Drona: Teacher of Warfare

The story of why the best teacher of Vedic culture was named Drona is a fantastic one.

Legend has it that Bharadwaja, the great seer, while having bath, once saw an Apsara, a celestial beauty named Gritachi, having a bath at the same spot. It was one of the rare occasions when even a saint of his standing couldn’t restrain his desire, and as a result, some of his seed found a way out of his body. Bharadwaja collected that seed and put it in a pot. Out of that pot was born a powerful son and because, he was born out of such a vessel, Bharadwaja named him Drona. Well, that’s the fantastic story, so let’s leave it at that. Let us turn to what that son did in his life, as that is more instrumental and, perhaps, more amenable to analysis.

Drona, though technically a brahmin, was interested more in warfare. Therefore, not only did he learn the scriptures at his father’s hermitage, but also became adept in the use and teaching of weapons and warfare. Agnivesh, another disciple of Bharadwaja, was his teacher and Drona learnt all he could from him. Drona is also said to have learnt the art of celestial weapons from Parashuram, thereby elevating him to a different league of teachers altogether.

At his father’s hermitage, he had a very good friend named Dhrupad. They were so close that while studying together, Dhrupad promised Drona that he will share everything he gets in life with him. This promise of childhood and, more importantly, hanging on to it, like so many other promises in the epic, turned out be instrumental in the life and eventual death of Drona.

Now it so happened that after they grew up, Drona and Dhrupad went their own ways but found themselves at different levels of stature in life. Dhrupad was a Kshatriya and became the King of Panchala, while Drona, though not a renunciant, ended up becoming a householder brahmin teacher, who found it difficult to make ends meet.

Drona married Kripi, the sister of Kripacharya, another exalted teacher of Hastinapur and had a son, Ashwatthama. One fine day, Drona saw other boys make fun of Ashwatthama as he couldn’t afford to drink milk, and that shook Drona out of his poor, hand to mouth existence. If not for himself, he felt he deserved to do better for his family. As a brahmin, he was no longer interested in living on alms, and proceeded to Panchala to remind his dear childhood friend Dhrupad of the promise he had made. Drona felt he was entitled to half the Panchala kingdom as per the promise, which was a tall expectation. But at the very least, he felt he deserved a generous maintenance from Dhrupad.

To his utter dismay and surprise, Dhrupad didn’t entertain any such requests. As such, Dhrupad was not an evil king nor was Drona an evil or materialistic man. But like so many other characters in the epic, they were not perfect and had their weak moments. Dhrupad hadn’t accounted for half his kingdom going away just due to a childhood promise he had long forgotten. Drona hung on to that promise obstinately. In the angry melee of arguments, Dhrupad insulted Drona saying that the promise was made when they were equals, and now that they weren’t equals, there was no obligation for him to keep that promise. At best, as a King who offers charity to brahmins, he could offer some charity to Drona so that he doesn’t die of poverty.

Drona wasn’t looking for charity. He got enraged and walked off warning Dhrupad that he will have to pay for this insult. Dhrupad neglected him but the furious Drona walked out with anger and revenge embedded in his heart. As it turned out, Drona reached Hastinapur looking for means of livelihood for his skills in warfare and teaching. When he reached there, he saw the five pandavas and the hundred kauravas playing with a ball. The ball had fallen in a well and the kids were distraught on how to get it back and resume play.

Drona saw it as an opportunity to display his amazing skills. He asked the princes if they could provide him food if he taught them how to get the ball out. At that point, it was Yudhishthira who promised Drona that not only could he arrange for food, but also take care of his maintenance for life. Much pleased, Drona caught hold of a few blades of grass. Using fantastic skills and chants, he threw them one after another, starting with the first one piercing into the ball. To the prince’s utter surprise, the blades of grass stuck to each other forming a rope which Drona then pulled and got the ball out. He then repeated a similar trick on his own ring and the princes were astonished.

They ran towards Bheeshma, their grandsire and father figure, and told him all about it. In a sense, Drona and Bheeshma knew about each other due to their common teacher Parashuram. Bheeshma instantly recognized Drona and requested him to take up the role of the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas, and to turn them into fierce and skilled warriors that Hastinapur needed. Drona was more than pleased and thus the greatest teacher of Vedic times, Dronacharya, made a start.

It is said that Dronacharya’s school was on the outskirts of the kingdom and, in present day geography, corresponds to Gurugram. Students from far and wide across the world, princes of prestigious kingdoms made a beeline at Dronacharya’s school, as his reputation grew by leaps and bounds.

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