Book 7 of 18 · The Mahabharata

Drona Parva

द्रोण पर्व

Droṇa Parva

The Book of Drona

What is the Drona Parva?

The Drona Parva (द्रोण पर्व) is the seventh of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. Its name means “Book of Drona”, and this site tells 11 stories drawn from it.

Drona Parva Summary

Days eleven to fifteen, with the teacher Drona commanding the Kaurava army and hunting Yudhishthira. On the thirteenth day the sixteen year old Abhimanyu breaks into the chakravyuha formation alone and is killed by six warriors at once, and Arjuna swears to kill Jayadratha before the next sunset or burn himself alive. The fourteenth day runs on into a night battle in which Ghatotkacha forces Karna to spend the infallible spear saved for Arjuna. Drona is finally stopped by a half truth about Ashvatthama spoken by Yudhishthira, and drops his weapons to die in meditation as Dhrishtadyumna strikes.

What This Book Is About

  • the teacher
  • chakravyuha
  • vows
  • deception
  • night battle

Stories from the Drona Parva

11 stories on this site are told inside this book, in canonical reading order.

  1. The Oath of the DoomedSusharma and the Samsaptakas - the Army That Swore to Die 19 min
  2. The Elephant King of the EastBhagadatta, Supratika, and the Missile Krishna Took on His Chest 20 min
  3. Abhimanyu and the WheelThe boy who could enter the formation but not leave it 10 min
  4. The Valiant SonAbhimanyu's story teaches us that true courage is not the absence of fear, but action in the face of certain death. 16 min
  5. The Maiden Named DeathHow Death came into the world, weeping and without sin 10 min
  6. The Sun That SetArjuna's sunset vow and Krishna's hidden sun 10 min
  7. The Severed ArmTwo breaches of the code in a single combat 11 min
  8. The Spear Meant for ArjunaThe Death of Ghatotkacha 11 min
  9. The Weapon That Could Not Be FacedAshvatthama's irresistible astra, undone by submission 11 min
  10. The Fall of the GuruThe Half-Lie of the Dharma King 20 min
  11. Arjuna's Vow and the Fall of DronaJayadratha, the Night Battle of Ghatotkacha, and the Lie That Killed a Teacher 20 min

Where This Book Sits

The Drona Parva is book 7 of the eighteen parvas. It follows the Bhishma Parva, the book of bhishma. The Karna Parva, the book of karna, comes next.

See all eighteen parvas of the MahabharataFollow the epic as a timeline