Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.627

c5.627

4) Kaumāra (youth). Dharmaputra and his brothers spent their boyhood in Hastināpura along with Duryodhana and his brothers. Bhīmasena became a great foe of Duryodhana and his brothers and Duryodhana always nurtured a desire to kill Bhīmasena. Once Duryodhana invited Dharmaputra and his brothers to have aquatic games in the Gaṅgā. Accepting the invitation Dharmaputra participated in the games along with his brothers. One night Duryodhana caught hold of Bhīma alone and tied him with ropes and threw him into the river. When in the morning Dharmaputra found his brother missing he ran to his mother to inform her of the loss. Kuntī asked him to start a search and while he was on it Bhīmasena appeared before him and told him how he was thrown into the river by Duryodhana and how he went to Nāgaloka and was brought to earth with great acquisitions from there. Dharmaputra advised them not to make the incident public. They received training in warfare in Hastināpura under Droṇācārya. Dharmaputra got great proficiency in chariot-fighting. As Gurudakṣiṇā (fee for the preceptor) Dharmaputra agreed to bring Drupada bound before the preceptor. But Arjuna stopped him and himself undertook the task (Chapters 127 to 136, Ādi Parva, M.B.).