Behold this mighty host of the sons of Pandu, O Acharya, arrayed by Drupada's son, your intelligent disciple.

Arjuna Vishaada Yoga

Chapter 1, Verse 3

paśyaitām pāṇḍu-putrāṇām 

ācārya mahatim camūm 

vyūḍhām drupada-putrena 

tava śişyena dhimatā

"Behold this mighty host of the sons of Pandu, O Acharya, arrayed by Drupada's son, your intelligent disciple."

Duryodhan was very clever. He wanted to excite Dronacharya and remind him of his vow of revenge against Drupada. He wanted to put the full spirit of revenge inside of Dronacharya. That's why he said, "drupada-putrena", referring to the son of Drupada named Dhrishtadyumna. He said, "Drona, look there! In front of you, there is the son of Drupada, your best childhood friend, who is now your enemy. Fight him!" With this cunningness, Duryodhan wanted to awaken revenge, "Wake up! Be vengeful!" That's why he said 'the son of Drupada.

When they were young, Dronacharya and Drupada had been best friends. Dronacharya's father, Sri Bharadwaja, was the guru of his son and of Drupada. Drona and Drupada studied together and were best friends during their whole youth. Later on, Drupada became the king. Dronacharya remained very humble. He was the son of the great sage, Sri Bharadwaja, and was a simple person. He had a problem, so one day he went to his friend, King Drupada, to ask him for some advice. When he got there, Drupada didn't acknowledge him as being his friend. Drupada had become very proud of his kingly status and when he looked at the poor brahmin, he didn't feel like saying, "Yes, he is my friend." Rather, he said, "He's not my friend." Dronacharya was very hurt, and said, "I will overthrow you!"

Drupada represents faith and strength, and Dronacharya greed. When greed arises, it overruns faith. When you are a pillar, you are strong in your true faith; but when greed is there, it will try to battle faith. Faith doesn't acknowledge greed. That's why Drupada said, "No, I don't know you." So because of that, Dronacharya said, "I will take revenge!" Dronacharya brought Arjuna to fight King Drupada. Arjuna won and Dronacharya took over the kingdom of Drupada. Sometimes greed can be very powerful, but Dronacharya was very good towards Drupada. He said, "When you were the king, you didn't acknowledge me as your friend, but I acknowledge you as myfriend. I will not take over your whole kingdom. I will only take the northern part of your kingdom; you can keep ruling the southern part of your kingdom." But King Drupada was very hurt. He did a big yagna, a fire ceremony, hoping that through the blessing he would have a son who would kill Drona. But he didn't get a son. A daughter came out of the fire, by the name of Shikhandini. Shikandhini was the one who would later kill Bhishma Pitamah, Bhishma, the great seer, the mighty Bhishma. But to kill Bhishma, later she would have to become a man. This will come later on in the Gita. Now, however, Drupada was not happy having only a daughter. He carried on doing his ritual. Finally, a son, Dhrishtadyumna, came out of the fire. He was born with only one purpose: to kill Dronacharya.

Everybody knew why King Drupada had done this yagna. This yagna had been done to get the son who would kill Dronacharya. That's why in this verse, Duryodhan said, "Look, Dronacharya, here is the son of Drupada!" This is very important: Duryodhan used the words, "the son of Drupada" "drupada- putrena". He didn't say the name of the son, Drishtadyumna, even though he knew the son's name. He was reminding Dronacharya that the son was born only to kill him! That's why he was created. Duryodhan was saying, "See what I am seeing! l am telling you this because the son's purpose is to kill you. You have to be revengeful. You have to kill him." In his cunningness, Duryodhan wanted to brainwash Dronacharya. He was reminding him that Dhrishtadyumna was very clever and a master in archery, "He is the commander of the Pandavas army. He is here to kill you."

Duryodhan used the word tava sisyena dhimatā, "your intelligent disciple" your talented student. He was referring to the Pandavas saying, "The Pandavas were your favourite students, people you have favoured throughout your life. Look what they have become! They have put the one who will kill you in the front lines." Dhrishtadyumna represents humility. The Pandavas have put humility in front. Duryodhan continued, "How clever they are! Don't be weak! You have to wake up and fight them!" He tried to get the attention of Drona, he tried to take control of him. He said, "Look at the mighty army of the Pandavas, the mighty hosts of the sons of Pandu."

Let's look at their army. In Sanskrit, an army unit is called akshauhini. The Kauravas army had eleven akshauhini and the army of the Pandavas had only seven. The army of the Pandavas was smaller than the army of the Kauravas. That's why it is said, "You just need a little goodness to win. You don't need a lot. A little goodness can overcome all the bad qualities inside of a man."

Here Duryodhan also used the word 'mighty' describing the army of the Pandavas. Even though the Kauravas' army was bigger than the Pandavas', the arrangement of the Pandavas' army was far better. They were more disciplined than the Kauravas. The Kauravas had a big army, but they were completely like the Kauravas themselves; whereas the Pandavas were very disciplined. You see, these are the good qualities in man. When you culture good qualities, you are disciplined, but when you culture negative qualities, it is a mess. Duryodhan was pointing out to Drona, "Look at this big army we have, it's a complete mess! But this little army of theirs is well-arranged."

Let's look at the size of the armies in the Mahabharat war. The Pandavas' army had 7 akshauhini, which is 153,090 chariots with charioteer riders. They had 153,090 elephants plus the riders. They had 459,270 horses with horse riders. They also had 765,000 soldiers walking on foot, plus 450 more backing them. All together it made 1,530,000 soldiers and 900 reserve soldiers. The Kauravas army had 240,570 chariots and charioteers, 240,570 elephants, 721,710 horses and 1,200,850 walking soldiers. All together there were 2,455,700 soldiers in their armies. These were extremely big armies. Considering how many millions of people were there, we can say that the Mahabharat was the biggest war that has ever been fought until now. You won't get millions of people in a war nowadays, even if there are that many people in the world. That's why Duryodhan, in his cunningness, said to Dronacharya, "Look at the Pandavas' army! We have a big army, but their little army is much more disciplined and organised." He wanted to get the attention of Dronacharya and to push him to the limit.

Bhagavad Gita