Arjun and Dronacharya - Mahabharata

In this episode, we’re back with Arjun and Dronacharya in the Mahabharata, which is one of the two major epics in Indian Mythology, the other being the Ramayana which we have also covered before on this show.

If this is your first time listening to the show or in particular if this is your first time listening to a Mahabharata episode on the show, don’t worry. I’ll give you some context, though I do recommend listening to the previous episodes when you get the chance.

The story so far has mostly to do with the ruling dynasty in the Empire of Hastinapur. It began with Bhishma who was the crown prince. Bhishma gave up his throne and promised never to have any children, so that his father could marry a local fisherman’s daughter, Satyavati, and her children could rule instead.

But things didn’t go quite according to Satyavati’s plan. Satyavati’s children passed away early without leaving behind any heirs to the throne. Bhishma was eligible, but he stuck to his promise of not ruling. Because, to him, it was somehow more important to keep the promise he had made in his youth than to bring stability to the citizens of his Empire who were badly looking for it. And in the earliest instance of breaking the fourth wall, Vyas – the author of the Mahabharata jumped out from behind a curtain and revealed that he was actually Satyavati’s secret son. But he wasn’t here to sit on the throne, he just wanted to continue to write the story and direct the show from the outside, after he helped continue the family. Three boys were born. Pandu, Dhritarashtra, and Vidhur.

Dhritarashtra the eldest was born blind. Pandu had health problems all his life. Vidhur was perfectly healthy but was ineligible because his mother was a servant girl and not a princess.

Pandu ruled as Emperor for a short while, before he accidentally killed a rishi – a crime big enough that he had to give up his throne.

His wives, Kunti and Madri had 5 sons, thanks to a little help from some gods. Kunti’s dark little secret was that she had had such divine help before her marriage to Pandu, and that had resulted in a baby – Karna. To avoid society harshly judging her, she cast away the baby Karna in a basket in a river.

The blind Dhritarashtra meanwhile had married Gandhari, a princess from Gandhar. She permanently blindfolded her eyes not in sympathy but out of spite after finding out she had been asked to marry a blind man.

After a very difficult pregnancy, she was blessed with over a hundred children. The oldest of those was Duryodhan.

It was already controversial – who deserved to sit on the throne? Was it Yudhishthir, the eldest Pandava, because he was the oldest of the lot and his father had been emperor. Or Duryodhan because he was the oldest son of the current emperor. Technically Duryodhan was younger than two of the Pandavas, but his father was the one on the throne. That choice of ruler – Duryodhan or Yudhishthir was at the heart of the entire saga.

Today’s story continues with the Pandava and Kaurav princes still young and in school and learning from Professor Dronacharya.

“Gather around now children” Dronacharya said. If this was a version of Harry Potter, with the Pandavas as the Gryffindors and Kauravas as Slytherins, it would have been a bit hard to decide which Hogwarts teacher Dronacharya was most like. He was not partial to the Kauravas as Snape would have been. He was not completely negligent like his predecessor – Kripacharya. He also wasn’t secretly a werewolf, a con man or a paranoid retired warrior. The professor he had the most in common with – was Dumbledore. Because the primary reason Dronacharya wanted to train these princes was so that one of them would take revenge against his arch enemy.

In fact, while delivering a lecture on the proper positioning of the pinky while firing an arrow, he tangentially brought up this topic.

“You know, we haven’t discussed your fees or Guru Dakshina” he pointed out.

“My father, the Emperor is paying your salary” Duryodhan said in a drawl. “What more do you want?” Duryodhan was already subtly staking his claim to the throne at an early age.

“Well pointed out Duryodhan” the Professor replied. “However there’s a difference. The Salary from the Emperor allows me to survive. The Guru Dakshina on the other hand is more than that. It is meant to show your appreciation for the years of learning that you are about to get from me”

Dushasan, narrowed his eyes and asked “But what if we don’t appreciate the learning?” He felt this was a trick question.

