Drona was known as Dronacharya, acharya meaning teacher and he was the teacher of the Pandava and Kaurava princes in Mahabharata, the epic written by Veda Vyasa.
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Dronacharya was the son of sage Bharadwaja. It is believed that he was gestated in a vessel, droon, so the name Drona. Drona childhood days was spent in poverty and he studied religion and military arts with the prince of Panchala, Drupada. Drupada and Drona became good friends and Drupada promised half his kingdom when he became the king of Panchala. Drona married Kripi, the sister of the royal teacher of Hastinapura, Kripa. They had a son Aswathama. Drona heard that Parasurama was giving his knowledge and skills away but by the time Drona approached Parasurama, he had nothing to offer Drona. So Parasurama taught him the military skills. Dronasoon became a master in military arts including divine weapons and missiles. However his poverty continued and he remembered Drupada’s promise and went to Panchala. He was humiliated by Drupada, now a king, saying that a poor man and a king could never be friends and that his childhood promise would not be upheld. Drona left the palace, vowed revenge in his heart. He then tried his luck in Hastinapura and sought help with Dhritharashtra, the blind king. On his way back from the palace he saw that the royal princes Pandavas and Kauravas were trying to retrieve a ball from a well. Drona retrieved the ball from the well making a chain with blades of grass. Seeing this, the princes excitedly told the story to King Dhritharashtra and soon Drona was appointed the official teacher of martial arts for the princes. In the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Drona was the commander-in-chief of the army from the 11th day to the 15th day. He was a mighty soldier and could not be vanquished.He was killed in the Mahabhartha war with a lie. Yudhishtira, the eldest of Pandavas and an honest person confirmed the death of Ashwatama,Drona’s son. Hearing this Drona gave up his life on the 15th day of the war.
Philosophy Propounded
Preceptors of that period followed the path of Karma, Bhakthi and Gnana- action, devotion and knowledge. Dronacharya was no different but he was not a sage just a teacher. So he followed his calling of teaching warfare and not a philosophy of life.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Since there was no philosophy of life per se for Drona, his warfare skills can be taken up. He knew all the mantras to invoke the deadliest of weapons. However there are many instances where he did things which seemed totally unjust. A boy called Ekalavya learnt the art of archery hiding behind the trees while Drona taught the young princes. As a punishment and in the form of fees he asked Ekalavya to give his thumb. Without the thumb an archer is useless and with this act he ensured that Arjuna was the best archer of the times. During the war, when he was the commander he resorted to unfair means of killing unarmed soldiers with powerful weapons. He was also responsible for killing Abhimanyu who was unarmed. All these unfair practises of Dronaformed a slur on an otherwise luminous preceptor of Hastinapura.
