महर्षिस् तु भरद्वाजो हविर्धाने चरन् पुरा ॥
ददर्शाप्सरसं साक्षाद् घृताचीम् आप्लुताम् ऋषिः ॥
तस्या वायुः समुद्धूतो वसनं व्यपकर्षत ॥
ततो ऽस्य रेतश् चस्कन्द तद् ऋषिर् द्रोण आदधे ॥
तस्मिन् समभवद् द्रोणः कलशे तस्य धीमतः ॥
अध्यगीष्ट स वेदांश् च वेदाङ्गानि च सर्वशः ॥
maharṣis tu bharadvājo havirdhāne caran purā ||
dadarśāpsarasaṃ sākṣād ghṛtācīm āplutām ṛṣiḥ ||
tasyā vāyuḥ samuddhūto vasanaṃ vyapakarṣata ||
tato 'sya retaś caskanda tad ṛṣir droṇa ādadhe ||
tasmin samabhavad droṇaḥ kalaśe tasya dhīmataḥ ||
adhyagīṣṭa sa vedāṃś ca vedāṅgāni ca sarvaśaḥ ||
"The great sage Bharadvaja, once, wandering near the place of sacrificial oblation, beheld with his own eyes the apsaras Ghritachi, who had just bathed; the wind, rising, tore away her garment, and then his seed spilled forth -- and this the sage placed into a vessel (drona). In that vessel of that wise one Drona came into being; and he studied the Vedas and Vedangas in their entirety."
fab322e5fbb2 · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:53:32 PM UTC
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Here Drona is wondrously born -- from a vessel, and thence takes his name (drona -- "vessel, pot"). Notable is the repetition of the motif: like Sharadvan (Kripa's father), Bharadvaja too, struck by the sight of an apsaras, spills his seed, from which a great man is born. Here is both the power of kama even over sages, and at once the might of tapas, which turns even the involuntary into an instrument of providence: the ascetic's seed is not lost but wondrously gives rise to the teacher of heroes. Notable too is that Drona, though born in an unusual way, still "studied the Vedas in their entirety": a wondrous birth does not exempt one from the labor of learning. Thus the scripture reveals the origin of Drona -- a brahmin of wondrous birth and complete learning, destined to become the acharya of the whole Kuru line.