Drona Parva in Mahabharata

Drona Parva is the seventh book of the 18 books of the Mahabharata. As the name suggests, it is based on Drona as it describes the 11th to 15th days of the battle with Drona as the commander in-chief of the Kaurava army. He took over the reins of the army after the defeat of Bhishma, who was the commander in-chief for the first 10 days of the battle. It consists of 8 upaparvas stretching across 204 chapters. The summaries of the sub parvas are:

Dronaabhisheka Parva

This Parva consists of 16 chapters and focuses on the immediate effect of the defeat of Bhishma on the warriors of the Kuru army. Dhritarashtra was highly grieved at the news of the defeat of Bhishma. The fall of the great warrior on the bed of arrows came as a shock to the Kuru regime. Karna met Bhishma and sought his permission to join the war, and also consoled the Kauravas on the loss of Bhishma. He then advised Duryodhana to appoint Drona, who was the mentor of the Kaurava and Pandava brothers, to take over as the commander in-chief of the army. Drona’s skills as a warrior was not questioned by anyone and was immediately appointed as the new chief of the Kaurava army. Duryodhana was really angry with the Pandavas after the defeat of Bhishma. He wanted to defeat Yudhishthira and be done with the Pandava brothers. However, he knew that he won’t be able to defeat him with the presence of Arjuna near him. So, the Kauravas devised a strategy called ‘Sakata’, the primary objective of which was to isolate Yudhishthira and kill him. The Pandava armies heard of this plan through their spies, which worried Yudhishthira, as he knew that his death would demoralize the entire army which would make them vulnerable to defeat. Arjuna then consoled him that he cannot be defeated as long he possessed the Gandiva in his hand. He therefore assured him to fight without any fear. Yudhishthira then fought fearlessly alone across the battlefield, killing a lot of the enemies. Brutal destruction takes place on both sides on that day. However, the Kauravas were the ones who faced more losses. Even Dronacharya’s sharp arrows destroyed a major part of the Pandavas army. Another major feat of the Pandavas on the 11th day of the war was the defeat of Salya in the hands of Bhima after engaging in a long one on one battle. Bhima had killed the charioteer of Salya using his mace, which made Salya immediately run away from the battlefield.

Samsaptakabadha Parva

This is the second subparva of the Drona Parva and consists of 16 chapters. This Parva is so named as the highlight of this Parva is the victory of Arjuna over the Samsaptakas. The Samsaptakas were a group of warriors that were formed with the primary and sole motive to kill Arjuna, the best warrior amongst the Pandava brothers. The army consisted of thousands of warriors and chariots and tens of thousands of elephants and horses and infantry warriors. Each of them were skilled warriors, difficult to be defeated and all carried the only motto of killing Arjuna. Arjuna, however destroyed the Samsaptakas in a series of battles on the twelfth day. He also killed Sudhanwa. Another major feats of the Pandavas side in this Parva was Bhima destroying Anga. Even in this Parva both sides suffered heavy losses. Dronacharya killed Satyajit, which was a major loss for the Pandavas army.

Abhimanyu–vadha Parva

Spanning across 39 chapters, this is one of the longest Parvas of the Drona Parva. This Parva focuses on the warrior like abilities of Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu killed a lot of warriors of the Kaurava army. He defeated strong kings in alliance with the Kauravas, like Jayadratha and Rukhmaratha. The Kauravas were shocked to see the marvelous abilities of the young son of Arjuna, and made a strategy to kill him. Dronacharya led the attack against Abhimanyu along with six warriors he selected. Unfortunately, the prodigy was killed by Duhshassana’s son. The death of Abhimanyu sent a wave of shock across the entire army of the Pandavas.

Pratijna Parva

This is a short Parva consisting of 13 chapters that focuses on the immediate effects of the death of Abhimanyu on the Pandava brothers, especially Arjuna. Arjuna was grieved on learning about the death of his son Abhimanyu. He fainted on hearing the painful news. All of the Pandava brothers were lamenting over his death. Krishna saw the Pandava brothers breaking down, and most importantly Arjuna broke down. If they wouldn’t have been motivated again, the war will be over for the Pandava army. Krishna took charge of the situation and consoled Arjuna. He told him to not lament at the death of his son, as even the sages could not believe his death and secondly he was killed in an unlawful manner. Arjuna’s duty was to take vengeance for the death of his son. Krishna told Arjuna to get back up and console all of his brothers and the other kings who were also grief stricken on the event of Abhimanyu’s death.

Jayadratha-vadha Parva

This is the longest Parva of the Drona Parva and consists of 68 chapters. Yudhishthira told Arjuna and Krishna that Jayadratha was primarily responsible for the death of Abhimanyu as he was the one who cheated Abhimanyu to be surrounded by Kaurava warriors. Abhimanyu, who possessed nerves of steel, killed many of the Kaurava warriors till his last breath. Arjuna returned to the battle field, filled with rage and the burning desire for vengeance. Hell broke loose for the Kaurava army and destroyed tens of thousands of the enemy warriors with the sole purpose of avenging his son’s unlawful death. Eventually he faced Jayadratha and killed him, and hence this Parva is named Jayadratha-vadha Parva, meaning the destruction of Jayadratha.

Ghatotkacha-vadha Parva

This Parva consists of 32 chapters. By this time in the war, the Kauravas were using the unfair means and breaking rules whenever they were getting the chance to break rules. These acts were led by Duryodhana himself which caused a lot of loss to the Pandavas army, who were not bending rules no matter what. Both sides of the war face heavy losses in this Parva too. Dronacharya killed Sivi. Satyaki killed Somadatta and Bhima killed Dhruva, Durmada, Jayarata, Dushkarna and Valhiki. Bhima even killed seven of Shakuni’s brothers and 10 brothers of Duryodhana, and also five princes of Gandhari. Bhima was on a killing spree, crushing through the Kaurava army. Bhima’s son, Ghatotkacha was on a similar form, killing vast number of warriors of the Kaurava army. Then, the Kauravas army shifted their focus on Bhima’s son in an attempt to demoralize Bhima. They eventually killed his son Ghatotkacha that left Bhima and the other Pandava brothers grief stricken. After so many deaths on both sides, the intensity of both sides hardens and so does their stand on defeating each other.

Drona-vadha Parva

This Parva is 9 chapters long. This Parva focuses on the epic death of none other than Drona himself. Drona was killed as he became vulnerable due to a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding was that he heard the news that Ashwatthama died. Ashwatthama was Drona’s son. However, during the war, an elephant named Ashwatthama had died. Drona thought that his son had died in the war. He was grief stricken, and this weak moment of Drona was seized by Pandavas chief, Dhrishtadyumna. He exploited his vulnerable state of grief and killed him. Drona’s death came as a shock to the Kaurava army and panic broke out in their army regimes.

Narayananastra-mokshana Parva

This is the last upa parva of the Drona Parva and consists of 11 chapters. Ashwatthama, Drona’s son, was grieved at the unjust death of his father. He was filled with rage and decided to avenge the death of his father. He returned to the battlefield and caused havoc in the Pandavas army. He had a very powerful weapon called the Narayana weapon, which could destroy anyone carrying weapon, and he started using this weapon destructively in anger, killing a lot of the Pandavas armymen. Krishna realized the scale and power of this weaponand asked the Panndava brothers and the warriors of their army to drop their weapons, as that would nullify the effect of the weapon. Rishi Vyasa appeared and disqualified Ashwatthama from using any weapon and debarred him from the war, as he was abusing his powers for the unjust purposes. He was then taken away from the battlefield.