Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata, Part A

 Character Analysis: Drona

Major actions/plot involvement: Drona first appears in the epic when he uses blades of grass to create a make-shift rope to get a fallen ball for the Pandavas and Kauravas. This impresses the princes so much that they make Drona their guru, which satisfies Drona's original intent of arriving in the kingdom to find work. He teaches all of the boys, but it becomes clear that Arjuna is the most talented, and Arjuna is the only one who gives the right answer to Drona's archery "test," where apparently they were only supposed to focus on a fake bird's eye and ignore the rest of the scene (maybe some sort of exercise in complete focus?). Next, Drone gets ambushed by a crocodile, and Arjuna saves him with his archery skills. As a reward, Drona teaches Arjuna about some secret weapon that gives him David-vs-Goliath powers but cannot be used against a weak opponent or it would act like a nuclear bomb. Later, the epic tells about Drona refusing to teach a different, non-royal boy, and this boy builds a statue that looks like Drona and becomes an even better archer than Arjuna, which makes Arjuna jealous. Drona then essentially manipulates this poor boy into cutting off his thumb for Drona's "guru fee" even though Drona didn't teach the kid anything. Finally, Drona organizes a tournament to show off the princes' improvement, and then as another "guru fee" makes them capture another king that he has beef with (Drupada) so he can take half his kingdom.

Strengths: Very skilled warrior, must have good organizing skills to teach like one hundred boys at the same time

Flaws: Huge jerk for manipulating a boy to cut off his thumb when he became a better archer than Drona's best student, after refusing to teach him in the first place

General Thoughts: Drona is not cool. I do not have respect for him as a teacher or as a person. It seems like he just wants to manipulate everyone for selfish gain.

(Image Info: Blade of grass by ben_kitchener3, no changes; Source: Wikimedia; License: here)

Bibliography: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs, Part A (stories 1-50), specifically the tales that relate to Drona