Mahabharatam WebSeries in Telugu Episode-15 (Educational and war training of Kauravas and Pandavas) | సంపూర్ణ మహాభారతం భాగం-15 (కౌరవపాండవ విద్యాభ్యాసం) | Maheedhar’s Planet Leaf (MPlanetLeaf) In the epic Mahabharata, Drona or Dronacharya or Guru Drona or Rajaguru Devadrona was the royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandavas; an avatar of Brihaspati. He is the friend of Guru Sukracharya, the teacher for Asura Mahabali. He was the son of rishi Bharadwaja and a descendant of the sage Angirasa. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras. For the sake of his wife and son, Drona desired freedom from poverty. Remembering a childhood promise given by Drupada, he decided to approach him to ask for help. However, King Drupada refused to even recognize their friendship, saying friendship was possible only between persons of equal stature in life. As a child, he said, it was possible for him to be friends with Drona, because at that time they were equals. But now Drupada had become a king, while Dronacharya remained a luckless indigent. However, he said he would satisfy Dronacharya if he asked for alms befitting a Brahmin, rather than claiming his right as a friend. Drona went away silently, but in his heart he vowed revenge. Drona decides to continue Parashurama’s legacy by starting his own school. He uproots his family and begins wandering Northern India. While at Hastinapur, he comes across the Kuru princes at play, and is able to use his abilities to help the princes solve some of their problems. Amazed, the princes go to their patriarch Bhisma with news of this magician. Bhishma instantly realized that this was Drona, and asked him to become the Guru of the Kuru princes, training them in advanced military arts. Of all the Kaurava and Pandava brothers training under Drona, Arjuna emerged as the most dedicated, hard-working and most naturally talented of them all, exceeding even Drona’s own son Ashwatthama. Arjuna assiduously served his teacher, who was greatly impressed by his devoted pupil. Arjuna surpassed Drona’s expectations in numerous challenges. As a reward, Drona gave Arjuna mantras to invoke the super-powerful divine weapon of Brahma known as Brahmastra, but told Arjuna not to use this invincible weapon against any ordinary warrior. When Arjuna, inspired by his brother Bhima’s nocturnal eating, mastered archery in absolute darkness, Drona was moved. Drona was greatly impressed by Arjuna’s concentration, determination, and drive, and promised him that he would become the greatest archer on earth. Drona gave Arjuna special knowledge of the divine Astras. Drona was partial especially to Arjuna and Ashwatthama. Drona dearly loved his son Ashwatthama and as a guru, he loved Arjuna more than anyone. A strong criticism of Dronacharya springs from his behavior towards Ekalavya and his strong bias in favor of Arjuna. Ekalavya was the son of a Nishadha chief , who came to Dronacharya for instruction. Dronacharya refused to train him along with the kshatriya princes because Ekalavya was not a kshatriya prince. In addition, Eklavya’s father was a commander of the Kingdom of Magadha, which was ruled by Emperor Jarasandha. At that time, Jarasandha had been building an empire in East-India; relations between Hastinapur and Magadha were rough. Drona feared that Eklavya would have become an unconquerable warrior for a rival army and felt an obligation to defend the land that gave him asylum, even at the cost of teacher-student ethics. Hence Drona rejected the request of Eklavya to be his teacher. Ekalavya began study and practice by himself, having fashioned a clay image of Dronacharya. Solely by his determination, Ekalavya became a warrior of exceptional prowess, with abilities to be better than the young Arjuna. One day, a dog’s barking disturbed a focused Ekalavya. Without looking, Ekalavya fire