Jai Sriman Narayana !!
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Rishi Vaishampayana narrates,
Dronacharya after witnessing the proficiency of Pandavas and Kauravas in
the science of armaments, decided that it is the appropriate time to ask for
Guru Dakshina/tuition fee from his disciples.
One day Dronacharya ordered all his disciples to be present before him
and commanded to battle against the mighty King Drupada of Panchala, detain him
and produce before Dronacharya that would be the tuition fee of Pandavas and
Kauravas to their Mentor. The disciples
obediently agreed to the demand of their Mentor and hastily left on their
chariot.
Duryodhana, Karna, Yuyutsu, Dusshasana, Vikarna, Jalasandhan,
Sulochanan and the great warriors of Kauravas mounted on marvelous chariots and
preceded through the Kingdom of Panchala, they brutally killed the people of
Panchala. They majestically moved
through the streets of Panchala and entered into the capital city. King of Panchala heard of the thunderous
noises of warriors and chariots, he came out of the palace with his brothers.
King Yajyasensa/Drupada was the greatest amongst the warriors had huge army of
men, the warriors of Kuru showered arrows on their opponent. King Yajyasena mounted on his enthralling
chariot, appeared before the warriors of Kurus and created frontier of arrows encircling
them.
Arjuna noticed the attention seeking attitude of Kauravas who were
pompously treated themselves as the greatest among the warriors. Arjuna met Dronacharya before the war took
place against King Drupada and sought permission of his mentor to allow the
Kauravas to show their proficiency before Pandavas. It was evident to Arjuna that King Drupada, a
greatest warrior is not an easy victim for the Kauravas. The sinless Arjuna with his brothers stayed
outside the city of Panchala waiting for their opportunity to enter in a battle
against King Drupada. In the meantime,
Drupada poured arrows upon the men of the army of Kauravas and he effortlessly
moved amidst the enemies. Though Drupada
was all alone fought against the Kauravas, it seemed like several Drupadas in
the battle field fighting against the Kauravas.
The various divine instruments like Conch, drums, flute reverberated in
the house holders of Panchala. King
Drupada roared like a lion against his enemies and his bow created enormous
echoes. Duryodhana, Vikarna, Subhahu,
Dheergalochana, Dusshasana showered rain of arrows against Drupada. But, son of Prishta/Drupada was extremely
proficient in the science of armaments;
though he was pierced by the shower of arrows, retaliated the enemies Duryodhana, Vikarna, Karna and
various warriors, they could not withstand the colossal power of Drupada. The Kauravas were trampled under the
hammering of arrows. The entire citizens
of Panchala entered into the battle field and attacked the Kauravas. Hence, Kauravas left the battlefield abruptly
and rushed back to Pandavas seeking their help.
Pandavas felt sympathy on Kauravas who were terribly wounded in
the battlefield, Pandavas prostrated before Dronacharya and enthusiastically
mounted on their chariot. Arjuna
proceeded in the battlefield after giving instruction to his elder brother
Yudhishtira. Madri’s two sons Nakula and
Sahadeva were assigned to protect the chariot of Arjuna. Bhima
was settled in his chariot and vigorously fighting with his mace against his
opponents. The sinless Arjuna with his
brothers hurried through the roaring enemies, his chariot made deafening noises
in the battlefield. Bhima who has
powerful arms had the resemblance of Lord Yama, he energetically dashed through
army of elephants of Panchala, like a roaring sea with its maddening waves. Arjuna with his powerful arms attacked his
opponents. Bhima vigorously attacked the elephants with his
mace, hammered them and killed them. In
this way, Pandavas brutally killed thousands of elephants, horses and several warriors
from the chariots. Bhima/Vrukodhar hastily
killed thousands of warriors, elephants and destroyed their chariots with his
powerful mace effortlessly like a shepherd with a stick on his hand channeling
his cattle. Phalgun/Arjun who always
desired to do good to his mentor Drona, son of Bharadhwaja showered rain of
arrows on Drupadha and forced to him hurled down from the elephant he was
mounted. Arjuna was resembled wild blaze
appears at the end of Yuga, destroyed several horses, elephants, chariots and
army of Drupada. He had to oppose
Arjuna with various kinds of fierce weapons; it was a vicious battle between
the Pandavas and Drupada. Arjuna poured
rain of arrows upon the enemies, the people around him amazed at his skill,
once again Arjuna proved his proficiency in the usage of weapons. King Drupada, with his chief of warrior
Sathyajith hurried to Arjuna, like Shambarasura against the supreme Lord. Instantly King Drupada disappeared in the
downpour of arrows of Arjuna, but Sathyajith realized the dangerous situation
and whizzed against Arjuna, the vicious battled continued between the two. At the end, Sathyajith retired from the
battle field, leaving Drupada singlehandedly to fight against the Pandavas, and
finally Drupada was captured by Arjuna.
Soon, the army of Panchala withdrawn from the battle field and flee to
different directions. Arjuna advised
Bhima not to kill the warriors of King Drupada who was closely associated with
Dronacharya. Furthermore, their sole
intention was to fulfill the desires of their Mentor, that was capture King
Drupada alive and present before their Master as Guru Dakshina.
Rishi Vaishampayana continued, Bhimasena was enthusiastically
battling with his opponents, had to stop the brutal fight after listening to
Arjuna, eventually Drupada was displayed before Dronacharya. Drupada was detained as powerless and
completely lost his charm and glories, under the tight security of warriors. Dronacharya proudly declared that Drupada had
lost his capital and his Kingdom.
Dronacharya said ‘Oh! The great King, don’t worry about your life. We
Brahmins always forgive our opponent.
My deepest concern and affection for you remains the same as we had
spent childhood days in the hermitage. I dearly wish for your friendship once
again. I am prepared to share half of
the Kindgom with you. As you have
mentioned earlier, an ordinary person cannot be a friend of King I am ready to
offer half of the Kingdom situated on the south of Bhageerathi/Ganga/Kampilya
to you and you can rule the city of Kampilya wisely. The Kingdom situated on the north of Bageerathi/Panchala
would remain under my regime. Oh!
Panchala, do you wish to accept me as your associate? I will remain your sincere friend always.’
Later, Drupada was released from the custody and returned to
Kampilya with great respect and honor.
Drupada took in charge of the Kingdom Kampilya/South of Panchala
situated on the river banks of Ganga. He
realized that he cannot win over Dronacharya merely with the might of a
Kshatriya, he has to attain power of Brahmam/power of soul. He eagerly wished to have a son to crush the
ego of Dronacharya and wandered all over.
In the meantime Dronacharya settled in Ahichathrapuri/north of
Panchala. Rishi Vaishmpayana concluded, thus Dronacharya
attained the Kingdom Ahichathrapuri by the valor of Arjuna.
Jai Sriman Narayana !!
