drona age and death

hi this post I got from a fb page and it really interested me to know more.I would like to ur views abt it as I am no expert 😛 but it made me confused
Drona's Age and the Death
We had a reader post a reference from KMG
regarding Drona's age. That was good work.
Definitely appreciated.
I had not read that section in KMG. The
sections in Geeta Press and other place had
different translation. This was one of the errant
"recurring slokas". Drona Parva has a series of
slokas which inexplicably repeat. Most of
Mahabharata is very tight and descriptions and
poetic allusions are so rich it takes your breath
away. So when you are reading the Book and
you see Poet repeating himself that is a big
jarring note. You tend to remember them. In
some cases, this may be needed as we will show
in an example below, in most cases it seems
shoddy editing or poet running out ideas which
is blasphemy IMHO. The editor either dropped
an original sloka and plugged in one between or
unnecessary added one. They stick out as sore
thumbs. (Big example is Salya 's teachings to
Dharmaraja which were a repeat from Vana
Parva.)
One such sloka is what Sunil Koelr is talking
about. Good catch.
The age sloka comes as
Singanadramva Chakre Bhraamyan
Khadagamahwe
Akarnapalitah shyamo Vyasasheetipapanchaka||
Tatvakrate vyacharata sankhaye s tu
Podashavarshavata
Uktavanshrava Mahabaho Kuntiputro
Dhananjaya||
The translation by Ganguli is definitely wrong.
Panchaka means body here and not five; The
body is composed of Five elements called
Panchaka or Pancha tatva. To mistake that for
number Five is a logical mistake if one is
translating from Bengali Burdwan edition than
actual sanskrit.
85 in sanskrita is Pancha-ash-sheethi. The
phrase is Vyasa-Sheetipa-panchaka. (Minus-
100 - Five or Skin)
Vyasa sheeti would mean means subtracting
(losing) Hundred years or if an oral
transmission error Vishansheeti which means
One hundred and twenty years.
I am no expert in Sanskrita but Geeta Press
translated it as Four Hundred years and
another translator as hundred years less. That's
why I always ignored it earlier. I believe 4 or
chatvar comes from Vyacharata sankhaye and
that caused the error for Geeta press.
The Geeta press states He (Dhrishtadamyun)
started moving around the battlefield doing
Singha-nada and twirling his sword.
Acharya's body/skin (deha) (panchaka "of five
elements") was dark in color and his hair
completely white (from top to below the ears)
because of Hundred and twenty years of age
But For you he still moved/fought like a sixteen
year old, As Arjuna exclaimed to
Dshrishtadamyuna..."Bring the Acharya here.".
Other translation would be With his skin so
dark and hair white from top to ends of ears
because of age, losing (subtracting dropping)
Hundred (or hundreds) years for you, he moved
like a sixteen year old.
That will put his age as 116. Or it is an
expression that he lost centuries of his age
when he fought. That will make him twenty five
years older than Yudhisthara. Which makes
sense as Asvwathhama is the colleague of
Arjuna.
This sloka is later repeated in next section. That
makes it jarring. why would kripa need to tell
drona's son his age.
This sequence is from section of War on 15th
day, starting sometime just before the sunrise.
Drupada, Virata and three valiant grandsons of
Drupada are killed by Drona. Dhrishtadamyun
takes oath to kill Drona else he will lose his
Brahmin hood. Born of fire and because of his
deeds for doing Yagnas, creating Irrigation
wells and tanks, for creating roads and gardens,
Dhrishtadamyun was considered a Brahmin.
Bhima is angered at Dhrishtadamyun's oath; He
understands that he has just lost his father and
son but Dhrishtadamyun's primary
responsibility is with army and Bhima takes the
lead by attacking Drona followed by
Dhrishtadamyun.
There is description of the arrows: Karni
arrows where the tip of arrow has two
upturned horns which when go inside body, it
is difficult to remove as they get stuck and pull
vital organs out; Naalika whose tip is no
narrow that it goes deep inside the body and
not easy to find and remove; Vastika, where the
tip and body of arrow is very narrow so when
you try to remove the arrow, head remains
inside and only the body comes out; Suchi is
like karni except the upturned horns have little
throns on them for added pain; Kapisha is
made of black iron and penetrate deep into
bones; Gavasthija is made of cow bones and
gajasthija made of elephant bones and eighth
type of evil arrow is Viplipta.
Then Nakula and Sahadeva kill brothers of
Kritvarma; Duryodhana fights Satyaki, his
childhood best friend which is a misnomer,
Satyaki would be much younger and Satyaki
calls this Duryodhana as prince not King. Then
Satyaki kills him. Dakshinatya mentions this as
Son of Duryodhana not Duryodhana.
