Drona: Epic Characters of Mahabharatha

By Sri Hari

Drona was Sage Bharadwaja's son and the ultimate authority in archery. He learnt the skills of archery and secrets of Agneyastra from Agnivesha, his father's disciple and taught archery only to kshatriyas. His son, Aswathama, was once ridiculed by some rich boys for not being able to afford drinking milk. Being stung by his poor condition, Drona thought of taking up teaching archery to make some money to improve the family's financial condition. He went to Parasurama in order to get some wealth but got some divine weapons and the knowledge of their use and retrieval. In spite of being the best of friends during their stay at the gurukula, King Drupada insulted him when he visited the king in his palace. He became teacher to the Kuru princes among whom Arjuna turned out to be the best. He refused to accept Ekalavya as a student as he belonged to the hunter class but he blessed the boy. The boy excelled so much that the guru himself felt threatened as he had sworn to make Arjuna the best archer. So he asked for Ekalavya's right thumb as gurudakshina. Then, again as gurudakshina, he asked the Kuru princes to bring King Drupada as prisoner. Drona was the commander-in-chief of the Kauravas during the Mahabharatha war. But after losing many great warriors, Duryodhana realized that it was his misfortune that Drona loved the Pandavas so much. Nothing made Drona more sad than to hear his son Aswathama's name being announced as 'No more'. Unable to bear it, he lay down his arms and sat in the rear of his chariot, deep in meditation . His soul left his body and reached Brahmaloka. Dhrishtadyumna could succeed in merely severing Drona's head from his soul-less body.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9788194018551

Book preview

EPIC CHARACTERS OF MAHABHARATHA

Drona

Written by

SriHari

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

Published by:

Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana

C/o. Bharatha Darshana,

163, Manjunatha Road, 2nd Block,

Thyagarajanagar, Bangalure 560 028,

Ph: [phone], [phone]

bharathasamskruthi.com

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FOREWORD

Sri Srirangasadgurave Namah

Sri Vedavyasa’s immortal work, the Mahabharata, is our national epic reflecting like a golden mirror, the internal and external forms of the character and culture prevailing in the land of Bharata from times immemorial. It is hailed as the fifth Veda as it portrays the battle between the demoniac and the divine forces ending in the triumph of the latter, and announces to the whole world the universal truths of life. At places it orders with the tone and tenor of a paramount monarch. At some other places it teaches through stories and episodes and examples like a bosom friend and in some other places it brings home truths in the manner of a sweetheart. It is therefore a Sruti and Smriti and an Itihasa and a Purana and a Kavya, all embodied in one single work. It is an inexhaustible sourcebook for various literary works in Samskrit and local languages. On account of its extraordinary size of 1856 parvas and the weightiness of its contents, it is appropriatly called the Mahabharata. Regarding the exhaustive teaching of the fourfold goals of life recommended by the founders of our culture, it has been rightly announced about this book as follows:

Whatever is found here is found elsewhere and what is not found here is found nowhere else.

We bless the efforts of Bharatha Samskrithi Prakashana to acquaint young minds with the prime characters of the above extraordinary work through these little vibrant volumes. It has derived inspiration from the 32 volumes of the Kannada version of the Mahabharata published by Bharatha Darshana, a premier publishing house, solely dedicated for the cause of the Bharathiya culture. The language of these booklets is very simple and lucid, so as to enter the hearts of the young minds and lead them on to the reading of the original. We hope that the younger generation will be able to analyse and judge these characters in the right perspective, elevate themselves and become good citizens of our nation.

We come across a large number of elderly people also who do not have a correct knowledge of the characters of the great epic. We hope that these little life-sketches based on the original Mahabharata, will serve very useful to them