Dronacharya – The Supreme Master Of Archery
Dronacharya was the son of the great sage Bharadvaja. Being a Brahmana, he learnt the Vedas and became proficient in the Vedic scriptures. However, his special interest was only in Dhanur Vidya. He learnt from his father and also from sage Agnivesa. Drupada, the prince of Panchala kingdom studied with Drona and both became close friends.
Drupada promised Drona that he would give half of his kingdom to Drona once he became the king of Paanchala.
Drona firmly believed that one-day Drupada would duly honour his promise to him. In due course, after completing his studies, Drupada returned to his place. Drona perfectly mastered the art of archery and was later adored as Dronacharya.
Drona married Krupi, the daughter of Saradvan and sister of Krupacharya who was the teacher of martial arts to the young princes at Hastinapura. A son named Asvatthama was born to them. Drona was very loving and caring towards both his son and spouse.
Due to poverty, Drona could not take proper care of them. He thought of acquiring some wealth to maintain the family. At that point in time, Lord Parasurama was distributing all his wealth to the Brahmanas.
Drona came to know about this great act of philanthropy by Parasurama and decided to approach him. Unfortunately, by the time Drona met Parasurama, the latter had already distributed all his wealth and had nothing to give to Drona.
Parasurama felt bad that he could not be of any help to Drona. He thought that he could teach Drona the nuances and secrets of Dhanur Vidya which was so dear to the heart of Drona.
When this opportunity came, Drona was too happy to be taught the martial arts by Parasurama, the great master of all times. Dronacharya now truly deserved to be hailed as Dronacharya, the grandmaster of martial arts. He conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to his preceptor and moved away.
When Dronacharya heard that his dear boyhood friend Drupada had now become the king of Panchala, he remembered the promise made by Drupada to him. He thought of meeting King Drupada. Dronacharya was assuming that Drupada would treat him as his dearest friend and went to meet him. But he was shocked when Drupada pretended not to have known him closely.
Filled with arrogance, ego and pride, he said that there could not be any friendship between a royal king and an ordinary beggar-like Brahmana. He taunted that friendship could be there only between the equals. Deeply hurt by the harsh words and the insult heaped on him by King Drupada, Dronacharya took the vow to teach Drupada a befitting lesson that he would never forget in his life.
Dronacharya decided to go to Krupacharya, his brother-in-law in search of a suitable livelihood commensurate with his knowledge and stature. He started going towards Hastinapur. At that time the young princes of the royal family of Hastinapur were playing with a Ball. Suddenly the Ball fell into the nearby well.
When the princes tried to retrieve the Ball from the well, Dronacharya was passing by that place. He threw his ring into the well. As the water in the well was crystal clear, both the Ball and the ring were visible. He asked the princes whether they could not take both of them out of the well. The princes tried hard to take them out of the well but could not succeed. Yudhishthir replied that they would be grateful if Dronacharya could help them in this regard.
Dronacharya took a blade of grass and recited a mantra and the blade of glass hit and held the ball tightly. In the same manner he made a long chain of grass blades tightly coupled with the Ball. He then took the Ball easily out of the well. Using a bow and arrow, Dronacharya shot an arrow and brought the ring also out of the well.
All the princes were amazed at the archery skills of Dronacharya. They bowed before him in respect and asked him who he was and what they could do for him. Dronacharya asked them to go to Bhishma and inform him what had transpired and he would tell about him. When Bhishma heard about the happening, he could immediately understand it was Dronacharya. He decided immediately that Dronacharya should be the fittest master to train the princes in archery and martial arts.
Accordingly, Dronacharya was received with all royal honours and he was made the teacher of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
When Dronacharya started teaching archery to the princes, Arjuna was the only student who readily agreed to complete the mission that Dronacharya had in mind once the studies were duly completed.
As days passed on, Arjuna proved his proficiency in dhanurveda and became the dearest disciple of Dronacharya. He learnt many nuances of the art of archery along with Asvatthama from Dronacharya. Arjuna could hit any target even in total darkness. The fame of Dronacharya spread far and wide. Many aspiring students wished to learn archery at his feet.
When Arjuna and others saw the superior archery skills of Ekalavya in the forest who had Dronacharya as his Manasic Guru and worshipped his image, Arjuna was greatly disturbed. When Arjuna told this to Dronacharya, he met Ekalavya in the forest and demanded his left thumb as Guru Dakshina. Ekalavya readily offered it. Even then Ekalavya had great archery skills but next only to Arjuna.
Once Dronacharya went to the Ganges along with his disciples to take a bath, A big crocodile caught hold of his leg and he was unable to extricate himself. Seeing his beloved Guru in danger, Arjuna immediately killed the crocodile with his powerful arrows and released Dronacharya.
Immensely pleased by the act of Arjuna, Dronacharya taught Arjuna how to use Brahmasirastra. He cautioned him to use it only against those superior to humans. Later on, by shooting an artificial bird placed by Dronacharya at a distance atop a tree for testing the archery skills, Arjuna demonstrated his prowess among all the princes.
As time passed on, Arjuna became the foremost of the disciples of Dronacharya with top-notch archery skills. Yudhishthira proved to be an expert in chariotfighting. Bhima and Duryodhana acquired mastery in the usage of Gadayudha. Both of them possessed great bodily strength. Nakula and Sahadeva acquired extraordinary skills in sword-fighting. Other Kauravas too developed proficiency in the various forms of martial arts.
Bhima used his immense muscular strength to defeat the Kauravas on many occasions. Duryodhana and his brothers became very envious of the superior martial skills of the Pandavas and used every available opportunity to denounce and insult the Pandavas directly as well as indirectly. Duryodhana was deeply worried that despite the fact that the sons of Dhritarashtra are one hundred in number, they felt threatened by the Pandavas who were just five only in number. Thus, the Kauravas developed continued hatred and enmity towards the Pandavas.
The martial arts training of the Pandavas and the Kauravas was about to conclude. Dronacharya decided to test the skills of his students and took the blessings of Bhishma and the permission of King Dhritarashtra to hold the demonstration in public.
Both the Pandavas and Kauravas were engrossed in a series of mock exercises to demonstrate their respective skills in martial arts before the public. An auspicious date was fixed and elaborate arrangements were made in the arena chosen for the public demonstration. All the people of Hastinapur were too eager and excited to watch the martial skills of their princes.
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