of the stream, he saw Ghritachi herself—that Apsara endued with youth and beauty, who had gone there a little before. With an expression of pride in her countenance, mixed with a voluptuous langour of attitude, the damsel rose from the water after her ablutions were over. And as she was gently treading on the bank, her attire which was loose was disordered. Seeing her attire disordered, the sage was smitten with burning desire. The next moment his vital fluid came out, in consequence of the violence of his emotion. The Rishi immediately held it in a vessel called a drona. Then, O king, Drona sprang from the fluid thus preserved in that vessel, by the wise Bharadwaja! And the child thus born studied all the Vedas and Vedangas. Before now Bharadwaja of great prowess and the foremost also of those possessing a knowledge of arms, had communicated to the illustrious Agnivesha a knowledge of the weapon called Agneya. O thou foremost of the Bharata race, the Rishi (Agnivesha) sprung from fire now communicated the knowledge of that great weapon to Drona the son of his preceptor.
"There was a king named Prishata who was a great friend of Bharadwaja. And about this time, Prishata had a son born unto him, named Drupada. And that bull among Kshatriyas—Drupada the son of Prishata—used every day to come to the hermitage of Bharadwaja to play with Drona, and study in his company. O monarch, when Prishata was dead, this Drupada of mighty arms became the king of the northern Panchalas. About this time, the illustrious Bharadwaja also ascended to heaven. Drona continuing to reside in his father's hermitage devoted himself to ascetic austerities. And having become well-versed in the Vedas and Vedangas, and having burnt also all his sins by his asceticism, the celebrated Drona, obedient to the injunctions of his father and moved by the desire of offspring, married Kripi—the daughter of Sharadwan. And the daughter of Gautama, ever engaged in virtuous acts and the Agni-hotra and the austerest of penances, obtained a son named Ashwathama. And as soon as Aswathama was born, he neighed like the (celestial) steed Ucchaisrava. And hearing that cry, an invisible being in the
