DRONACHARYA.

  Droņa or Rajaguru Devadrona was the royal preceptor to the Kauravasand Pandavas; an avatar of Brihaspati. He is the friend of Guru Sukracharya, the teacher for Asura Mahabali. 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 Đroņä was not born from a womb, but from a vessel made of leaf, he was named 'Đroņä' which means 'vessel made of leaf'. The story of Đroņä's birth is related dramatically to the Mahabharata. Bharadwaja Rřshi went with his companions to the Ganga River to perform his ablutions. There he was beheld by the beauty of a beautiful apsara named Ghritachi who had come to bathe. The sage was overcome by desire, causing him to produce semen involuntarily out of excitement. Bharadwaja Muni captured the semen in a vessel called a Đroņa, and Đroņācharya himself sprang from the semen thus preserved and is the only recorded mythical human being who was created without a female egg (ovum). Đroņächarya 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 in the gurukul of Rishi Bharadwaja. Drupada and Đroņācharya became close friends.

 Drona decides to continue Parashurama's legacy by starting his own school. He uproots his family and begins wandering Northern India. While at Hastinapur, he comes across the Kuru princes at play, and is able to use his abilities to help the princes solve some of their problems. Amazed, the princes go to their patriarch Bhisma with news of this magician.

Bhishma instantly realized that this was Drona, and asked him to become the Guru of the Kuru princes, training them in advanced military arts.

Of all the Kaurava and Pandava brothers training under Drona, Arjuna emerged as the most dedicated, hard-working and most naturally talented of them all, exceeding even Drona's own son Ashwatthama. Arjuna assiduously served his teacher, who was greatly impressed by his devoted pupil. Arjuna surpassed Drona's expectations in numerous challenges. As a reward, Drona gave Arjuna mantras to invoke the super-powerful divine weapon of Brahma known as Brahmāstra, but told Arjuna not to use this invincible weapon against any ordinary warrior.

A strong criticism of Dronacharya springs from his behavior towards Ekalavya and his strong bias in favor of Arjuna. Drona was partial especially to Arjuna and Ashwatthama. Drona dearly loved his son Ashwatthama and as a guru, he loved Arjuna more than anyone.

Ekalavya was the son of a Nishadha chief (tribal), who came to Dronacharya for instruction. Dronacharya refused to train him along with the kṣatriya princes because Ekalavya was not a kṣatriya prince. In addition, Eklavya's father was a commander of the Kingdom of Magadha, which was ruled by Emperor Jarasandha. At that time, Jarasandha had been building an empire in East-India; relations between Hastinapur and Magadha were rough. Drona feared that Eklavya would have become an unconquerable warrior for a rival army and felt an obligation to defend the land that gave him asylum, even at the cost of teacher-student ethics. Hence Drona rejected the request of Eklavya to be his teacher. Ekalavya began study and practice by himself, having fashioned a clay image of Dronacharya. Solely by his determination, Ekalavya became a warrior of exceptional prowess, with abilities to be better than the young Arjuna.

Drona visited Ekalavya with the princes. Ekalavya promptly greeted Drona as his guru. Dronacharya asked Ekalavya for a Daksina. When Ekalavya promised anything, Dronacharya asked for Ekalavya's right thumb. Though his expression faltering, after confirming the request, Ekalavya unhesitatingly cut it off and handed it to Dronacharya, despite knowing that this would irreparably hamper his archery skills. Cunningly Drona both defends his promise to Arjuna as well as his obligation to protect Hastinapur by disarming a potential threat. 

He remains a revered figure in Hindu history, and a pillar of the Indian tradition of respecting one's teacher as an equal not only of parents, but even of God. The Government of India annually awards the Dronacharya Award for excellence in sports tutelage to the best sports teachers and coaches in India.

It is believed that the city of Gurgaon (literally - "Village of the Guru") was founded as "Guru Gram" by Dronacharya on land given to him by Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapura in recognition of his teachings of martial arts to the princes, and the 'Dronacharya Tank', still exists within the Gurgaon city, along with a village called Gurgaon. Indian Government (Haryana), decided to reinstate and change the name of Gurgaon to 'Gurugram'.