṇa (Sanskrit: द्रोण, romanized: Droṇa), also referred to as Dronacharya (Sanskrit: द्रोणाचार्य, romanized: Droṇācārya), was royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandavas. He was a friend of Guru Sukracharya, the guru of Asuras, including Mahabali. He was the son of the sage Bharadwaja and a descendant of the sage Angirasa. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras. He was also the second commander-in-chief of kaurava army from 11th day to 15th day. He failed 4 times in capturing Yudhisthira (11th, 12th day, 14th day when Arjuna was busy fighting to kill Jaydratha and 14th night). He was beheaded by Dhrishtadyumna when he was meditating to release his soul on the battlefield. It was said that Drona was an incarnation of Lord Brihaspati. He was Guru of Pandavas,Kauravas, Radha putra Karna”s and other Prince like Dristdyumna.

Birth and early life

On a river side, Bharadwaja saw an apsara named Ghritachi. He was filled with desire and his seed fell into a pot or basket. Inside it, a child developed who was named Drona because he was born in a pot and was brought to the ashram.

Time passed and Drupada became the king of Panchala. Drona had a son named Ashwatthama. Drona was not interested in material wealth and became poor.

Drona’s Insult

Once, Drona’s son Ashwatthama was playing with his friends. His friends were drinking milk and he wanted to drink it too. But his friends mixed flour with water and gave it to him. This enraged Drona and he remembered Drupada’s promise. He went to Drupada’s palace and asked him to give cows. But Drupada, filled with pride and ego, refused. He also insulted Drona by asking how a beggar could be his friend. This outraged Drona and he wanted revenge.

Teaching the Kuru princes

Of all the Kaurava and Pandava brothers training under Drona, Arjuna emerged as the most dedicated, hard working and most naturally talented of them all, exceeding even Drona’s own son Ashwatthama. Arjuna assiduously served his teacher, who was greatly impressed by his devoted pupil. Arjuna surpassed Drona’s expectations in numerous challenges. As a reward, Drona gave Arjuna mantras to invoke the super-powerful divine weapon of Brahma known as Brahmashirshastra, but told Arjuna not to use this invincible weapon against any mortal.

When Arjun, inspired by his brother Bhima’s nocturnal eating, mastered archery in absolute darkness, Drona was moved. Drona was greatly impressed by Arjuna’s concentration, determination, and drive, and promised him that he would become the greatest archer on earth. Drona gave Arjuna the special knowledge of the Dhanurveda due to his capability and zeal to learn the new things.

Education in Archery of the Kauravas and reward

Ekalavya

A criticism against Dronacharya is towards his unkind treatment of Ekalavya. However, it can be argued that Dronacharya was merely abiding by his duty.

Ekalavya, the son of a Nishadha chief, approached Dronacharya seeking his instruction. But since his father was a general under Jarasandh, the ruler of Magadha (an enemy state), Dronacharya refused to train him alongside Kauravas and Panadavas. Undeterred, Ekalavya began study and practice by himself, having fashioned a clay idol of Dronacharya’s to watch over his training. Solely by his determination, Ekalavya became an archer of exceptional skill.

One day, Ekalavya’s focus in training was disturbed by the barking of a dog belonging to the Kuru princes. Ekalavya fired arrows that filled up the dog’s mouth without spilling blood or causing injury to the dog. The Kuru princes were amazed by the trick and looked for the archer when they saw Ekalavya, who introduced himself as a pupil of Drona’s. This enraged Arjuna, who accused Ekalavya of treachery and demanded Drona to punish him for illegitimate study. Drona was in a tangle: on the one hand, he greatly admired Ekalavya’s skill and dedication; on the other hand, Ekalavya had indeed been training as his pupil without his consent, albeit being guided only by his idol. To resolve the matter, Drona accepted Ekalavya as his student, but demanded the thumb on his dominant hand as gurudakshina, or teacher’s payment, in order to limit his abilities and further growth in archery, thus pacifying Arjuna. Ekalavya, being an exemplary disciple, immediately cut off his thumb and presented it at Drona’s feet. Moved by Ekalavya’s sacrifice, Drona blessed him to attain mastery even without his thumb.

