Bharadwaja
was a Brahmin and a great sage. Our tales of the great Drona
begin with
Bharadwaja, his father.
Bharadwaja, studying the ways of the Vedas in the sacred texts, was living as a hermit near the mighty Ganges river, in the kingdom of Panchala.
There was a certain day when Bharadwaja woke up feeling much younger and healthier than usual. It was as if he had slept for several years and somehow turned back his age. It normally took him several minutes to get out of bed and get around. But on this day, he practically sprang from his bed and went straight outside.
He was not at all surprised to find that Surya, the god of the sun, was beaming brighter and warmer than Bharadwaja had seen or felt in a long time. He assumed it was a blessing from Surya that he felt so youthful and vibrant. So he spent a couple of hours in meditative thanks to the sun god. Little did he know the destiny that awaited him that day.
Later that day, Bharadwaja went looking for ways to expel his energy. It was not every day he felt like this and he was not going to see it wasted sitting and reading. So he decided to go down to the river Ganges and swim in the refreshing waters.
Bhardwaja made himself naked and jumped right into the cold mountain water. He was so giddy he laughed all the while as he swam back and forth across the rushing water. An hour or so passed and Bharadwaja came up on to the bank to have a meal.
Bharadwaja’s snack was interrupted by what he seemed to think was singing. He stopped eating, and went to follow the glorious sound of this mystery voice, still clutching his food bowl. Nearly ten minutes of walking through tall brush finally lead him to a small pool on his side of the river. Much to his delight, the owner of the heavenly voice happened to be the most beautiful of the apsaras, those celestial dancing women. Her name was Ghritachi. Bharadwaja had encountered many apsaras before, but he had not met the one they called Ghritachi; he had only heard rumors about her beauty. She was perfect in every way, and she was bathing herself for only Bharadwaja to see.
Upon gazing at the gorgeous nymph, Bharadwaja became instantly entranced. He began to feel a lustful desire coursing through his whole body. He thanked the heaves for his newfound strength today, for he felt his old frail body would have broken under the intense feelings he was experiencing for this creature whose spell was upon him. His body trembled almost uncontrollably causing a ruckus in the brush that caught the attention of the bathing apsara. She suddenly looked towards Bhardwaja’s direction and made eye contact with him.
This was too much. Bharadwaja’s energy released like Ganges herself. He let out an monstrously loud scream accompanied by a stream of his semen, which then fell into his food bowl that he had placed on the ground next to him. After he had spent himself in this way, Bharadwaja was tired, and as he looked up in embarrassment for Ghritachi, he saw that she was no longer there.
Then something amazing happened. Bharadwaja’s food bowl seemed to be shaking on the ground. Before he could even bend down to inspect it, a young boy burst forth from the fluid! The boy, though just a newborn, stood up straight and strong and looked at his father. Bharadwaja was shocked, but he now understood the meaning of this day. He knew this child must be important so he reached out to him and took him back to his home. He named the boy Drona because he was born out of his food bowl, and he vowed to father and teach this new Brahmin who was his son.
A bowl or "Drona".
web source: a painting a day
Author's note:
This story was a retelling of Drona's birth. Even though this story is told only briefly in Buck's version of the Mahabharata, I could tell it deserved more attention, and I wanted to give it just that in my storybook. I simply took the short and vague version of Drona's birth form William Buck's "Mahabharata" and made it my own. Most of my version consists of Bhardawaja's thoughts, feelings, and experiences that lead up to the miraculous birth of his son. The story is told simply in a third-person narrative so that the reader can obtain valuable information about characters from an unlimited perspective.
My largest addition to the story was creating a new feeling for Bhardawaja when he started his day. He felt very unusual and wasn't sure why, but when he sees his son born he realizes why his day felt so different. I also added a small twist at the end. We are never told what state Drona is in when he comes out of his food bowl. I read one version that described him as springing from the bowl. So I decided to go ahead and make him look like a newborn baby, but he could already stand up on his own. In my story he even stares at his father as if awaiting instruction.
Bibliography:
"Mahabharata" by William Buck, University of California Press, Ltd. (1973).
