Despite being master of advanced military arts and the divine weapons known as astras, Drona initially chooses a life of poverty until he is humiliated by his friend Drupada, the king of Panchala.

There, Drona encountered the young Kuru princes and demonstrated his skill by pulling their ball from a well using only stalks of grass attached from end-to-end with the power of mantras.

Upon learning this feat, Bhishma immediately recognised Drona and appointed him as the preceptor of the Kuru princes.

When Arjuna, inspired by his brother Bhima's nocturnal eating, mastered archery in absolute darkness, Drona was moved.

Drona was greatly impressed by Arjuna's concentration, determination, and drive, and promised him that he would become the greatest archer on earth.

But since Ekalavya belonged to the Nishada tribe, Drona refused to train him alongside the Kauravas and Pandavas.

Undeterred, Ekalavya began study and practice by himself, having fashioned a clay idol of Drona's to watch over his training.

[7] One day, Ekalavya's focus in training was disturbed by the barking of a dog belonging to the Kuru princes.

The Kuru princes were amazed by the trick and looked for the archer when they saw Ekalavya, who introduced himself as a pupil of Drona's.

To resolve the matter, Drona accepted Ekalavya as his student, but demanded the thumb on his dominant hand as gurudakshina, or teacher's payment, in order to limit his abilities and further growth in archery, thus pacifying Arjuna.

[10] After Drona completed the formal training of the Kuru princes, he demanded that they invade Panchala and bring Draupada as their Gurudakshina.

Drona reminds Drupada about their days of friendship and his false promise before taking away half of the Panchala kingdom.

This action would lead Drupada to perform a sacrificial yagna in order to beget a son who would kill Drona.

Though he killed hundreds and thousands of Pandava troops, Drona failed to capture Yudhishthira on the 11th and 12th day of the war, as Arjuna was always there to repel his advances.

The Trigartas were distracting Arjuna and Krishna into another part of the battlefield, allowing the main Kaurava army to surge through the Pandava ranks.

Abhimanyu did not know how to get out of the Chakravyuha, but embarked upon an all-out attack on the Kaurava army, killing tens of thousands of warriors single-handedly.

The devious murder of his son enraged Arjuna, who swore to kill Jayadratha the next day or immolate himself.

Their combat is described as fierce and despite being able to hold off Drona for several hours, Satyaki eventually tires and has to be rescued by the Upapandavas.

On the 14th night of the Mahabharata war, Drona is instigated by Duryodhana's remarks of being a traitor as he was not able to protect Jayadratha.

At that moment, all the Saptarshi appeared on the sky and requested Drona to retract this ultimate weapon used on ordinary soldiers.

The rishis continue and berate Drona for violating the rules of war, criticizing him for using divine weapons so indiscriminately.

[17] On the 15th day, Drona kills many Pandava soldiers, including Virata in arrow-play and Drupada in a sword fight.

[17] Then Drona descended from his chariot, laid down his arms and sat on the ground in meditation to find his son's soul.

[18] Drona was somewhat parallel to Bhishma both in martial powers, and, compelled by the refuge King Dhritarashtra had given him, in his unwavering commitment to fighting for Hastinapura irrespective of who the ruler was and whether or not the cause was just.

Drona is often accused of dragging the Kuru dynasty into his own personal conflicts when he demanded his pupils to capture Drupada.

Divine weapons were used against ordinary soldiers, war continued throughout the night, warriors no longer engaged each other one-on-one, etc.

[19] The acharya 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.

[21] Indian Government (Haryana), on 12 April 2016 decided to reinstate and change the name of Gurgaon to Gurugram.