“Shush Dushasan, you’re not supposed to say that. You might hurt the Professor’s feelings” said one of the Kaurav brothers, whispering loud enough for the entire class to hear.

“What are these “feelings” you speak of?” asked Duryodhan

Dronacharya sensed that the class was going to veer off into dangerous philosophical territory here. He wanted to quickly bring them all back on track. He raised a hand for silence.

“I as your Guru get to ask you for anything I want. What I want to know is will you as my students promise to do it unconditionally?”

The class remained silent. Except for one voice that immediately said “Yes”.

Dronacharya sought out its owner and he positively beamed at the boy. “Arjun, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Sir yes, sir, that’s me sir”

“Look at Arjun my lads, I’m giving him an A+ grade for this answer”

“But…But…. That can’t be the right answer!” Yudhishthir protested. “You can’t promise something without knowing what it is”

“Oh yes Mr. Yudhishthir you can – if your Guru asks you” Dronacharya replied

“But it’s in our textbook, Promise-Making and Promise-Keeping for Princes. Chapter 7 clearly says that a King or a royal descendent thereof should not make unconditional promises without having a full legal and council review of said promises”

“Bah, textbooks, academic nonsense. They can’t teach you as much as the real world”

“But, Professor, you are the author of this book”

Dronacharya stumbled briefly but recovered quickly “And that is why you must listen to me. The knowledge in books is static whereas what I have to say is dynamic”

Yudhishthir was positively sulking now. “And you positively reinforced the textbook when you talked to us about unconditional promises, just last night”

Had he? Dronacharya struggled to remember last night’s lecture. He had been reading books on Quantum mechanics right before the lecture and his head was still hurting a little from trying to understand the subject. Something like this was bound to happen. He made a mental note not to ever teach again when he was fatigued.

“Well, this is an exceptional case. Because the way I was treated was exceptionally unfair. It’s a long story that I’m sure Narada will cover in a future episode of this podcast. But for today’s purposes let’s just agree to move on with the knowledge that I am very impressed with Arjun, and he gets to be the very first member of a squad I’m putting together. It’s called the Avengers”

“I bet it’s just because Arjun wasn’t paying attention during last night’s lecture and I bet he hasn’t even read the textbook” grumbled Yudhishthir.

The rest of the day went on without incident.

Later that night as Dronacharya was trying to sleep, he couldn’t. I guess he was the Bear chronotype and needed his 8 hours of sleep to be productive in the mornings. But the infernal whizzing of arrows was annoying him. Suddenly he panicked. Whizzing of arrows?! Now that he had made the connection he was sure it was nothing else. Was the school under attack. Should he go and hide? No, he should take care of his students first. After all, one of them was going to avenge him. He grabbed a bow and arrow and rushed out. And then relaxed. The whizzing of the arrows made it seem like they were flying away from the School, not towards it. You know, the Doppler effect. He yawned and was tempted to go back to his cozy mattress. But then curiosity got the better of him and he decided to investigate.

As he approached he saw the vague shape of a little boy in the distance. It was a dark moonless night. And yet, the boy seemed to be grabbing arrows by his side and aiming them somewhere.

He approached, but the boy didn’t react even when Dronacharya got within touching distance.

The Professor finally recognized this boy. It was Arjun.

“Chilly evening eh?” he asked politely.

Arjun turned around to face him. “Oh Professor. I didn’t see you there”

“What are you doing up so late, my lad?”

“I’m practicing archery” Arjun had come a long way since calling it stick throwing. See Episode 127 for more on that.

“And how are you doing that exactly? What are you aiming at?” the professor asked

“I drew a target on a tree 50 yards away. I’m trying to hit it”

Dronacharya waited puzzled. “Is there a trick here boy? Are you wearing secret night vision contact lenses or something?”

“No sir! I’m trying to hit the target using just my memory of where I recall it being”

Dronacharya was vastly impressed. But a little cautious at the same time. Where had the boy gotten the idea that this might actually work?

Arjun explained that it was at dinner that night. “In the cafeteria we were eating by lamplight as usual. But the windows were open and a sudden gust of wind blew them all out. It suddenly became pitch dark. And yet, most of us kept eating.”

