Author: samrudhi

After the completion of the yajna (sacrificial fire), the sages Yaja and Upayaja invited Prishati to consume the sacrificial offering. However, Prishati, who was chewing saffron paste, refused and asked them to wait until she had bathed and washed her mouth.

Seeing Prishati abruptly leave the yajna, Sage Yaja fumed with anger and poured the entire sacrificial offering into the fire. The flames blazed brightly, as if something were emerging from them.

A young man, clad in radiant armor and holding weapons in his hands, emerged from the fire. A divine celestial voice proclaimed that he was born to slay Dronacharya, and the Brahmanas named him Dhrishtadyumna, meaning “bold with glory.”

Soon after, a stunningly beautiful young maiden arose from the fire, and a divine celestial voice proclaimed that she would be the cause of the destruction of adharma and the Kauravas.

The young maiden was named Krishna, because of her dark complexion. She was also known as Panchali (princess of Panchala) and Draupadi (daughter of Drupada).

After the Kuru princes demonstrated their skills, it was time for them to pay gurudakshina to Dronacharya.
Dronacharya, who wanted to avenge himself against the King of Panchala, Drupada, asked the Kuru princes to seize him and bring him captive.
The Kauravas and Pandavas together went to defeat Drupada, the King of Panchala. Arjuna captured Drupada and brought him to Dronacharya.
Dronacharya reminded Drupada of their old friendship and the promise that Drupada had once made.
Dronacharya, then annexed half of the Panchala kingdom, as promised, and crowned Ashwatthama as the King of the annexed territory.

Drupada, unable to bear the insult, wished for a son who would avenge him by slaying Dronacharya.
To beget such a son, Drupada approached two sages, who initially refused but later agreed to perform a yajna (sacrificial fire ritual).

Drupada along with his wife Prishati, began a yagna (a sacrificial fire), with the help of two sages, Yaja and Upayaja.

A young man named Karna interrupted Dronacharya and claimed that the declaration Dronacharya had made was false.

He then requested permission to demonstrate his skills, and with Drona’s approval, he performed. The crowd went berserk with amazement. Kunti, who was among the audience, recognized Karna as her son, whom she had once abandoned.

Later, Karna challenged Arjuna to a duel, but he was stopped by Kripacharya, who questioned him about his background. Karna revealed that he was the son of the charioteer Adhiratha and his wife Radha. Since he was a Suta (son of a charioteer), he was deemed unworthy to fight against a Kshatriya.

As he turned to leave, Duryodhana stopped him, and, with King Dhritarashtra’s permission, declared Karna the King of Anga.

Karna promised Duryodhana that he would always remain a loyal friend and serve as a shield to Duryodhana and his brothers.

However, the duel between Karna and Arjuna was halted, as the sun had already set.

After 13 years, the Kuru princes had finally completed their training under Dronacharya. To showcase their talents, Dronacharya organized a grand tournament. Everyone from Hastinapur gathered to witness the event, including Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, and Bhishma.

Each Kuru prince had specialized in a particular weapon of warfare. Yudhishthira excelled in the use of the spear, Arjuna in archery, Sahadeva in the sword, and Nakula in the axe. Bhima and Duryodhana, excelled in the use of the mace.

One by one, the princes demonstrated their skills. Soon, Bhima and Duryodhana began a mock fight, which escalated into a serious duel, which was stopped by Ashwatthama upon Dronacharya’s order.

Later, Arjuna came forward and presented his skills, Dronacharya pleased by this, declared that Arjuna is the greatest archer in the world. But Dronacharya was interrupted by a young man, named Karna, who argued that he must not declare something that is false.

The child Kunti had placed in a basket was found by Radha, the wife of Adhiratha, a charioteer, who raised Karna as their own son.
Karna was initially trained by Dronacharya alongside the Kuru princes, but Dronacharya refused to teach him the Brahmastra, the divine celestial weapon, as Karna wished to outshine Arjuna. Karna left Dronacharya’s ashram and went to Parashurama.
Since Parashurama taught only Brahmins and Kshatriyas, Karna lied that he was a Brahmin and was trained by Parashurama.

One day, while Parashurama was asleep on Karna’s lap, an insect stung Karna. He endured the pain and did not move in order not to disturb his guru while he slept.

When Parashurama woke up and saw the blood, he questioned Karna, who explained that an insect had stung him.

Realizing that only a Kshatriya could endure such pain, Parashurama grew suspicious, and Karna revealed to him that he was a Suta (the son of a charioteer) and had lied to learn the Brahmastra.
Angered, Parashurama cursed Karna that when he most
needed to use the Brahmastra, he would forget the
mantra to invoke the Brahmastra.

