Life on the palace grounds was grand for Drona and his family.
Finally, Drona and his wife Kripi had never been happier, and their son
Aswatthaman no longer lived in the shadow of those more
fortunate. As part of Bhishma's agreement with Drona, Aswatthaman
would be trained right alongside the Pandavas princes. This
pleased Drona very much because he loved Aswatthaman more than any
other. In fact, he wanted to give Aswatthaman a slight edge over
the Pandavas in regards to combat training.
Very early in the morning, Aswatthaman and the other boys rose to fetch water from the river. Drona gave each of the princes large jars with curiously narrow mouths. To his son Aswatthaman, he gave a jar with a wider mouth so that Aswatthaman could finish filling his up quickly. When Aswatthaman was finished, he could come back to Drona earlier than the other boys, and Drona used this one-on-one time to teach Aswatthaman privately.
It took only one day for Arjuna to notice the difference in Aswatthaman’s jar. That next morning he used a special water weapon that he had learned to fill his jar. He finished at the same time as Aswatthaman and they both returned to Drona and received extra lessons from the master sage, learning more than the others.
Drona could not help but admire Arjuna with great passion. Though he loved his own son more, Arjuna was his most talented student. But with his admiration came a spirit of caution. He knew that if Arjuna continued to progress as he was, he may one day be great enough to challenge his master.
Upon taking the job as the boys' teacher, Drona knew that Arjuna was special, but he had underestimated Arjuna's skill. After months of training, Drona began to accept the fact that Arjuna might take his place as the greatest warrior on the earth. Even though this meant that his life could be threatened by Arjuna one day, he took much pride in the fact that he alone was giving Arjuna his instruction. But Drona still needed some way to know for sure. So he came up with a test.
One day, after morning lessons, Drona had the boys follow him down to the river. He calmly looked over the boys' faces as they waited for Drona to speak. He glared at Arjuna the longest. Arjuna glared right back, completely focused, and gave a sort of mental nod with his eyes, as if he knew without question he would please Drona that day. Drona nodded back, and spoke. “My sons, if you look far across the river to the other side, you will see that I have turned a common sarus crane into wood which you six will use as a target. Yudhishthira, take aim at the wooden crane and tell me what you see.” Yudhishthira took his time, trying to figure out the catch to this test.
“I see my hand, I see my arrow.”
“Stop.” Drona interrupted, “Aswatthaman, you try.”
Aswatthaman drew his bow and spoke.
“I see the tree, I see the crane.”
“No.” Drona shook his head because he wanted Aswatthaman to succeed. “Arjuna, you try.” Arjuna took aim at the crane’s head. Drona asked, “What does the bird look like?”
Arjuna replied, “I do not know. All I can see is his head.”
“Then fire!” replied Drona. Arjuna let sail his arrow, and it struck the crane directly in the eye. The other boys were astonished. Drona looked at Arjuna who was already looking at him. He nodded in satifaction and signaled for the boys to go back to the palace.
That night Drona sat on the riverbank in meditation. He now knew without a doubt that Arjuna’s abilities were put under his care for a reason. He was not sure what was to come of his son and the Pandavas, but in his meditation he saw much blood. He reflected on the talent and power of his students and Drupada suddenly came to mind. After three days of thinking he headed back towards his home on the palace grounds.
A Suras Crane
Web content: flickr
Author’s note: I made several changes to the original source I used for this story. The most important thing is that we see Arjuna stands out, but I wanted to add Drona’s feeling that he is somewhat reluctant to train the greatest warrior in the world, one who could surpass his own skill. The ending is supposed to show Drona basically making a descision to train Arjuna to the best of his ability and let the fates act as they may.
I added a few small details. I had Drona use sage-like powers to transform a bird into a wooden target instead of just placing a wooden bird in a tree. Also, the Mahabharata has Drona teaching Duryodhana and his brothers as well, since they are all living in Hastinapura. But because this storybook focuses only on a small part of Drona’s life, I wanted to make his teaching exclusively with his son and the Pandavas princes. Along with these changes come some differences in dialogue during the shooting test. My Drona is much calmer than the sage in Buck’s Mahabharata. He again shows little emotion while at the river, but the boys get the point, and understand the lesson Drona wanted them to learn.