Demonstration by the pupils

Dhritarashtra approved the demonstration of weapon-game by the princess. An arena was prepared. Drona entered the arena. Drona worshiped the gods as a form of preparatory rites. Then he invited the brahmins to bless his disciples. After that the students gave gold, precious stones, clothes and other valuables to the teacher. The teacher blessed him. With this the demonstration started. The mock fight turned into a serious fight. Drona sent Ashwatthama who separated them. Arjuna’s performance was of the best kind and the audience and the teachers were amazed by his extraordinary ability. Karna also showed his performance.

Drona’s Revenge

After Drona completed the formal training of the Kuru princes, he demanded that they invade Panchala and bring him Drupada as their Gurudakshina. Arjuna succeeds in defeating Drupada and brings the captured king to Drona. Drona reminds Drupada about their days of friendship and his false promise before taking away half of the Panchala kingdom. Drona would make Ashwatthama the king of the annexed half of the Panchala kingdom. This action would lead Drupada to perform a sacrificial yagna in order to beget a son who would kill Drona. The sages Upayaja and Yaja helped him to beget such a son Dhrishtadyumna. The sacrificial fire also yielded a daughter, Draupadi.

Weapons of Drona

Droṇa got the entire armoury of Paraśurāma. Parashurama imparted knowledge of celestial weapons to Drona along with the mantra of invocation and withdrawal of weapons. He had a huge range of weapons like Bhargava, Brahmastra, Brahmsira, Vaishnava,etc. Drona held the invincible sword of Lord Brahma. Bhishma once told the story of this sword to Pandava prince Nakula. This sword was the primordial weapon created by the gods for the destruction of evil. The name of the sword was Asi, the personification and the primary energy behind all the weapons ever created. As per Bhishma, the constellation under which the sword was born is called Krittika, Agni is its deity, Rohini is its Gotra, Rudra is its high preceptor and whoever holds this weapon obtains victory for sure.

Role in the Kurukshetra War

Dronacharya had been the preceptor of most kings involved in the Kurukshetra War, on both sides. Dronacharya strongly condemned Duryodhana exiling the Pandavas, as well as the Kauravas’ general abuse towards the Pandavas. But being a servant of Hastinapura, Dronacharya was duty-bound to fight for the Kauravas, and thus against his favorite Pandavas. After the fall of Bhishma on the tenth day, he became the Chief Commander of the Kuru army on 11th day of war.

Duryodhana manages to convince Drona to try to end the war by capturing Yudhishthira. Though he killed hundreds and thousands of Pandava soldiers, Drona failed to capture Yudhishthira on days eleven and twelve of the war, as Arjuna was always there to repel his advances.

Abhimanyu’s killing

On the 13th day of battle, Dronacharya formed the Chakravyuha strategy to capture Yudhishtira, knowing that only Arjuna and Krishna would know how to penetrate it. The Trigartas were distracting Arjuna and Krishna into another part of the battlefield, allowing the main Kuru army to surge through the Pandava ranks.

Unknown to many, Arjuna’s young son Abhimanyu had the knowledge to penetrate the formation but did not know the way out. At the request of Yudhishthira, Abhimanyu agreed to lead the way for the Pandava army and was able to penetrate the formation. However, he was trapped when Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu, held the Pandava warriors who were following him, at bay. Abhimanyu did not know how to get out of the Chakravyuha, but embarked upon an all-out attack on the Kuru army, killing tens of thousands of warriors single-handedly. Drona is impressed with Abhimanyu and praises him endlessly, earning the ire of Duryodhana. With his army facing decimation and spurred on by Duryodhana’s criticisms, Drona asked the Kaurava warriors to simultaneously attack Abhimanyu, to strike down his horses and his charioteer and to disable his chariot from different angles. Left without support, Abhimanyu began fighting from the ground. Exhausted after his long, prodigious feats, Abhimanyu was eventually killed.

