Drona is Rejected and Insulted by King Drupada
Drona, poor after his studies, goes to his childhood friend Drupada, now a powerful king, expecting recognition and help. Drupada responds not with welcome, but with a cold, systematic lecture on why the poor cannot be friends with the rich, and why their old bond is dead.
After he finished his studies, Drona was learned, skilled, and poor. He remembered his friend — Drupada, son of Prishata, who was now the king of Panchala. He remembered the boyhood promises. Happily, he went to his friend's court.
He approached the king and said, "Recognize me."
Drupada looked at the impoverished Brahmana before him and did not see a friend. He saw a petitioner. His reply was not a greeting. It was a lesson.
"O Brahmana," Drupada began. "Your wisdom is lacking and inferior, if you suddenly begin to address me as your friend." He told Drona he had a dull mind. "No great king can ever be a friend with men like you. You have no prosperity, nor do you have riches."
Then he delivered a treatise on the economics of friendship. "Time decays everything, including friendship. It is true that we were friends once, but that was based on a relationship of equality. No friendship can be found in the world that does not age; desire and anger both destroy it. Do not therefore talk about a friendship that has died out. O best of Brahmanas! Find a fresh friendship."
He was brutally candid about the original bond. "I was friends with you because it served my purpose."
He laid out the laws of association, point by point. The poor cannot be a friend to the rich. The fool cannot be a friend to the learned. The weak cannot be a friend of the strong. Who wants an old friendship? Those of similar wealth and similar lineage can have marriages and friendship together. One who is learned in the Vedas cannot be a friend to one who is not learned. One with chariots cannot be a friend to one who has no chariots. A king cannot be a friend to one who is not a king.
His final question was a dismissal. "Who wants this old friendship?"
Drona stood there, addressed by the king in his own court, flooded with wrath. He did not argue. He did not plead. He reflected for a while, thinking about a course of action for Panchala.
Then he turned and left. He made his way to Gajasahrya, the chief city of the Kurus.