“Bet you all were in a hurry to cram in some TV before going to bed?” Dronacharya.

“Not TV. We’re in ancient India 2500 years before the invention of the Television. But I know most of the lads wanted to get back to their comic books – an art form that exists in our time” Arjun replied thoughtfully. “But the main point, Professor, is that we continued eating. Our hands continued to pick up the food and carry it to our mouths. Our hands knew where the food was, and we managed even though it took a long time for the windows to be closed and the lamps to be re-lit. So I got to thinking – can I fire an arrow at something if its position is imprinted in my brain?”

“I know the answer to that, Arjun. You can certainly fire an arrow at anything you like. The big question my boy is whether you will have hit anything. And that will have to wait till tomorrow morning”

So they went off to their respective beds. But Dronacharya set his alarm for a little earlier than usual. He had something serious to investigate. From what Arjun told him on their walk back to the dormitory last night, he had fired about 40 arrows. Time to see how much coaching was required here. If the boy had gotten even one or two arrows within 5 feet of the target, he could be a promising young archer and more importantly it meant it would be all the more easy for him to avenge Dronacharya’s insult.

The professor began by scanning the ground. And he didn’t see a single arrow. No, this boy was hopelessly bad. Just my luck, he thought. Only one student agreed to be an avenger, and he isn’t hawk-eyed. He rested a moment against a tree and then felt something poking him. He looked at it and was shocked! There on the tree was a little circle with the red yellow and blue and white marks typical of an archery target except this one was much smaller. But that’s not what was remarkable. The most remarkable thing here was that the circle was full of arrows. Dronacharya counted them. 40 arrows each had hit the target. And this wasn’t some kind of a clever trick or anything. The Professor could clearly see the arrows had been fired from a long distance judging from the depth to which they were embedded in the tree.

Could Bhishma have fired these arrows, maybe? He quickly scanned the barcode on one of the arrows. The answer became quickly clear. They had been issued by the University’s weapons department to Arjun. There was no question. This boy was an exceptional archer, and perhaps the greatest of all time. Dronacharya was sure now, he was going to be avenged. And it would be Arjun doing it. And the easy part was that Arjun didn’t even need training. Imagine all the pain Dumbledore had gone to to train Harry Potter – messing about with Horcruxes and such. He should have just found himself a pre-trained boy, like Dronacharya had.

And just like that Arjun became Dronacharya’s favorite student. Well, not quite the favorite. But second favorite, right after his own son. That was a privilege the Professor had. He got to train his own son Ashwatthama along with the other Princes. Come to think of it, there were instances where Arjun had shown eagerness to learn.

For example, that time when Dronacharya had asked all the students to fetch water and then come back for lessons. He had deliberately given Ashwatthama a wide-mouthed pot so that he could fill his pot with water faster than anyone else and get more face-time with the Professor. Even though Ashwatthama was his son, they could get all the face time they wanted after school hours too. Arjun had been the only one to fetch water as quickly as Ashwatthama despite the fact that Dronacharya had deliberately given him and the other princes a very narrow necked pot, which took much longer to fill. How had Arjun done it? He would ask the lad later on. But for now, he had an important change to make in today’s lessons. And the inspiration for that was how Arjun hadn’t even noticed his Professor’s presence last night until Dronacharya greeted him.

“So, Professor,” asked Bhima “why are we in the field when the lesson is supposed to be economic policies and Trade Negotiations? And why did you ask us to bring our bows and arrows with us?”

“We have a change in lesson plans. We’re going to practice Archery.”

Groans from most of the class. “We just did that yesterday”

“All the more reason to practice again. Archery is the latest craze. Swords, Clubs, Spears all those are great but what’s likely to make you victorious is if you attack your enemy/trade negotiator/economic rival from a safe distance when you are out of reach of their swords, clubs and spears”

A few more grumbles from the class when Dronacharya asked them to line up single-file.

