Dronacharya

Drona
Droņacharya as commander-in-chief of the Kaurava armies
Information
Spouse(s)	Kripi
Children	Ashwatthama

In the epic Mahabharata, Droņa (Sanskrit: द्रोण, Droņa) or Droņacharya or Guru Droņa was the royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandavas and incarnation of Brahma; an avatar of Brihaspati. He was the son of rishi Bharadwaja and a descendant of the sage Angirasa. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras.

Since Drona was not born from a womb, but from a vessel made of leaf, he was named 'Drona' which means 'vessel made of leaf'.

The story of Drona's birth is related dramatically in Mahabharata. Bharadwaja went with his companions to the Ganga River to perform his ablutions. There he beheld a beautiful apsara named Ghritachi who had come to bathe. The sage was overcome by desire, causing him to produce a reproductive fluid. Bharadwaja Muni captured the fluid in a vessel called a Drona, and Dronacharya himself sprang from the fluid thus preserved. Dronacharya spent his youth in poverty, but studied Dharma and military arts such as archery, in which he gained expertise, together with the then prince of Panchala, Drupada. Drupada and Dronacharya became close friends.

Dronacharya married Kripi, the sister of Kripa, the royal teacher of the princes of Hastinapura. Like Drona himself, Kripi and her brother had not been gestated in a womb, but outside the human body. Kripi and Drona had a son, Ashwatthama; Drona did penance so that his son would be as valiant as Shiva.