The Downfall of Dronacharya

The famed Guru of the Pandavas- Dronacharya was the son of the hermit Bharadwaj. Once when he heard that Parasurama was giving away wealth and places he had taken from the Kshatriyas, Drona too went to meet him. At that time only weapons were left with Parasurama who had already given away the rest of the loot. Parasurama not only gifted the weapons to Drona but also taught him the art of weaponry and how to use them. This helped Drona in later years when he became the guru of the Kauravas and Pandavas.
Once Drona went to meet King Drupada who was his classmate and good friend. But King Drupada refused to accept a poor man as his friend and insulted him. Drona had visited Drupada with the intention of spreading his knowledge with the next generation and thought his friend would help him in this endeavour and together they could make a difference in the lives of youngsters. But that was not to be. Saddened by this, Drona returned to Krupacharya along with his wife (Krupacharya’s sister) and son Ashwathama.
Hearing about Drona’s prowess with weapons Bheeshma approached Drona to teach the Pandavas and Kauravas. Though Drona taught the Pandavas and Kauravas, he showed special interest in Ashwathama and trained him to be a good archer. Arjuna noticed this and wanted to be the supreme disciple of Drona. One day while having food in the dark as the lights went out, Arjuna wondered that when one could so easily eat in the dark the same way one could practice archery in the dark. This paved way for him to practice archery even in the dark and with his hardwork and became the most skilled archer. Thus he became the special pupil of Drona. So in the end when they were passing out of Drona’s
school, as gurudakshina (fees) Drona demanded that Arjuna defeat King Drupada and bring him before Drona. Arjuna defeated and brought King Drupada before Drona. Drona told Drupada “You said you would be friends only with a king. Now that I have your kingdom in my hands I am a king too, would you care to be friends with me now?” Duly insulted Drupada returned to his kingdom. He wanted to avenge this insult so he began propitiating Lord Agni through a yagna. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Agni presents him with a son Drishtadyumna.
When the Mahabharata war commenced, Drona led the Kaurava army. He proclaimed that he would not kill Drupada or Dhrishtadyumna who were on the Pandava side. However, with his different skills in warfare, Drona used the chakravyuh and the Padmavyuh and other tricks to defeat the Pandava army. Seeing that Drona was using trickery to quell the pandavas, the hermits went and told him not to use trickery and that he should return with them from the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Krishna thought that until Ashwathama was in the battlefield things will not go right for the Pandavas. So he asked Bheema to kill Ashwathama. He also asked Yudhishtra to shout “Ashwathama has been killed” . Hearing that his son had been killed, Drona dropped his weapons. Seizing this moment Dhrishtadyumna killed Drona.
This story is teaches one that anger led to the downfall of a friendship. If Drona had let bygones be bygones Drupada would have not killed Drona, who chose anger over love.

Advertisement