Arjun was first in line. “Not you, Arjun. Go to the back of the line” Dronacharya commanded.

Arjun was puzzled. Had he done something wrong? But he didn’t say anything and meekly went and stood at the back of the line.

Dushasan was first. Dronacharya pointed in the distance. “Do you see that old oak tree all the way there?” Dushasan nodded. “Well look at the lowest branch on the left. There’s a bird there. Aim at it’s eye”

Dushasan adjusted his bow, positioned the arrow and took aim.

“Now don’t fire. All I want you to do is to aim”

“I have, professor” Dushasan replied

“Tell me, what do you see?” Dronacharya asked.

“I see the bird, the branches, the tree, the sky, the grass”

“Alright, step aside. Next!” he called out.

Bhima was next, and Dronacharya went through the same exercise with him. And got the same response. Bhima saw everything that Dushasan did, but he also saw his father, the god of the wind waving at him.

Yudhishthir, Nakul, Sahadev, and all the Kaurav brothers went one by one and their answers didn’t vary very much. One Kuru brother observed that it was remarkable that the bird hadn’t flown away or even moved a little in all this time. Another expressed displeasure at killing an innocent creature. To both of those comments, Dronacharya had to remind them that the bird in question was a fake. It was a toy bird that Dronacharya had himself installed that morning. He had taken particular pride in the eyes. He had drawn them with the typical bull’s eye target pattern. They are 5 rupees a dozen at the gift shop, he was careful to remind them all without mentioning that he would get to pocket 100% of the commissions from those sales.

Duryodhan had a particularly acerbic response to Dronacharya’s question. “I’ll tell you what I don’t see, Professor. I don’t see the point of this question. And I don’t see why we’re here outside in the hot summer sun instead of inside eating ice cream”

Dronacharya had finally run out of princes and only Arjun was left.

Arjun stepped up and expertly adjusted his arrow and took aim.

“Tell me Arjun, what do you see?” the Professor asked

“I see the bird’s eye, professor” replied Arjun

“And….?” Dronacharya asked. “What about the sky, the leaves, the branches, the trees and grass?”

“I only see the eye” Arjun replied

“Oh my god!” spoke up Yudhishthir “my baby brother – we have to take you to an eye doctor!”

“Relax Yudhishthir, Arjun has all his vision at his disposal. He is choosing to focus it on what matters” the Professor explained. “Now, Arjun, fire”

Arjun did, and instantly the arrow flew and knocked off the bird from the tree.

Dushasana was asked to fetch the bird and he did, Dronacharya beamed with pride as he held up the bird for everyone to see – with the arrow perfectly stuck in the center of the eye. “And this, my dear children, is why Arjun is the greatest archer amongst you, and maybe in the world. And this is how I’m going to get my revenge. I mean…..this is how children are going to learn to be warriors” he recovered quickly. Arjun got a few dirty looks from the other students, but his position as Dronachary’s favorite was now fully cemented. Mostly because the professor was confident nothing could stop him from taking his revenge.

Some Notes on the Show

Dronacharya’s backstory is something I will definitely cover in a future episode. It’s the reason he was single-mindedly looking to assemble an Avengers team. Ashwatthama plays an important part later in the Mahabharata as well.

The way Arjun filled his pot with water as fast as Ashwatthama was that he invoked Varuna, the God of the Seas. Varuna could bend the laws of Physics so that Arjun’s pot filled very quickly. Bending the laws of Nature, is after all, what Gods do.
Arjun’s Bird’s eye story is often mentioned during Archery lessons even in the modern world.

Other Mahabharat episodes we have covered before:

Check out these other Mahabharat Episodes too, some of which are peripherally linked to the main storyline, including

Episode 27 – The Rise of Shukra
Episode 28 – His Girl Friday
Episode 31 – Death Cheater
Episode 37 – A Fishy Engagement
Episode 120 – Mahabharata – Nala and Damayanti

That’s all for now.

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll do a folk tale from Uttarakhand. It’s a tale of a mother and daughter who go picking fruits and end up having something very life-changing happen to them.