Wikipedia.com
Cover Page
Bharadwaja, studying the ways of the Vedas in the sacred texts, was living as a hermit near the mighty Ganges river, in the kingdom of Panchala.
There was a certain day when Bharadwaja woke up feeling much younger and healthier than usual. It was as if he had slept for several years and somehow turned back his age. It normally took him several minutes to get out of bed and get around. But on this day, he practically sprang from his bed and went straight outside.
He was not at all surprised to find that Surya, the god of the sun, was beaming brighter and warmer than Bharadwaja had seen or felt in a long time. He assumed it was a blessing from Surya that he felt so youthful and vibrant. So he spent a couple of hours in meditative thanks to the sun god. Little did he know the destiny that awaited him that day.
Later that day, Bharadwaja went looking for ways to expel his energy. It was not every day he felt like this and he was not going to see it wasted sitting and reading. So he decided to go down to the river Ganges and swim in the refreshing waters.
Bhardwaja made himself naked and jumped right into the cold mountain water. He was so giddy he laughed all the while as he swam back and forth across the rushing water. An hour or so passed and Bharadwaja came up on to the bank to have a meal.
Bharadwaja’s snack was interrupted by what he seemed to think was singing. He stopped eating, and went to follow the glorious sound of this mystery voice, still clutching his food bowl. Nearly ten minutes of walking through tall brush finally lead him to a small pool on his side of the river. Much to his delight, the owner of the heavenly voice happened to be the most beautiful of the apsaras, those celestial dancing women. Her name was Ghritachi. Bharadwaja had encountered many apsaras before, but he had not met the one they called Ghritachi; he had only heard rumors about her beauty. She was perfect in every way, and she was bathing herself for only Bharadwaja to see.
Upon gazing at the gorgeous nymph, Bharadwaja became instantly entranced. He began to feel a lustful desire coursing through his whole body. He thanked the heaves for his newfound strength today, for he felt his old frail body would have broken under the intense feelings he was experiencing for this creature whose spell was upon him. His body trembled almost uncontrollably causing a ruckus in the brush that caught the attention of the bathing apsara. She suddenly looked towards Bhardwaja’s direction and made eye contact with him.
This was too much. Bharadwaja’s energy released like Ganges herself. He let out an monstrously loud scream accompanied by a stream of his semen, which then fell into his food bowl that he had placed on the ground next to him. After he had spent himself in this way, Bharadwaja was tired, and as he looked up in embarrassment for Ghritachi, he saw that she was no longer there.
Then something amazing happened. Bharadwaja’s food bowl seemed to be shaking on the ground. Before he could even bend down to inspect it, a young boy burst forth from the fluid! The boy, though just a newborn, stood up straight and strong and looked at his father. Bharadwaja was shocked, but he now understood the meaning of this day. He knew this child must be important so he reached out to him and took him back to his home. He named the boy Drona because he was born out of his food bowl, and he vowed to father and teach this new Brahmin who was his son.
A bowl or "Drona".
web source: a painting a day
Author's note:
This story was a retelling of Drona's birth. Even though this story is told only briefly in Buck's version of the Mahabharata, I could tell it deserved more attention, and I wanted to give it just that in my storybook. I simply took the short and vague version of Drona's birth form William Buck's "Mahabharata" and made it my own. Most of my version consists of Bhardawaja's thoughts, feelings, and experiences that lead up to the miraculous birth of his son. The story is told simply in a third-person narrative so that the reader can obtain valuable information about characters from an unlimited perspective.
My largest addition to the story was creating a new feeling for Bhardawaja when he started his day. He felt very unusual and wasn't sure why, but when he sees his son born he realizes why his day felt so different. I also added a small twist at the end. We are never told what state Drona is in when he comes out of his food bowl. I read one version that described him as springing from the bowl. So I decided to go ahead and make him look like a newborn baby, but he could already stand up on his own. In my story he even stares at his father as if awaiting instruction.
Bibliography:
"Mahabharata" by William Buck, University of California Press, Ltd. (1973).
Wikipedia.com
Cover Page