Drona continues the fight but he is cursed by
Rishis for using divyaastras on those who don't
know them. He could not remember the
mantras or invoke any more divyaastras, his
arrows run out after 3 hours (KMG makes it 4
hours, the sloka is 3 of 15 parts of day).
Dhrishtadamyun kills Drona's charioteer and
breaks his bows. Dhrishtadamyun uses
Brahmastra and his and drona's chariots
collide. (This verse would indicate Drona is
dead, he cannot answer back with a divyastra
as he has been cursed and cannot invoke.)
But he is alive. As their chariots destruct,
Drona destroys Dhrishtadamyun Mace,
Dhrishtadamyun takes his sword and shield and
attacks. Jumping onto the backs of Drona's
horses and then onto front part of Drona's
chariot, Dhrishtadamyun sinks his sword into
Drona's chest (or tries to, the KMG says as if to
sink, Geeta Press is sinks).
The soldiers started praising Dhrishtadamyun
(for what??). Drona in response, used his ratha-
shakti but that killed the horses. There is
description of 21 types of sword moves that
Dhrishatdamyun did standing on Drona's
chariot. (KMG rushes through the translation).
Drona tried to use short arrows for close
contests as Dhrishatdamyun wounded him
repeatedly but Satyaki fires in ten arrows and
cuts Drona's bow. Satyaki stopped anyone from
going to Drona's aid.
The battle description shifts to Satyaki and
Kaurava warriors leaving Drona and
Dhrishtadamyun on single chariot fighting each
other. Seeing Drona dead, Pandava army rallies
and attacks the Kaurava host. Suddenly the
earth starts shaking and Andhi strarts blowing
and a meteor fell on the Drona's chariot
burning it and his weapons are aflame. Even
his horses started crying. Ergo, Drona is dead.
But then new slokas are added, Bhima throws
Dhrishtadamyun a new bow and he gets ready
to kill Drona. In previous sections he had just
plunged his sword in Drona's chest; he is
fighting Drona on his chariot cutting him
relentlessly atleast twenty one times, Drona has
no bows, no arrows left. Drona's horses are
weeping, the meteor burns the Drona's chariot
and his weapons, lightening strikes, earth is
heaving on his death. Pandavas celebrate and
attack. Lets not forget that Dhrishtadamyun had
already fired a Brahmastra.
Then suddenly, Drona is back from dead, his
chariot restored.
Then sloka returns (one of those errant
recurring slokas) Dhrishtadamyun used
Brhamastra which destroyed all weapons of
Drona and his chariot. (does not tell us if
Drona is dead already). Then Dhrishtadamyun
proceeded to kill all the Vasati, Shivi, Bahalika
and Kaurava soldiers guarding Drona AS WELL.
(Like Drona, he killed all his body guards.)
Then Drona is again alive!! He gives up
weapons and Dhrishtadamyun kills him for the
third or fourth time according to the
description. Drona was the premier Brahman of
the epic, he was a disciple of Parasurama. The
whole description reeks of trying to avoid
stating that Brahman was bested by a Kshatriya.
Even more so, the editors already declared
Dhrishtadamyun is a Brahmin some chapters
back just to cover.
The later allegations against Dhrishtadamyun
were not because he killed an unarmed man
but that he cut the head of the dead body. The
dead body should be respected and
Dhrishtadamyun did not do that. And in
between, Dhrishtadamyun is hugged by Bhima
and others and celebrations ensue. Satyaki and
Dhrishtadamyun fight is after Narayanastra or
added later.
Sanjaya says that they (Kauravas) could not find
the body of Drona. Well, either it was burned
the first time by Brahamastra or second time
on Ulka-paat or when Dhrishtadamyun burned
the chariot and weapons with Brahamastra.
But, Gandhari in Stree parva states that Drona's
misuse of divine weapons killed Drona and you
can see his hand gripping the bow so hard that
they cannot separate it easily. Drona died with
bow in hand. His disciples are shown doing the
last rites in Stree Parva and burning the body.
Drona who is shown completely separated from
Kaurava forces, his body is captured by
Pandavas who would also love him like a father.
In these chapters several slokas repeat; an
example is
Morning time: Sanjaya states "Drona murders
10,000 soldiers, 20,000 elephants using
Brahmastra"
The Siddhas shout later "Drona has killed 1 lakh
soldiers, 2 lakh elephants using Brahmastra".
Then in next chapter after death as Kaurava
armies are fleeing Duryodhana chances upon
Asvwathamma and on being asked questions by
Asvwathamma, does not answer but requests
pointedly to Kripa to explain to him. Kripa then
starting and stopping many times and in great
pain for his statement, shamefacedly states
"Drona kills 1000 BEST RATHIS and 2000
elephants using Brahmastra" and then the Age
sloka we noted above is repeated.
Akarnapalitah shyamo vyasasheetipapanchaka||
Rane paryacharada Drono vridhha
Podashavarshavata
Kripa then states that Yudhisthara lied and
Drona immediately gave up weapons and
Dhrishtadamyun killed him.
