Drona

In the epic Mahabharata, Droṇa (Sanskrit: द्रोण, Droṇa) or Droṇāchārya or Guru Droṇa or Rajaguru Devadroṇa was the 3rd incarnation of Brahma and was royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandavas; an avatar of Brihaspati. He was a friend of Guru Sukracharya, the guru of Asuras, including Mahabali. He was the son of rishi Bharadwaja and a descendant of sage Angirasa. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras.He was also second commander in chief of kaurava army from 11th day to 15th day .He was failed 4 times in capturing Yudhisthira (11th ,12th day ,14th day when Arjuna was busy fighting to kill Jaydratha and 14th Night .

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

Drona
Mahabharata character
Drona, the second Commander-in-chief of Kaurava Army
In-universe information
FamilyBharadwaja (father)
SpouseKripi
ChildrenAshwatthama
RelativesGarga (half-brother)
Ilavida (half-sister), Katyayini (half-sister), Kripa (brother in law)
DisciplesPandavas and Kauravas

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 baby boy developed who was named Drona as he was born in a pot.[1]
Drona spent his childhood in his father's Ashrama. There he met Drupada, the prince of Panchala. They became best friends and Drupada promised Drona that he would give him anything. They studied together under Bharadwaj.[2]

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

Insult of Drona

Once, 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 promised. 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 saying that how can a beggar be his friend. This outraged Drona and he wanted to take revenge from Drupada.[3]

Analysis and modern assessment

Drona's demand of guru dakshina from Ekalavya, in the form of his right thumb, is also scrutinized. In some folklore, Saraswati cursed Dronacharya with an unarmed and humiliating death for Drona's actions. Saraswati said that knowledge belonged to all, and that it was an acharya's duty to spread that knowledge everywhere.[4] Despite whatever reasons he gave, Drona cheated Ekalavya and Karna to achieve something for himself-to protect his promise to Arjuna that he would make Arjuna the world's greatest archer, as well as his oath to Hastinapur.

Drona was somewhat parallel to Bhishma both in martial powers, and, compelled by the refuge they had given him, in his unwavering commitment to fighting for Hastinapur irrespective of who the ruler was and whether or not the cause was just. Like Bhishma, Drona is criticized for his pride and conceit, siding with adharma despite knowing of and acknowledging the righteousness of the Pandava cause. Krishna criticized this reasoning as mere pride-Drona wanted to put his obligation to Hastinapur over dharma so that no one questioned his honor.[5]

Dronacharya was criticized for many of his actions during the war:[5]

  • First, as a Brahmin, and secondly, as the princes' teacher, he should have removed himself from the battlefield.
  • Dronacharya tried to use Brahmastra , celestial powerful weapons against the Pandavas' common foot-soldiers. But when Lord Krishna stopped him, Drona argued that his first obligation was to defeating his enemy and defending his soldiers, by whatever means he possessed.
  • His responsibility for the devious and brutal murder of Abhimanyu, as he was the Kaurava army chief at the time.
  • Symbol of casteism: As Drona asked Ekalavya to cut off his right thumb as Guru Dakshina (fee for teacher). Ekalavya cut off his thumb and presented it as Gurudakshina to Dronacharya. In reality, he was not a teacher of Eklavya, still he asked right thumb from an archer.

Droncharya's overarching actions during the war are portrayed differently. When he became commander-in-chief, the rules of war were averted. Divine weapons were used against ordinary soldiers, war continued throughout the night, warriors no longer engaged each other one-on-one, etc. Specifically, he was willing to try to end the war by capturing Yudhishthira, while Karna was not, as he considered it lacking honor. He is compared directly to Karna, who, not even knowing that he was a kshatriya, still intuitively understood the kshatriya code/way-of-life. In other versions, Drona's differences in strategy are shown as a difference in philosophy- Drona believed, that as the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army, his goal was to ensure the protection of his soldiers through any means necessary. By choosing to uphold the rules of war and the concept of honorable acts over his soldiers' lives, he would be doing them a disservice.[5]

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.[6]

It is believed that the city of Gurgaon (literally - "Village of the Guru") was founded as "Guru Gram" by Dronacharya on land given to him by Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapura 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.[7] Indian Government (Haryana), on 12 April 2016 decided to reinstate and change the name of Gurgaon to 'Gurugram'.

See also

References

Sources

Citations
  1. Vishnu Purana -Drauni or Asvathama as Next saptarishi Retrieved 2015-02-15
  2. Ganguly The Mahabharata Retrieved 2015-02-15
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20110713024835/http://www.india-intro.com/religion/mahabharat/210-mahabharat-the-story-of-drona-teacher-of-kauravas-and-pandavas.html The Story of Drona - the Teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas
  4. K M Ganguly(1883-1896). The Mahabharata, Book 7 Drona Parva sacred-texts.com, October 2003, Retrieved 2016-08-29
  5. Brodbeck, Simon. The Mahābhārata Patriline: Gender, Culture, and the Royal Hereditary. Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2009. Print.
  6. Dronacharya Award
  7. Gurgaon History Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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