After that, several who fought against Abhimanyu were criticized for their murder, such as Bhurishrava, Drona, or Karna.

Fourteenth Day

The devious murder of his son enraged Arjuna, who swore to kill Jayadratha the next day or immolate himself. Drona constructed 3 combined vyuhas to protect Jayadratha, first was the Shakata vyuha then was Padma Vyuha and last was the Srigantaka vyuha and at its rear was Jayadratha and stood at the head of the box formation or shakata vyuha

In the early part of the day, Arjuna and he duel, and Arjuna is unable to bypass his preceptor. With Krishna’s prodding, Arjuna circumvents Drona. When Duryodhana rages at Drona, Drona replies and that he intends to capture Yudhishthira while Arjuna is away and would only hasten their victory. In a notable battle, Drona attempts to capture Yudhishthira but is stopped by Dhristadyumna. Drona severely wounds his friend’s son, disarming him and forcing him to retreat. When he attempts to chase after Dhristadyumna, he is checked by Satyaki, who insults his teacher’s teacher and issues a challenge. Their combat is described as fierce and despite being able to hold off Drona for several hours, Satyaki eventually tires and has to be rescued by the Upapandavas.

Later in the day, Yudhishthira sends Satyaki to aid Arjuna. When Satyaki comes upon Drona, he circumvents him, saying he must follow in his teacher’s footsteps. When Yudhishthira later sends Bhima, Drona recounts what happened with Arjuna and Satyaki, and hence makes sure he does not allow Bhima also to circumvent him. Angrily rebuking him, Bhima shatters Drona’s chariot with his mace. Drona takes up another chariot, only for Bhima to smash that one as well. In total, Bhima smashes eight of Drona’s chariots and is able to bypass his guru.

Death

On the 14th night (as the kuravas were not ready to stop) of the Mahabharata war, Drona is instigated by Duryodhana’s remarks of being a traitor as he was not able to protect Jaidrath. Sensing his end is near, he used the Brahmastra against the common Pandava soldiers. At that moment, all the Sapta Ṛṣis appeared on the sky and requested Drona to retract this ultimate weapon used on ordinary soldiers. Dronacharya obeyed, retracting the weapon. The rishis continue and berate Drona for violating the rules of war, criticizing him for using divine weapons so indiscriminately. Drona reiterates that he is sworn to do all he can to protect Hastinapur, and that, moreover, he wants to do so for all that Dhritarashtra has given him.

On that day, Drona kills many Pandava soldiers, including Virat in arrow-play and Drupada in a sword fight. Lamenting the deterioration of their friendship, Drona pays his respect to Drupada’s corpse.

Knowing it would be impossible to defeat an armed Drona, Krishna suggested the Pandavas a plan to disarm their teacher. His idea was that Bhima first kill an elephant named Ashwatthama, and then claim to Dronacharya that he has killed Dronacharya’s son with the same name. After killing the elephant, Bhima loudly proclaimed that he had killed “Ashwatthama”. Disbelieving him, Drona approached Yudhishthira, knowing of Yudhishthira’s firm adherence to Dharma and honesty. When Dronacharya asked for the truth, Yudhishthira responded with the cryptic “Ashwatthama is dead. But the elephant and not your son.” Krishna also knew that it would be impossible for Yudhishthira to lie outright. So under his instructions, the other warriors blew trumpets and conchs, raising a tumultuous noise in such a way that Dronacharya only heard that “Ashwatthama was dead”, and could not hear the latter part of Yudhishthira’s reply. In other versions of the story, it is told that: Yudhishthira was just not loud enough in purpose when he spoke the latter part of his words, or that Drona, in grief, simply could not process the latter part of Yudhishthira’s statement.