Drupada

Drupada was the king of Pāñcāla and the son of Pṛshata. As a boy he studied with Droṇa in the āśrama (hermitage) of the ṛshi Agniveśa, and the two were close friends. When Droṇa later came to him in poverty, Drupada turned him away. This insult began the long quarrel between Droṇa and Drupada. Droṇa taught the Kuru and Pāṇḍava princes and asked as his guru-dakshiṇā (teacher’s gift) that Drupada be captured. Arjuna captured Drupada and brought him before Droṇa, who divided Drupada’s kingdom and sent him home.

Drupada burned with shame. He resolved to get a son through yajña (a fire ritual) who could kill Droṇa. That resolve led to the birth of Dhṛshṭadyumna and Draupadī.

The childhood promise

Drupada and Droṇa studied together as boys in the āśrama of the ṛshi Agniveśa. They were close friends. The young Drupada, still a prince, said to Droṇa in the warmth of their friendship: “When I become king, half of my kingdom is yours.”

The rejection of Droṇa

Drupada became king of Pāñcāla. Droṇa by then was poor, and his wife and son suffered for lack of food. He remembered the promise and went to Drupada’s court. He named himself, recalled their friendship and the old promise, and asked Drupada to keep it.

Drupada looked at this poor brāhmaṇa in open court and made his view plain. Old school friendships meant nothing across differences of rank. Friendship was possible between equals. A king could not have a pauper as a friend. He gave Droṇa a meal and sent him away.

Droṇa left in quiet anger. He had decided that he would find the means to repay the insult.

Capture by Arjuna

When Droṇa had finished training the Kuru and Pāṇḍava princes, he told them his guru-dakshiṇā. They must capture Drupada alive and bring him before him. The Kauravas attacked first, and Drupada’s forces drove them back. Then Arjuna led the Pāṇḍavas. He defeated Drupada’s champion Satyajit. He fought Drupada himself, broke his bow and killed his horses and charioteer. Then, as he did not wish to kill him, he leaped onto Drupada’s chariot and seized him with his own hands. Arjuna brought the captured king before Droṇa.

Droṇa’s settlement and Drupada’s vow

Droṇa looked at the captured Drupada without anger. He smiled and said: “You once said kings cannot befriend paupers. Very well. I have made us equals. I take the northern half of Pāñcāla, with Ahicchatra as my seat. I give the southern half, with Kāmpilya, back to you. Now we are both kings. Now we can be friends again.” He set Drupada free.

Drupada accepted this settlement, but he was not at peace. He was full of burning shame. A student had captured him, and a brāhmaṇa who had once been his equal in the same āśrama had sent him home. He resolved to find, through tapas (austerity) and yajña, a son who would grow up able to kill Droṇācārya. He began to look for ṛshis powerful enough to perform such a yajña. This led to the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña that produced Dhṛshṭadyumna and Draupadī.

In the Sabhā Parva

In the Anudyūta Parva, Chapter 80, Droṇa speaks to the Kaurava court after the Pāṇḍavas have left for their forest exile. He names Drupada as the main support of the Pāṇḍava side. Droṇa says: “Drupada, the son of Pṛshata, destroyer of great enemies, has joined the Pāṇḍava side. With such a shield behind them, and with Arjuna ready to give his own life, what greater grief could await me than battle against such a union?”

In the same speech Droṇa says that Yāja and Upayāja performed the fire-rite from which Dhṛshṭadyumna and Draupadī were born.

The Udyoga Parva: the wise counsellor

At the council of war at Virāṭa, Drupada spoke with the most experience in strategy. Balarāma argued for peace and Sātyaki argued for war at once. Drupada offered a middle course. First, as a duty of dharma, a trusted brāhmaṇa envoy should be sent to Hastināpura. At the same time, all forces should be gathered. The envoy was Drupada’s own purohita (household priest). He was sent to the court of Dhṛtarāshṭra, where he stated the Pāṇḍava position clearly and with authority.

Drupada’s reasoning was that the sāma-upāya (the way of conciliation) should be tried first. Then, if Duryodhana refused the offer of peace, the blame for the war would fall wholly on him. Drupada also advised sending messengers to the allied kings at the same moment, so that by the time the embassy failed, the preparations for war would be well under way.

The Strī Parva: among the fallen kings

In the Strī Vilāpa Parva, Drupada is among the kings whose bodies lie on the field of Kurukshetra. He was killed in the war by Droṇācārya, his lifelong opponent. Drupada had arranged the yajña that produced Dhṛshṭadyumna for the very purpose of Droṇa’s death. Drupada died at the hand of Droṇa, and Droṇa died at the hand of Dhṛshṭadyumna. Gāndhārī’s walk across the field in the Strī Parva passed the bodies of both sides, and Drupada was among the dead.

The Āśramavāsika Parva: the meeting at the Gaṅgā

In Chapter 32, Vyāsa called up the whole host of the fallen at the Gaṅgā. Drupada rose from the sacred waters with his sons. He was young again and free of enmity, even toward Droṇa, whose humiliation and death had once set their two houses at war. He spent one night in reunion and then returned to his loka (world).

The Svargārohaṇa Parva: joining the Viśvedevas

When Yudhishṭhira reached svarga (heaven), he asked Nārada where Virāṭa, Drupada, Dhṛshṭaketu and the other kings had gone. The closing chapter of the epic gives the answer. At the end of his deeds on earth, the king of Pāñcāla joined the Viśvedevas, together with Virāṭa and the assembled elders. So the father of Dhṛshṭadyumna and Draupadī, whose long enmity with Droṇa had shaped the war, passed beyond all enmity into the company of the Viśvedevas.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapter 138
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Anudyūta Parva, Chapter 80
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 1–4
• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapters 16–25
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 32
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 1, 5