Kṛpācārya
Kṛpācārya · kṛpa-ācārya, “the teacher Kṛpa”
Kṛpācārya, also called Kṛpa or Śāradvata, was the weapons teacher of the Kuru princes before Droṇācārya came. After Droṇa came, he stayed on as co-teacher and as an authority on ceremony. The name means “compassion” (kṛpa) and “teacher” (ācārya).
He was the son of the ṛshi Śaradvān and an apsarā (a heavenly woman), and he was born in the forest together with his twin sister Kṛpī. King Śantanu found the children and raised them. Kṛpī married Droṇa and became the mother of Aśvatthāmā, so Kṛpa became Droṇa’s brother-in-law.
The Mahābhārata counts him among the immortals (cirajīvins) who do not die. He is present at all the major assemblies of the epic.
The Agni Purāṇa gives him as a twin with Kṛpī, born to Satyadhṛk, the son of Śatānanda and grandson of Gautama, and names him among the three on the Kaurava side who came alive out of the great war.
Birth and origin
Kṛpācārya and his twin sister Kṛpī were born to the ṛshi Śaradvata (also called Śaradvān), a son of Gautama. Śaradvata was a great archer who had mastered the science of weapons through tapas (austerity). He saw the apsarā Jānapadī and was overcome. His seed fell on a clump of reeds in the forest. From that seed two children were born, a boy (Kṛpa) and a girl (Kṛpī). The Kuru king found them and brought them up in the royal household.
The boy became Kṛpācārya, the weapons teacher of the Kuru princes. The girl Kṛpī married Droṇācārya and bore him Aśvatthāmā.
Per Agni Purāṇa, in the Pūru vaṃśa, Ahalyā bore Śatānanda to Śaradvān, that is Gautama. To Śatānanda was born a son, Satyadhṛk, and to Satyadhṛk were born twins, a son, Kṛpa, and a daughter, Kṛpī.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 278
At the āstra-darśana
Kṛpācārya’s best-known part in the Sambhava Parva is at the āstra-darśana, the public display of arms in which the princes showed their training. Karṇa came uninvited and matched Arjuna‘s feats shot for shot. Then he called Arjuna to single combat.
Kṛpācārya spoke up and named the correct rule. Before any duel, the lineage and rank of both fighters must be known, and a king may fight only a king. What was Karṇa’s lineage? He was known as the son of a charioteer, so he could not meet Arjuna as an equal. Duryodhana at once answered by crowning Karṇa king of Aṅga on the spot.
At the dice game
In the Dyūta Parva of the Sabhā Parva, Kṛpācārya is among the elders who came into the dice-game assembly avāṃśyan, “without desire”, unwillingly. The text counts him with Bhīshma, Droṇa and Vidura as men who came because they were bound by the king’s command and the order of the Kuru court. They did not approve of what was about to happen.
At the vastraharaṇa (the pulling at Draupadī‘s clothes), when Draupadī was dragged into the hall, Kṛpa was among those who covered their faces and could not watch. He sweated and looked away.
In the Anudyūta Parva, Kṛpa is listed among those who spoke against the second dice game and asked for peace. His voice was overruled by Dhṛtarāshṭra, as were the voices of Bhīshma, Droṇa, Vidura, Somadatta, Bāhlīka, Yuyutsu and Vikarṇa.
Yudhishṭhira also names him when he leaves. Before going to the forest, Yudhishṭhira takes formal leave of Kṛpa as one of the senior teachers of the Kuru house.
Kṛpa in the Sauptika Parva
After the gadāyuddha (the mace duel), Kṛpācārya was one of the three Kaurava warriors who were left alive. Aśvatthāmā proposed to attack the sleeping Pāñcāla camp. Kṛpa argued against it at length, twice, in two long speeches.
In his first speech (Chapter 2) he set out the case from dharma. Attacking sleeping men breaks every rule of war (yuddha-niyama) without exception. Daiva (fate) is the highest power and has already settled the result of the war. The Kaurava cause is finished, whatever three men may do against a sleeping army. He urged them to go to Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī for counsel, or to give themselves up honourably to the Pāṇḍavas. He spoke at length on daiva and purushakāra (fate and a person’s own effort). He concluded that to act against the rules of dharma, when fate has already ruled against you, is both useless and shameful.
Aśvatthāmā rejected these words. Kṛpa then made them again in a second, longer speech (Chapter 4). He proposed that they wait for dawn and meet the enemy in open battle. This was refused as well. Kṛtavarman said he would follow Aśvatthāmā wherever he led. Kṛpa finally went with them, held by the bonds of kinship and loyalty, though he never approved of the act.
His part in the killing was to guard the exits of the camp with Kṛtavarman. Aśvatthāmā went in alone and killed. Kṛpa and Kṛtavarman made sure that no one who ran could get away. Every warrior who reached the gates was cut down. By dawn not one man of the Pāñcāla-Sṛñjaya army had escaped.
Kṛpa then went with Aśvatthāmā and Kṛtavarman to report to the dying Duryodhana. He spoke a lament (śoka) over Duryodhana’s fallen state before Aśvatthāmā told of the killing.
Per Agni Purāṇa, from that battle only three came out alive on the Kaurava side: Kṛtavarmā, Kṛpācārya and Aśvatthāmā. On the Pāṇḍava side only seven remained: the five Pāṇḍavas, Sātyaki and Śrī Kṛshṇa. No one else remained.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 14
Strī Parva: leaving Hastināpura
Chapter 11 of the Strī Parva records the departure from Hastināpura of the three surviving Kaurava warriors: Aśvatthāmā, Kṛpācārya and Kṛtavarman. They had reported to Dhṛtarāshṭra and done their last duties to the fallen. Then they left the city. Their going marked the complete end of the Kaurava army at Hastināpura. Of the great army that had gathered at Kurukshetra, these three alone remained on the Kaurava side.
Āśramavāsika Parva: with Dhṛtarāshṭra at his departure
Kṛpācārya stayed close to Dhṛtarāshṭra through the fifteen years the old king lived at Hastināpura after the war. When Dhṛtarāshṭra received leave to go to the forest, Kṛpācārya walked beside him, with Sañjaya and Vidura, back to his own house. There Dhṛtarāshṭra gave his discourse on rājanīti (the conduct of kings) to Yudhishṭhira.
Mahā Prasthānika Parva: Parīkshit as his pupil
The Mahā Prasthānika Parva (Chapter 1) names Kṛpācārya as one of the three immortal warriors who lived through the great war. He was at Hastināpura when the Pāṇḍavas set out on their great departure. All the citizens honoured him, and Yudhishṭhira revered him. Before leaving, Yudhishṭhira gave the young king Parīkshit to him as a pupil.
The citizens followed the departing Pāṇḍavas as far as they could and then turned back. Kṛpa and the others went back to the city, taking Yuyutsu with them, to guide the rule of the realm under the new king.
Place in the Mahābhārata
Kṛpācārya is one of the few figures who pass through the whole epic. He taught both sides, lived through the war, and carried on afterward. The Ādi Parva counts him among the seven Ciraṃjīvins (immortals) and so he continues beyond the events of the epic.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 129–130 (birth, and the āstra-darśana)
- Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Dyūta Parva and Anudyūta Parva (the dice games)
- Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 1–9 (Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 for Kṛpa’s speeches)
- Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 11
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 1–5
- Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 14, 278