Gita 01.06 Duryodhana diplomatically continues to incite Drona against the Pandava army

So, we will discuss that in the future talks.

Thank you. Sarva-Eva Maharatha Here, Duryodhana is continuing his description of the opposing forces to Drona. And one consistent theme that we see in all the verses that he has spoken in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.5.6 is a reference to Drupada.

Here also, he uses various warriors. But he refers to Drupada. He says, Saubhadra, Drupada, Sarva-Eva Maharatha I mentioned several of the names.

Vidamanya-Shivakranta, Uttamauja-Shiv-Evamara He offers honorifics to Vidamanya and Uttamauja as heroic or advent victorious. But then, Saubhadra-Drupada-Yasya So, the son of Subhadra is there. And the sons of Drupada are also there.

So, now Drupada could be referred to by the name Panchali. Drupada could be referred to by many other names also. But here, specifically, he refers to her by her connection with Drupada because he wants to incite Drona.

Drona and Bhishma are the two persons who are most prominent warriors on his side but whose sympathy for his cause is questionable for Duryodhana. So, here, by reminding that the opposite forces are the forces on the side of Drupada or Drupada is in the opposite forces Drona is trying to trigger antagonism in the mind of Drona towards the enemies towards the opposing side. At that time, the Kuru kingdom and the Panchala kingdom were the two most powerful kingdoms in that part of India at that time in history.

And at one level, there was naturally a rivalry between the two kingdoms. But when Pandu's son Arjuna won Draupadi in Swayamvar and when the Pandavas married Draupadi then that created an alliance between the Kuru's and the Panchala's. By here, the word Kuru, although we usually use it to refer to Kauravas but even the Pandavas are in one sense Kauravas because they are descendants of the Kuru dynasty.

However, because it was the sons of Duryodhana who were the rulers who were sitting on the Kuru throne or who had possession of the Kuru throne whose father had the possession of the Kuru throne so they are generally referred to as the Kauravas. But the Pandavas are also descendants of the Kuru dynasty so they are also Kauravas. So, in a sense, these two big dynasties the Kuru dynasty and the Panchala dynasty through marriage, an alliance was formed between the two.

In the past, marriages were often ways in which ways in which treaties would be solidified because even if somebody makes a commitment that we will be together, what is the guarantee that they will be together? What is the guarantee that tomorrow somebody may not defect? But if there is a blood relationship formed if a marriage happens between two kingdoms, two dynasties and then they have a child through that dynasty, through that marriage then both have affection for that child and thus the military alliances are solidified through family alliances. However, in this case, the Kuru dynasty itself was split. So, Panchala kingdom alliance became not with the Kuru dynasty but with one chain within the Kuru dynasty and that chain was the Pandava chain.

One line within the Kuru dynasty. So, now Drona was the teacher for the Kuru dynasty officially and he had some antipathy for Drupada from a long time. So, normally whenever any conflict happens there are main protagonists between whom the conflict takes place but then all those who assist them they all have their individual dynamic in the relationship.

So, if you consider these three parties here the Panchala party, the Pandava party and the Kaurava party So, Drona was on the Kaurava side right now as far as fighting the war was concerned. His heart was on the Pandava side but his heart was also against the Panchala side and on the opposite side were both the Pandavas and the Panchalas. In terms of military might, in terms of individual expertise Arjuna and Bhima were far better than Drupada but in terms of military power because the Pandavas had been exiled so they didn't have any army with them.

So, Drupada had provided them an entire regiment. So, normally when an army is fighting against another army say if we consider, we could compare the war at that time with sports match in today's world. So, if we have say a cricket match then within the main match between say India and Pakistan then there are subplots where there is a particular bowler and a particular batsman they pair off against each other.

The bowler has a track record of getting this batsman out or the batsman may have a track record of pesting the bowler and scoring a lot of runs of that bowler. So, often these subplots add intrigue and drama to the main plot. So, now in this case the subplot is twofold that on the opposite side there are Panchalas and Pandavas.

Drona is affectionate towards the Pandavas but antagonistic towards the Panchalas and by drawing the attention of Drona towards the Panchalas towards Drupada specifically not just the whole Panchala dynasty but specifically Drupada in that dynasty by that here Duryodhana is very diplomatically trying to get Drona to become antagonistic towards the opposite side by focusing on the presence of Drupada and those related with Drupada over there rather than focusing on the Pandavas and those related with the Pandavas. So, Duryodhana knows how to incite people's emotions so that they can work for him instead of against him. Politicians in general have to have that power to get people to follow them and while people can be persuaded by reason people can be persuaded or incited far more by emotion that means by making a reasonable argument we might be able to get people to do something but if you can get people emotionally connected and emotionally involved in something then getting them to do something is much easier.

So, here Drona's emotions are already involved but by highlighting Drupada instead of Pandavas he is trying to get his emotions involved in a way that will work for his cause instead of against his cause. Saubhadra, Drupada, Sarva, Eva, Maharatha they are all great warriors. It's interesting that right in the beginning while making the list while he mentions Drupada now Drupada had five sons, one through each husband and they are affected collectively as the sons of Draupadi and before that he uses the word Saubhadra Abhimanyu was young, Arjuna married Draupadi first and then he married Subhadra so Draupadi's sons were older than Subhadra's son and at one level Subhadra's son because he is much more heroic and as will be seen later in the battle where he becomes a stinging thorn in the side of the Kauravas by his heroic fighting here he mentions him first among that younger generation that Abhimanyu first but then in communication it is also said that what we mention first in a sentence or what we mention last in a sentence that is what stays prominently in people's minds because in between there is so much that may not stay in people's minds so the last thing that he uses is Drupada Drupadeyastra so again that connection with Drupada is what Duryodhana is using to incite Drona to fight against him.