This is obvious that Kripa under direction of
Duryodhana is telling a lie. Common soldiers
become "Best warriors", the body count is
reduced so Asvwathamma may not guess that
Drona had crossed the line of Divyastras. (Kripa
is not talking ill of the dead is other
explanation). Kripa also states the story in
different light. The description earlier is that
Krishna states the plan 36 minutes before the
sunrise to Arjuna and Yudhishthara tells the
half-lie soon after sunrise and Drona died
atleast three to six hours later (4 to 8 as per
Ganguli translations). Drona is out of weapons,
arrows and mantras at 3 hour mark after
sunrise. He dies at or before midday. He fought
more than one prahara definitely and two most
likely and what was actually alive Asvwathamma
doing in that entire period where he is
supposed to be dead and his father was
searching for him.
This entire Half-LIE thing may be added to
enhance Drona's luster or was propaganda
piece used by Duryodhana to make
Asvwathamma go mad and he lets go horrible
weapons. Or it could be added to defend the
subsequent actions of the other Brahmin,
Asvwathamma. See however you slice it or dice
it, both Drona and Asvwathamma committed
horrible crimes that day. Why not cover it with
misdirection. Either way, this strategy makes
Asvwathamma looks like a manipulated fool or
a warrior who deliberately followed Adharma.
Or this was added to show some contribution
by Krishna in each seminal moment of the War
to enhance Krishna.
Krishna was there when Karna got stuck and
advises Arjuna to take the shot. So, In Drona
case, they have added another Krishna
moment.
Krishna loses his anger twice against Bheeshma
and forces Arjuna to fire arrows at Bheeshma
and we are told Shikhandi did not do it despite
half of Epic stating again and again she is born
to kill Bheeshma. Same in case of
Dhrishtadamyun. And both of them didn't do
what they were supposed be born to do so.
Later editors could not digest the fact that
greatest warrior was pulled down by a woman.
Actually, in Lord of Rings, Tolkein specifically
adds the character of Eowyn the princess who
kills the greatest warrior the witch-king on
other side, In his commentary and he had read
the Epic, he cites the pusillanimity of Indian
editors in not recognizing the skill of women
warriors in Mahabharata, so specifically puts it
front and center in his book. If Tolkien edited
the Mahabharata, Nakula and Sahadeva would
have starred along with Bhima and Arjuna :-))
The description of Drona's battle and his deaths
as well as the Half-lie are to put it mildly
ambiguous. People defending Kauravas quibble
about the descriptions of wager size by
Duryodhana and state that Dyuta was a
propaganda piece by Pandava side on that
basis.
Well, here we have Dhrishtadamyun jump onto
the Drona's chariot and plunge his sword on
his chest and then demonstrate 21 types of
sword moves in close confines of Drona's
chariot, a savage hand to hand fight is
happening in close confines, Drona throws a
ratha shakti, misses Dhrishtadamyun and kills
horses, tries to use small-range arrows (and
Satyaki cuts his bow any way), as Pandava
soldiers celebrate. The ratha and all his
weapons are shown burning twice. We see
Bhima bringing weapons to Dhrishtadamyun in
during this fight. Satyaki takes focus away for
one chapter while he stops anyone from helping
Drona, Sanjaya is not even looking what is
happening with Drona. Drona was effectively
isolated inside Pandava lines. That could also
be the detailed writing and it comes off as
Sanjaya describing two parallel events (he does
not have advantage of split screen) so he is
narrating them sequentially. What stands out
are the sore thumbs, the errant repeats.
I am not stating that Drona was killed by deceit
or not. The description is of a savage fight and
the death of the Guru, a guy neither side
wanted to see dead. The Pandavas however they
won that win would be hurt by it and so will
not attempt to claim or refute the Kaurava
allegations of deceit. I do not remember off
hand if Sanjaya states later in War Parvas
whether Drona was brought down by deceit.
Most likely he did. When you want to want to
add a propaganda piece, you add it in many
places but they will stick out like sore thumbs
(as out of place) so we can revisit this later
when Pandavas go to war in Starbharata and we
read these sections with more attention.
The main point was the age of Drona, it is not
85. Ganguly translated mostly from Burdwan
Pandit Bengali edition, he checked the local
Sanskrit, Sanskrit Bombay edition and
Neelkantha from time to time, but not always.
As you read his comments as he progresses in
his translation, he is not a happy guy; refusing
to translate three lines slokas at many places
for an extra propaganda line that is added.
Final point, this section also tells us that Drona
donated 1000 cows with golden horns to
Brahmans when Asvwathamma was born. And
he could not find one cow to feed his child
milk few years latter. Drona the supreme
commander of 11 Akshauhinis definitely was
financially inept.