Very early in the morning, Aswatthaman and the other boys rose to fetch water from the river. Drona gave each of the princes large jars with curiously narrow mouths. To his son Aswatthaman, he gave a jar with a wider mouth so that Aswatthaman could finish filling his up quickly. When Aswatthaman was finished, he could come back to Drona earlier than the other boys, and Drona used this one-on-one time to teach Aswatthaman privately.
It took only one day for Arjuna to notice the difference in Aswatthaman’s jar. That next morning he used a special water weapon that he had learned to fill his jar. He finished at the same time as Aswatthaman and they both returned to Drona and received extra lessons from the master sage, learning more than the others.
Drona could not help but admire Arjuna with great passion. Though he loved his own son more, Arjuna was his most talented student. But with his admiration came a spirit of caution. He knew that if Arjuna continued to progress as he was, he may one day be great enough to challenge his master.
Upon taking the job as the boys' teacher, Drona knew that Arjuna was special, but he had underestimated Arjuna's skill. After months of training, Drona began to accept the fact that Arjuna might take his place as the greatest warrior on the earth. Even though this meant that his life could be threatened by Arjuna one day, he took much pride in the fact that he alone was giving Arjuna his instruction. But Drona still needed some way to know for sure. So he came up with a test.
One day, after morning lessons, Drona had the boys follow him down to the river. He calmly looked over the boys' faces as they waited for Drona to speak. He glared at Arjuna the longest. Arjuna glared right back, completely focused, and gave a sort of mental nod with his eyes, as if he knew without question he would please Drona that day. Drona nodded back, and spoke. “My sons, if you look far across the river to the other side, you will see that I have turned a common sarus crane into wood which you six will use as a target. Yudhishthira, take aim at the wooden crane and tell me what you see.” Yudhishthira took his time, trying to figure out the catch to this test.
“I see my hand, I see my arrow.”
“Stop.” Drona interrupted, “Aswatthaman, you try.”
Aswatthaman drew his bow and spoke.
“I see the tree, I see the crane.”
“No.” Drona shook his head because he wanted Aswatthaman to succeed. “Arjuna, you try.” Arjuna took aim at the crane’s head. Drona asked, “What does the bird look like?”
Arjuna replied, “I do not know. All I can see is his head.”
“Then fire!” replied Drona. Arjuna let sail his arrow, and it struck the crane directly in the eye. The other boys were astonished. Drona looked at Arjuna who was already looking at him. He nodded in satifaction and signaled for the boys to go back to the palace.
That night Drona sat on the riverbank in meditation. He now knew without a doubt that Arjuna’s abilities were put under his care for a reason. He was not sure what was to come of his son and the Pandavas, but in his meditation he saw much blood. He reflected on the talent and power of his students and Drupada suddenly came to mind. After three days of thinking he headed back towards his home on the palace grounds.
A Suras Crane
Web content: flickr
Author’s note: I made several changes to the original source I used for this story. The most important thing is that we see Arjuna stands out, but I wanted to add Drona’s feeling that he is somewhat reluctant to train the greatest warrior in the world, one who could surpass his own skill. The ending is supposed to show Drona basically making a descision to train Arjuna to the best of his ability and let the fates act as they may.
I added a few small details. I had Drona use sage-like powers to transform a bird into a wooden target instead of just placing a wooden bird in a tree. Also, the Mahabharata has Drona teaching Duryodhana and his brothers as well, since they are all living in Hastinapura. But because this storybook focuses only on a small part of Drona’s life, I wanted to make his teaching exclusively with his son and the Pandavas princes. Along with these changes come some differences in dialogue during the shooting test. My Drona is much calmer than the sage in Buck’s Mahabharata. He again shows little emotion while at the river, but the boys get the point, and understand the lesson Drona wanted them to learn.
Bibliography:
"Mahabharata" by William Buck, University of California Press, Ltd. (1973).
Wikipedia.com
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