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Karna and Dronacharya fighting on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata

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Karna and Dronacharya fighting on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata Empty Karna and Dronacharya fighting on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata

Post by Seva Lamberdar Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:19 am

It was a matter of honoring the earlier commitment, not friendship (between Karna and Duryodhana), that Karna stayed with Duryodhana and fought on Duryodhana's side (the Kauravas) in the battle of Mahabharata against his own brothers (Arjuna, Bhima et al. as part of the Pandavas).

Earlier, when no one (including Karna's own brothers etc.) would accept and treat Karna as a great warrior and give him a chance (employment), it was only Prince Duryodhana who came to Karna's aid and offered him a good position (appointing Karna as governor of a province). It was then that Karna had pledged his allegiance to Duryodhana and promised to come to latter's assistance all his life, which he did by taking part on Kaurava's side in the Mahabharata war.

The same thing, as in the case of Karna, took place about great teacher Dronachrya deciding to fight on the side of the Kauravas in the Mahabharata war. Dronacharya, a brahmin (in addition to a great warrior and martial arts teacher), could not find employment anywhere. He was so poor that he could not even buy milk or keep a cow for the sake of his son Ashvathama. His wife made fun of him and sent him to seek help from his ex-classmate and friend King Drupada. But Drupada even refused to recognize him  and scolded him like a ordinary begging brahmin. Dronacharya left king Drupada's palace empty handed and totally humiliated.

It was then that Dronacharya, after wandering in many places and looking for work, landed in Hastinapur kingdom and got the job to teach martial arts exclusively to Kaurava and Pandava princes and always look after the welfare of Hastinapur kingdom. Thus, Dronachrya, like Karna, due to the earlier commitment to Hastinapur (or whoever was the ruler of Hastinapur at the time) ended  up in the Mahabharata war on the side of prince Duryodhana who exercised power in Hastinapur on behalf of his blind father king Dhritrashtra.

Incidentally, because of the condition of Dronachrya's job with Hastinapur king to teach princes (Pandavas and Kauravas) exclusively (without taking any additional students for martial arts training) and always look after the welfare of Hastinapur royals, Dronachrya also had to refuse Eklavya initially to teach him archery and later (after Eklavya learnt archery anyway using Dronacharya's name / image without permission) make Eklavya cut-off his archers' thumb thus eliminating Eklavya's archery skill, lest Eklavya (Dronacharya's illegal student:  having learnt archery in Dronacharya's name / image without permission) posed threat / competition against Hastinapur's princes (future royals) which would be considered a violation of Dronacharya's exclusive contract with Hastinapur royals leading to serious consequences for him (Dronacharya had been hired to train Hastinapur princes exclusively and always look after the welfare of Hastinapur kingdom, any violation of which would result in his dismissal from job and worse, including being exiled or losing life).
Seva Lamberdar
Seva Lamberdar

Posts : 6567
Join date : 2012-11-29

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bYp0igbxHcmg1G1J-qw0VUBSn7Fu

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Post by Seva Lamberdar Sun Apr 03, 2022 9:06 am

The prevailing thinking among some people seems to be that it was the great affection of Dronacharya for prince Arjuna (Dronacharya's archery student) and the desire to not have any potential competition or threat against Arjuna from anyone, which led Dronacharya to make Eklavya lose his archer's thumb (after Dronacharya found out that Eklavya had learnt archery using Dronacharya's name / image without permission, especially after Dronacharya had refused him initially for archery training). But that makes little sense considering Dronacharya later opted to fight in the battle at Kurukshetra (the Mahabharata war) on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas (the ruling Royals at the time) against Arjuna and Pandavas while even leading the Kaurava army as general (Senapati) for some time.

Needless to say, if Dronacharya was really committed in love / affection towards Arjuna so as to have Eklavya's archer's thumb removed to eliminate potential competition and threat against Arjuna (as some people mistakenly think), then Dronacharya would have chosen to fight in the Mahabharata war on Arjuna's (Pandavas) side and not be on the side of Arjuna's enemies (Duryodhana and the Kauravas) as happened in reality.

It is clear from the above that whatever Dronacharya opted to do with regards to Eklavya (refusing him initially the archery training and later having his archer's thumb removed, after finding out about Eklavaya's indiscretion in learning archery in Dronacharya's name / image without permission) and fighting on the side of Kauravas (the ruling Royals in Hastinapur) against Pandavas (including Arjuna) in the Kurukshetra battle, it had more to do with Dronachrya's exclusive contract with the Hastinapur Royals (including train / teach the Hastinapur princes exclusively and always ensure the well-being of ruling Royals).
Seva Lamberdar
Seva Lamberdar

Posts : 6567
Join date : 2012-11-29

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bYp0igbxHcmg1G1J-qw0VUBSn7Fu

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Karna and Dronacharya fighting on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata Empty Re: Karna and Dronacharya fighting on the side of Duryodhana and Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata

Post by Seva Lamberdar Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:31 am

Needless to say, Dronacharya could not find work (job) anywhere and he could not afford to support his wife and young son (Ashwathama).

Donacharya finally reached Hasinapur looking for work, where he was able able to get a job in teaching archery to Hastinapur's princes (Kauravas and Pandavas) exclusively (only).

It was the nature of Dronacharya's exclusive contract with Hastinapur Royals, which made him refuse teaching archery to Eklavya and others (non-Royals in Hastinapur) and even have Eklavya's thumb removed when Eklavya learnt archery anyway using Dronacharya's name / image without prior permission; especially, after Eklavya had been refused as potential student by Dronacharya, because doing otherwise (accepting Eklavya as his student) would be Dronachrya's violation of his exclusive contract with Hastinapur Royals (his employer) resulting in his losing the job and worse (physical punishment, including exile or death of Dronacharya).
Seva Lamberdar
Seva Lamberdar

Posts : 6567
Join date : 2012-11-29

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bYp0igbxHcmg1G1J-qw0VUBSn7Fu

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