Originally posted by: .Vrish.
#2 - one thing I don't then get is that if Drona became the ruler of Ahicchatra (the other half of Drupad's kingdom), why did he still feel beholden to Hastinapur? His transaction w/ them was complete - he had taught their princes, and gotten his gurudakshina.
He got the kingdom as a vassal state to Hastinapur. His state wasn't an independent one. Ashwathama had become a Raja of Uttar Panchal not a Maharaj or an independent king just as Karna got Anga. Karna was Angaraj or the king of Anga not Maharaj or Independent king of Anga
Most probably Dronacharya would have left with Ashwathama after completion of their education but still it was his responsibility to support their overlord state.
Saying that if he actually wanted he could have collaborated with Drupad and fought Hastinapur and declared himself a vassal of Panchal but I guess Dronacharya obviously preferred to be Hastinapur's vassal than Drupad's
#3 - no, the Indraprastha army did not fight on the Pandava side. There was no Indraprastha army - it became a part of the Hastinapur army during those 13 years. The Pandavas had no army of their own, just the armies of their allies - Panchala, Srinjaya, Kekaya, Matsya, et al.
Agreed I guess she meant the soldiers of Indraprasth. They were now part of Hastinapur army as you rightly Said
Karna never lost Anga in the first place: his defeat by Bhima meant that he had to pay tribute, and recognize Yudhisthir as his overlord. In other words, had Yudhisthir ever gone to war w/ anybody, Karna would have had to support him militarily. That obligation was gone once Yudhisthir lost Indraprastha.
This is a confusion many of us had having seen the TV shows and the representations this got cleared a few days back, Yudhishtir wasn't an emperor or Samrat(prior to DyutSabha) He had done a Rajsuya Yagya and not an Ashwamedh. The kind of relationship you said happens post Ashwamedh Yagyas when a king becomes Samrat.
As per Shaptath Brahmana Rajsuya is just a Yagya to declare your sovereignty nothing else. Post the Rajsuya Yudhishtir or Indraprasth was out of any kind of Hastinapur domination. Pandavas now had an independent identity and were no longer an extension of the Kaurav family.
So no neither Karna nor any of the other kings were under any obligation to consider Yudhishtir as their overlord or to pay tribute to him/help him with army. Their sovereignty status remained same. They only gave one time gift to acknowledge Indraprasth's independence
Karna for example continued to remain the king of Anga with Duryodhan as his overlord as he was before Yudhishtir's Rajsuya
Anyway, marriage was one exemption that kingdoms had to not go by their allegiances. The Kauravas didn't expect Panchala, Chedi, Magadha or any other kingdom to support them. In the case of Madra, Shalya wasn't exactly obligated to support the Pandavas, which is why they successfully hijacked him into switching sides
Marriage wasn't necessarily a reason to support a side, it was a personal choice, obviously Kauravas knew that Panchal wouldn't support them in any case. For Magadh while the main group supported Pandavas, one subset was in favour of Kauravas too. No one was obligated to support a side. They did it by will, obviously to support their daughters' family.
Kashi princesses were for example married to both Bheem n Duryodhan, and they decided to support Pandavas
Shalya is the(or shall I say "a" since these guys had multiple wives and FILs😉) father in law of Duryodhan and Karna(also Balram) as per Indonesian Mahabharata. So I guess Kauravas would have anyway been his preferable side, that entire tricked part seems a ploy to show Nakul Sahdev that he was never completely against them.
And that narrative makes complete sense because if he was just a person added to the team by trick, not one could be sure of his loyalty, unless he was their own and trustworthy, making him a Charioteer in the most important duel would have been a stupidity of Karna and he was anything but stupid) and there was no reason why Duryodhan would make him the CIC over Ashwathama if he wasn't trustworthy enough
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