Gurgaon to Gurugram: Khattar, Drona and a Question of Caste

Gurgaon’s new name is in honour of Dronacharya, but the mythical guru is contoroversial too.

File Photo of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar raising a mace. (Photo: PTI)

Okay, let’s face it, Gurgaon wasn’t the sexiest name to begin with. But it’s been around for a while and we have gotten used to it. The Haryana government has now decided to change the name of the Delhi suburb to Gurugram. The reason behind the renaming is a bit unclear. Gurgaon isn’t the first city to have had its name changed in recent times. But unlike Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai or Mumbai, Gurugram isn’t going to be the result of dropping an anglicised name for an older or local variant.

First, Haryana chief minister and RSS pracharak Manohar Lal Khattar said the new name was to honour Guru Dronacharya, the Brahmin who trained the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Mahabharat. Almost immediately after, reports quoted sources close to the CM, saying that the renaming was not, in fact for Dronacharya alone, but rather because “locals have long been demanding that name be changed (back) to Gurugram”.

The reluctance to wholeheartedly use the Dronacharya rationale for the name change is understandable. Drona is far from a universally admired character and there are those who may draw some uncomfortable parallels between him and Manohar Lal Khattar.

Drona the Casteist

An illustration depicting the episode from the Mahabharat where Dronacharaya demands his ‘fee’ from Eklavya. (Photo Courtesy: Gita Press/Public Domain Image)

Drona wasn’t the “ideal Brahmin” or teacher, at least not according to Iravati Karve in her analysis of Drona’s character in Yuganta. He had the Pandavas fight King Drupada and annexed half his kingdom, something patently opposed to a Brahmin’s varnashramdharma. Drona was also not an impartial teacher, favouring his own son Ashwathama and Arjuna over his other students.

But perhaps the worst of Drona’s sins, the one that makes him politically controversial today, is his treatment of Eklavya in many versions of the Mahabharata. Eklavaya was a ‘lower caste’ boy who wanted learn archery from Drona. He was rejected because of his caste. Undeterred, Eklavya practised in front of a statue of Drona and became a formidable archer, surpassing even Arjuna. Since Eklavya considered Drona his guru, the latter asked him to pay dakshina or a fee. Drona asked Eklavya to cut off his right thumb, ensuring he could never be a great archer.

The story of Eklavya is almost a parable for caste oppression among many Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs across this country. Honouring Drona in a state that is still recovering from social turmoil may not be the best idea, at least politically.

Could Khattar be Seen as Haryana’s Drona?

File photo of the Jat agitation at its peak. (Photo: PTI)

The ride for the Haryana government hasn’t been a smooth one and CM Manohar Lal Khattar has been in the middle of many controversies during his 17 months in power. There was the move to introduce the Gita in public schools, cow slaughter was made a heinous crime punishable by up to 10 years and of course, the Jat Quota stir. The Jats of Haryana, arguably the most politically significant and dominant community in the state, began protesting for reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.

The protests turned violent, the army had to be called in and there was rioting and killing. On the ground in Haryana, we found that there was a lot of resentment against Khattar.

The reasons people gave were eerily similar to Drona’s flaws. He was an outsider (Khattar is of Punjabi origin) who favoured some castes over others. So soon after Harayana finally has a measure of calm, Khattar will be hoping that the renaming doesn’t add to his woes.