The Stranger

This is part of my ongoing series on the Mahabharat, an epic poem of ancient India. For links to all previous Mahabharat posts go here. Or you can simply click on the Mahabharat page link above.


When the Pandavas and the Kauravas were children, King Dritrashtra sent them to school. Unfortunately, their teacher, the royal priest Acharya Kripa, was often called away on business with the king. So the princes were left to their own devices for long periods of time.

One day they were playing catch in the school courtyard and their ball fell into the well. The boys rushed to peer down and see what could be done to save it. But the well was too deep and the ball was certainly lost.

"What are you all looking at?" said a deep voice.

They turned to see a tall man walking towards them. He was dark, with a wild beard and bulging muscles. None of them had ever seen him before and they were wary, moving closer together.

"Well?" He asked, coming to stand with them at the well. Closer, they could see that his thin cotton clothes were tattered and old, barely hanging together. He smelled of sweat and dust.

Yudhistira pulled his younger brothers to him in a protective move.

Duryodhan found his voice. "Our ball fell in."

The wild man was looking down at it. "Clearly." After a moment he said: "Get me some grass."

The princes looked at each other in confusion. Grass?

But Arjuna was curious and he shook off Yudhistira's hold to run and pull some of the long grass that grew in the fields around them. He ran back and gave it to the man.

The stranger had huge hands that were hard and callused. He used them to pull several bits of grass out of the bunch and throw them away. He then selected one of the thicker stalks. He pinched its tip, rolling it between his fingers until it was sharp. Looking at the ball in the well, the man narrowed his dark eyes and threw the grass down.

It hit with shocking accuracy. The ball bobbed in the water with the grass stalk embedded in it.

The princes watched, unsure as to what he was doing.

The man selected another grass stalk, this time a little thinner. He threw. It flew down the well and, to the incredulity of the boys, hit the previous grass stalk, piercing it's end. Now the ball bobbed with two stalks of grass waving in the air, one on top of the other.

The boys gaped.

Rapidly, the man threw stalk after stalk and each time the grass pierced the last, making a long chain that reached far up the well. The man kept throwing until he could reach down and grab the linked stalks.

Slowly, gently, he pulled the chain up, lifting the ball from the water until he could grasp it. He plucked out the grass and held the ball out to the boys. Duryodhan grabbed it and ran away with the other Kauravas. The Pandavas remained by the man, staring at him.

Yudhistira folded his palms. "Who are you?"

The tall man smiled. "I am no one." Then he walked away.

When the princes reached home that night Arjuna went straight to his grandsire Bhishma and told him about the amazing wild man who'd rescued their ball from the well.

On hearing the story, Grandsire's eyes widened and he stood. "Where did he go?"

"He walked away, towards the woods. Why, Grandsire? Do you know him?"

"I know of him," Bhishma said. "The one you describe could be none other than Acharya Drona, son of Sage Bharadwaj." Bhishma glanced around his chamber, looking for his shoes. Putting them on, he left the room with long strides.

Little Arjuna ran to keep up. He didn't know who Drona was but the word archarya meant one who was a master of all fields of learning, including weaponry and warfare.

"He's a student of Sage Parashuram, like me," Bhishma said. "Drona is one of the most powerful warriors in the land. And he's going to be your new teacher."

Arjuna stopped dead on the palace walkway and stared at his grandsire's back. That wild man... Their new teacher?


To be continued...

Click here for the last Mahabharat post entitled Krishna's Dwarka.
Click here for the next Mahabharat post entitled The Stranger - What Do You See?