Mb014. Drona's Revenge On King Durpada Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

MAHABHARATA

Almost the training was over.
It was time to pay the teacher
Guru Dakshina namely fees,
By all the outgoing trainees.

The Kauravas and Pandavas
They left it to Drona's choice
What his need was to specify,
For them to pay and glorify.

Gold wasn't in his mind,
Or treasure, any such kind.
This was a chance golden,
King Drupada to dethrone.

The king, once his classmate,
Threw him out of palace gate,
For help he went there when,
As a needy poor Brahmin.

"I've no other choice now.
Defeat Drupada somehow.
Fight with him with no fear.
As a captive bring him here."

To fulfill this Guru's demand.
And true to his command,
With an army they all left.
For days went their fight.

Arjuna got him in a combat.
He presented Guru this gift.
Happy became Drona at last,
To see the king at his feet.

"At your doors when I came,
Your Majesty forgot my name.
Now you wait at my feet,
As a captive facing defeat."

"You're now what, once a king
A poor man I was, now a king.
The time cycle plays how?
You can as well see now."

"Hatred or revenge to entertain,
It's no good for a poor Brahmin.
Back you take your kingdom,
I grant you now your freedom."

With these words Drona sent,
With full honours he also went
Not with a feeling of gratitude,
But with a vindictive attitude.

He had a son Dhristadyumna,
One destined to kill Drona,
And Sikhandini a daughter,
Born to kill Bhisma later.

Amba was born as Sikhandini.
Later she became Sikhandi
Neither a woman nor a man,
To kill Bhisma was the plan.

Born out of sacrificial fire,
Draupadi daughter one more,
Later to become Arjuna's wife,
But she shared five brothers' life.

Mahabharata, a story inter-woven
Around revenge and retaliation,
Besides challenge and retribution,
Confrontation, violence in addition.

A long story of royal races it tells.
How Adharma at the end fails?
How Dharma finally wins?
The glory of the past it reveals.

Lord Krishna stands at the center,
Around Him goes peace and war,
The selfish villains die at one end,
The nobles survive at the other end.

The women's tears of those days
Speak volumes of their sad days.
Yet, this epic story stood the test
Of the time since centuries past.