|
90.DRONA PASSES AWAY
Dronacharya asked
addressing Dharmaputra.
The acharya thought that Yudhishthira
would not utter an untruth, even for the
kingship of the three worlds.
When Drona asked thus, Krishna was
terribly perturbed. "If Yudhishthira fails
us now and shrinks from uttering an
untruth, we are lost. Drona's Brahmastra is
of unquenchable potency and the
Pandavas will be destroyed," he said.
And Yudhishthira himself stood trembling
in horror of what he was about to do, but
within him also was the desire to win.
"Let it be my sin," he said to himself and
hardened his heart, and said aloud: "Yes,
it is true that Aswatthama has been
killed."
But, as he was saying it, he felt again the
disgrace of it and added in a low and
tremulous voice, "Aswatthama, the
elephant" words which were however
drowned in the din and were not heard by
Drona.
"O king, thus was a great sin committed,"
said Sanjaya to the blind Dhritarashtra,
while relating the events of the battle to
him.
When the words of untruth came out of
Yudhishthira's mouth, the wheels of his
chariot, which until then always stood and
moved four inches above the ground and
never touched it at once came down and
touched the earth.
Yudhishthira, who till then had stood
apart from the world so full of untruth,
suddenly became of the earth, earthy. He
too desired victory and slipped into the
way of untruth and so his chariot came
down to the common road of mankind.
When Drona heard that his beloved son
had been slain, all his attachment to life
snapped. And desire vanished as if it had
never been there. When the veteran was in
that mood, Bhimasena loudly spoke
indicting him in harsh words:
"You brahmanas, abandoning the
legitimate functions of your varna and
taking to the Kshatriya profession of arms,
have brought ruin to princes. If you
brahmanas had not gone astray from the
duties belonging to you by birth, the
princes would not have been led to this
destruction. You teach that non-killing is
the highest dharma and that the brahmana
is the supporter and nourisher of that
dharma. Yet, you have rejected that
wisdom which is yours by birth, and
shamelessly undertaken the profession of
killing. It was our misfortune that you
descended to this sinful life."
These taunts of Bhimasena caused
excruciating pain to Drona who had
already lost the will to live. He threw his
weapons away and sat down in yoga on
the floor of his chariot and was soon in a
trance.
At this moment Dhrishtadyumna with
drawn sword, came and climbed in to the
chariot and heedless of cries of horror and
deprecation from all around he fulfilled
his destiny as the slayer of Drona by
sweeping off the old warrior's head. And
the soul of the son of Bharadwaja issued
out in a visible blaze of fight and mounted
heavenwards.
|
|