Karna & Arjun - The Union of Brothers

2. The Calling of the Rain

"Arjun, don't you want to come and have some laddoos?" Bheem said it aloud to get his younger brother's attention.

Arjun on the other hand stood like a rock, unaffected by any form of sound. His dark brown skin was visibly tanned as a result of years of training under the Sun. His body was lean enough to lend him the kind of agility that his training demanded. His hair were tied tightly behind his head to keep his vision free from any kind of disturbance. Despite having surpassed all of Dronacharya's students in archery, his hunger for learning was as high as ever. That day his arrow was unvaveringly pointed in a direction that nobody could imagine. It was pointing towards the head of Dronacharya who was meditating at about hundred meters distance with his eyes shut.

All the students in the ashram were well aware of Arjun's dedication towards Guru Dron and none could understand the motive behind this act. Ashwathama who was busy practicing the incantation to invoke Narayanastra in a cave near the ashram was disturbed by Suyodhan as he went to complain about Arjun.

"Arjun is planning to kill Guru Dron," Suryodhan said as his chest expanded and contracted due to heavy breathing.

"What? Don't mess around Suryodhan. You don't want to be at the receiving end of my practice today," Ashwathama responded and turned his arrow towards Suyodhan. Both the arrow and the jewel on Ashwathama's forehead were glowing like the sources of light. Looking at Suryodhan's nervousness, he relaxed his bow and the arrow lost its glow.

"Arjun has been aiming his arrow at Guru Dron, who is busy in some kind of meditation," Suyodhan explained his concern.

"Arjun, Arjun, Arjun .... He wants every piece of information that my father possesses. In fact, he wants to know everything related to archery in this entire universe. His hunger is almost envy worthy. He won't attack my father, he is just pretending to protect him. My father is busy worshipping Lord Shiva and he normally conjures an invisibile protective layer around himself that protects him from random attacks while meditating," Ashwathama explained Arjun's intentions to Suryodhan.

All the students continued their regular practice and went back to their huts to rest out the after noon but Arjun didn't move by an inch. Yudhistir was comfortable with the fact that the overcast conditions were protecting his brother from direct exposure to heat. Finally Arjun released the bowstring and fired an arrow. Everyone including his own brothers were shocked, as they saw the arrow missing Guru Dron's head by a few inches.

"Wow, Arjun. You are definitely special," Ashwathama said as he noticed something that others failed to.

"Water has the ability to cut through mountains and there's a chance that it could affect my father's concentration, but not under his favorite student's watch," he shared his observation with the other students.

Soon there were few more drops of water, that were turned into vapour by Arjun's fire tipped arrows. Soon it started raining heavily and then it wasn't possible for Arjun to target each and every drop of water. Using the bark of the tree behind Guru Dron, Arjun created an umbrella of arrows and kept the arrows warm by reading the incantations of Agneyastra.

Dronacharya came out of his meditation a couple of hours later and noticed Arjun with his bow and arrow while other students had gone to sleep. It didn't take him a long time to figure out what Arjun had been up to. Once again Arjun exceeded his expectations and he knew that he had found his champion.