Drona and his wife Kripi had a single son, Ashwatthama, who was born with a divine jewel fused to his forehead and cried with a sound like a horse's neigh, giving him his name.
The sage Bharadvaja fathered Drona when his seed fell into a pot (drona) at the sight of the apsara Ghritachi, giving the child his name and a birth outside the womb.
Bhishma and Drona served together as commanders of the Kaurava army at Kurukshetra. After Bhishma fell on the tenth day, Drona assumed supreme command of the Kaurava forces.
Drona and Drupada were childhood friends who studied together under Bharadvaja, but when the impoverished Drona sought Drupada's help, the king humiliated him, denying their friendship. Drona used his students the Pandavas to conquer half of Drupada's kingdom in revenge, and Drupada performed a fire sacrifice to beget a son fated to kill Drona.
Dhrishtadyumna beheaded Drona on the fifteenth day at Kurukshetra after Yudhishthira's half-lie about Ashwatthama's death caused the great teacher to lay down his weapons in grief and sit in meditation on the battlefield.
Drona deployed the Chakravyuha knowing only Abhimanyu among the Pandava side could breach it but not escape. Once inside, Abhimanyu was surrounded and slain through combined assault by Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashvatthama, and others who violated the rules of single combat to overwhelm the sixteen-year-old warrior.
Yudhishthira commanded the Pandava army at Kurukshetra and, on the fifteenth day, uttered the half-lie 'Ashwatthama is dead' — speaking truth about an elephant while letting Drona believe it was his son. The deception broke Drona's will to fight, and Yudhishthira's chariot, which had always hovered above the earth, touched the ground for the first and only time.
Drona trained Arjuna in the arts of warfare and archery, recognizing him as his finest pupil and teaching him the advanced Brahmastra weapon.
Drona trained Duryodhana alongside the Pandavas in Hastinapura, teaching him mace and sword. Duryodhana's devotion to his teacher secured Drona's allegiance to the Kaurava side when the war came, making the guru fight against his own greatest student Arjuna.
Drona turned Karna away from advanced weapons training because of his supposed low birth as a charioteer's son — a rejection that drove Karna to seek Parashurama and deepened the wound of caste that cut through his entire life.
Parashurama, having given away all his wealth to brahmins after his conquest, taught Drona the science of arms including the celestial weapons and the Brahmastra, making Drona the last living master of divine weaponry.
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