Drona Parva

The Drona Parva (Sanskrit: द्रोण पर्व) ("Book of Drona") is the seventh of the eighteen parvas (books) of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Drona Parva traditionally has 8 parts and 204 chapters. The critical edition of Drona Parva has 8 parts and 173 chapters.

Drona Parva describes the appointment of Drona as the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava alliance on the 11th day of the Kurukshetra War, the next four days of battles, and his death on the 15th day of the 18-day war. The parva recites how the war became more brutal with each passing day; how agreed rules of a just war began to be ignored by both sides as loved ones on each side were slain; how the war extended into the night; and how millions of soldiers and major characters of the story—Abhimanyu, Jayadratha, Drona, Ghatotkacha—died during the war.