The epic Mahabharta is the source of information about life of Drona. The Mahabharta which is the longest epic poem in the world, consists of nearly 1, 00,000 slokas or Sanskrit verses. ACK #57 (565)
DRONA. 'A bucket'. A Brahman so named from his having been generated by his father, Bharadwaja, in a bucket.
He married Kripa, half-sister of Bhishma, and by her was father of Aswatthaman. He was acharya, or teacher of the military art, both to the Kaurava and Pandava princes, and so he was called Dronacharya.
He had been slighted by Drupada, king of Panchala, and became his enemy. Through the instrumentality of the Pandavas he made Drupada prisoner, and took from him half of his kingdom; but he spared his life and gave him back the other half of his country. But the old animosity rankled, and ended in the death of both.
In the Great War Drona sided with the Kauravas, and after the death of Bhishma he became their commander-in-chief. On the fourth day of his command he killed Drupada, and in his turn he was unfairly slain in combat by Dhrishtadyumna, who had sworn to avenge his father's death.
In the midst of this combat Drona was told that his son was dead, which so unnerved him that he laid down his arms and his opponent decapitated him. But Drona was a Brahman and an Acharya, and the crime of killing him was enormous, so it is glossed over by the statement that Drona "transported himself to heaven in a glittering state like the sun, and Dhrishtadyumna decapitated merely his lifeless body."
Drona was also called Kutaja. The common meaning of Kuta is 'mountain-top', but one of its many other meanings is 'water-jar'. His patronymic is Bharadwaja.
(~ From www.mythfolklore.net)
Recommend to read an article about Drona at rajaputhran.sulekha.com.
Some more details are available at Wikipedia, www.experiencefestival.com, www.geocities.com.
This Amar Chitra Katha is contributed by Shailendra Rao.
5 comments:
Thanks Prabhat and Shailendra....This is another childhood favourite of mine!
JP: Welcome! Really it's a great illustration. But I was little disappointed with new colour. I remember old version, that was more attractive.
thanks to mr.shailendra rao and prabhat. my feelings exactly prabhat as far as the colour scheme goes. as a kid, i have read the drona ACK and frankly, the new colouring sucks. it looks very very amateurish.
i really liked the old one
Thanks for the upload, Prabhat and Shailendra Rao.
Yes, the colors are a bit disappointing and it does not seem like an ACK:(...
Regards,
Demonoid Fan
Apoorva Chandar & Demonoid Fan: I hope the publisher will return to original colour & keep this quality of paper. In new version paper quality is better than earlier.
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