Kṛpī
Kṛpī
Kṛpī is the wife of Droṇācārya and the mother of Aśvatthāmā. She is the twin sister of Kṛpa (Kṛpācārya) and the daughter of the ṛshi Śaradvān. She and her brother were found by King Śāntanu and raised in the royal household of Hastināpura. The Agni Purāṇa gives her and Kṛpa as twins born to Satyadhṛk, the son of Śatānanda and grandson of Gautama.
Kṛpī is known for her pativratā (devotion to her husband) and for her grief. In the Strī Parva of the Mahābhārata she is seen at Droṇa’s funeral pyre. Her hair is matted like that of a brāhmaṇa renunciant. She lies on the ground in sorrow and performs the rites for her husband after Dhṛshṭadyumna killed him in battle.
Birth and origin
Kṛpī and her twin brother Kṛpa were born in unusual circumstances. Their father, the ṛshi Śaradvān, was a master of archery and tapas (austerity). Indra sent the apsaras Jānapadī to disturb his tapas. Śaradvān’s seed then fell upon a cluster of śara (arrow-reed) grass, and a boy and a girl were born from the reeds.
King Śāntanu found the infants while hunting. He took them to Hastināpura and raised them in the palace. The boy was named Kṛpa because he was raised through kṛpā (compassion). The girl received the feminine form of the same name, Kṛpī.
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
Marriage to Droṇa
Kṛpī was married to Droṇācārya, the son of the ṛshi Bharadvāja. She bore Droṇa a son, Aśvatthāmā, who became one of the greatest warriors of the time of the Mahābhārata.
At Droṇa’s funeral pyre
In the Strī Parva, chapter 23, Gāndhārī goes over the battlefield and comes to Droṇa‘s body. There she finds Kṛpī at his side. The text describes her with jaṭā (matted braids, the mark of a renunciant), her hair loosened by grief, fallen on the earth beside her husband. She cannot stand, because grief has taken all her strength.
Gāndhārī speaks of Kṛpī to Kṛshṇa. She asks him to look at this brāhmaṇa woman of the highest lineage, a renunciant by nature, in such a state of ruin. Even in this extreme grief, Kṛpī is trying to perform the funeral rites for her husband.
Droṇa’s disciples, brāhmaṇas who had studied under him, built the pyre. They used the materials of war: broken arrows, spears and the frames of chariots. Sāmaveda chants were sung, and the three kinds of Sāman were recited. The disciples walked around the fire in the direction used for funeral rites, apradakshiṇa (the counter-clockwise direction used in funeral rites). Kṛpī led the funeral procession toward the Gaṅgā.
Droṇa as teacher of both sides
Droṇa was the teacher of both sides in the war. On the Pāṇḍava side, Arjuna and Dhṛshṭadyumna were among the students whose skill he had shaped, and Dhṛshṭadyumna brought about his death. His funeral chants were sung by his disciples. His pyre was built from the weapons of war that he had taught them to use.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 23
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 278