Ekalavya was the son of a Nishadha chief. He requested Dronacharya to train him, but Dronacharya refused, as Ekalavya belonged to a tribe and could not be trained alongside the Kuru princes.

Determined to learn archery, Ekalavya made a clay idol of Dronacharya to supervise him during his training.

One day, while Dronacharya was bathing in a river, he was attacked by a crocodile. Arjuna shot five arrows at the crocodile, saving Dronacharya’s life. Dronacharya promised Arjuna that he would make him the greatest archer.

Later, while Ekalavya was training, a dog belonging to the Kuru princes kept barking and disturbing him. Ekalavya skillfully shot arrows into the dog’s mouth without causing it any injury. The Kuru princes were amazed and Ekalavya introduced himself as a disciple of Dronacharya.

Arjuna felt jealous and in order to keep his promise, Dronacharya, accepted Ekalavya as his disciple but demanded Ekalavya’s right thumb as Guru Dakshina. Ekalavya, without hesitation, severed his thumb and offered it to Dronacharya. This sacrifice forced Ekalavya to give up archery.

All the Kuru princes had excelled in various weapons used in warfare, and Arjuna had mastered the art of archery.
One day, Dronacharya summoned the Kuru princes and challenged them to shoot the eye of a wooden bird placed on a tree.
Yudhisthira went first. Dronacharya asked him, “What do you see?” Yudhisthira replied that he could see the tree, the branch, the bird, and the surroundings. Hearing this, Dronacharya stopped him and asked the next disciple to step forward.
Each prince who came forward gave similar answers and each was sent away by Dronacharya, as he was not satisfied by the answer the princes gave.
Finally, it was Arjuna’s turn. When he was asked the same question, Arjuna confidently replied that, he could see the bird’s eye only, nothing else.
Pleased with Arjuna’s answer, Dronacharya asked him to proceed.
Arjuna carefully aimed and shot the arrow, striking the bird’s eye, thus winning the contest.

Dronacharya left Drupada’s kingdom and vowed to take revenge against him. Kripacharya, the brother of Kripi and the guru of Dhritarashtra, suggested to Dronacharya that he should seek employment in Hastinapur. Dronacharya agreed, and, along with his family and Kripacharya, left for Hastinapur.

After reaching Hastinapur, Drona encountered the Kuru princes and helped them retrieve their ball from a well by tying together stalks of grass. When Bhishma found out about this, he was impressed and appointed Dronacharya as the guru of the Kuru princes (the Kauravas and the Pandavas).

Dronacharya agreed to train the Kuru princes on the condition that, after their training, they would defeat the King of Panchala, Drupada, as Guru Dakshina (a custom where the student offers something to the teacher in exchange for knowledge).
The Kuru princes, along with Ashwatthama, were trained in Dronacharya’s ashram in Hastinapur. All the princes excelled in the use of various weapons of warfare.

Dronacharya, the son of Rishi Bharadwaja, was trained in the ashram of Sage Bharadwaja along with Drupada, the prince of Panchala. Both youngsters became best friends, and Drupada promised Drona that he would give him half of his kingdom.

Years later, Drupada became the king and forgot his promise, while Dronacharya excelled in warfare and married Kripi, the sister of Kripacharya, who had trained Pandu and Dhritarashtra.

Ashwatthama, the son of Dronacharya, had a divine gem on his forehead. Once, he saw his friends drinking milk and wished to drink some too. His friends, playfully, gave him water mixed with flour. Dronacharya felt ashamed, as he could not even afford milk for his son.

Hoping Drupada would help him, Dronacharya went to meet him and asked for his share of the kingdom, as once promised. But Drupada had forgotten about his promise and insulted Dronacharya, saying that someone like him should ask for alms, not a share of the kingdom, and that a king could not befriend someone like him. Angered by the humiliation, Dronacharya wanted Revenge against Drupada.

Shakuni, Gandhari’s brother, hated Bhisma and wanted to avenge against him by destroying the Kuru Dynasty. He hated Bhisma because of 2 reasons, as mentioned in different narratives.

Firstly, Shakuni loved his sister dearly. Gandhari, had always been afraid of darkness, but when she married Dhritarashtra, she blindfolded herself to share his disability.

Secondly, Shakuni saw his brothers and his father die in front of him. Thus, he hated Bhisma for ruining his sister’s life and for killing his father.

After Saubala’s death, Shakuni was released upon his father’s dying request.  Shakuni also had a set of magical dice, which obeyed his orders. These dices were made from his father’s bones, upon his father’s request.

Shakuni was the King of Gandhara but stayed in his sister’s marital home, Hastinapur. When questioned, he would say it was because he loved his sister.