Thread by @DefiledGod

Here is an interesting find - everybody knows yudhiShThira committed adharma by not lying to droNa and saying an elephant named ashvattAma was killed.

However, what is not well known is that bhagavAn never asked the pANDavAs to kill an elephant in the first place+

मतिमाञ्श्रेयसेयुक्तः केशवोऽर्जुनमब्रवीत् । नैष युद्धेन सङ्ग्रामे जेतुं शक्यःकथञ्चन । सधनुर्धन्विनां श्रेष्ठो देवैरपि सवासवैः । न्यस्तशस्त्रस्तुसङ्गारमे शक्यो हन्तुं भवेन्नृभिः ।+

[Keshava, intelligent in protecting his bhaktas & devoted to their welfare, told Arjuna, “droNa, that foremost of bowmen, cannot be defeated by direct conflict in battle, even by gods with Indra. He is capable of being killed even by humans, when he lays down his weapons”]+

आस्तीयतांजये योगो धर्ममुत्सृज्य पाण्डवाः । यथा न संयुगेसर्वान्निहन्याद्रुक्मवाहनः
 ।
[Taking recourse to Yoga, ie, bhagavAn (myself), the means to victory, cast aside the conduct of direct conflict, pANDava. So that this one in a golden chariot does not kill us all in battle]+

bhagavAn is asking Arjuna to seek him as the means, and restrain using his own strength in battle against droNa. He is after all "Keshava" - the destroyer of distress.

He includes himself as in "droNa will kill us". If his bhaktas are killed, he too feels "dead"!+

अश्वत्थाम्निहते नैष युध्येदिति मतिर्मम । तं हतं संयुगे कश्चिदस्मै शंसतुमानवः

[It is my opinion that if AshvattAma is killed, he will stop fighting. Let some praiseworthy person (my devotee) tell him that Ashvattama has died]+

Note that bhagavAn has said "मतिर्मम" - it also means, it is his sankalpa to make droNa full of grief at the loss of his son. Note also that bhagavAn never said to kill an elephant. 

Whatever bhagavAn says, is dharma and satyam+

एतन्नारोचयद्राजन्कुन्तीपुत्रो धनञ्जयः । अन्येत्वरोचयन्सर्वे कृच्छ्रेण तु युधिष्ठिरः

[dhana~njayaH, the son of kuntI, was not pleased by these words. All of his other brothers were pleased by it, but yudhiShThira acceded with difficulty]+

"dhana~njayaH" - One who conquered wealth by subjugating others. He is the son of kuntI, a queen.

It means, he has ego over his own abilities and did not want to defeat droNa by restraining himself and seeking bhagavAn's help+

ततो भीमो महाबाहुरनीकेषु महागजम् । जघान गदया राजन्नश्वत्थामानमित्युत

[Then, bhIma, of strong arms, killed with his mace, a great elephant named AshvattAma...]

This is something bhagavAn never recommended. bhIma did it to assuage yudhiShThira and arjuna+

कृत्वा मनसि तं भीमो मिथ्या व्याहृतवांस्तदा

[Keeping the fact (of the dead elephant) in his mind, bhIma uttered a falsity to droNa]+

Why were bhIma’s words false? - bhIma was thinking about the elephant when saying "Ashvattama is dead".

That thought was against bhagavAn’s will that "AshvattAma, droNa's son" was dead. bhagavAn never asked them to kill an elephant, he told them to say droNa’s son was dead+

bhIma had just killed the elephant so he was dwelling on it while speaking to droNa. That falsified bhIma's statement.

droNa did not believe it & inquired yudhiShThira, who talked about the elephant, due to which his chariot fell down on the ground for uttering a falsity+

As yudhiShThira had spoken "asatya" - against bhagavAn's orders, droNa still did not lay down his arms.

But as he lowered his voice while saying “elephant”, droNa was weakened by grief.

But he still continued to fight; dhR^iShtadyumna was no match for even a weakened droNa+

Then, finally, bhIma, composing himself, said,

स वै च निहतः शेते तव पुत्रः सुमन्दधीः । धर्मराजस्य तद्वाक्यं नाभिशङ्कितुमर्हसि

[bhIma said: Slow-witted one! Your son lies in the battlefield, killed! Do not doubt the words of dharmarAja]+

Since bhIma finally said these words, “तव पुत्रः” - droNa laid down his weapons and was killed.

As to how droNa died, there is an incredible tattva about it, which I will explain next week or so.//