Ekalavya
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In the Mahabharata epic, Ekalavya (Sanskrit: एकलव्य, ékalavya) is a young prince of the Nishadha tribes, and a member of a low caste, who nevertheless aspires to study archery in the gurukul of Dronacharya. Despite being rejected by the Drona, Ekalavya embarks upon a program of self-study in the presence of a clay image of Drona, and achieves a level of skill equal to that of Arjuna, Drona's favorite and most accomplished pupil. Fearful that Ekalavya will excel him, Arjuna begs Drona to take action. Drona goes to Ekalavya and demands that Ekalavya turn over his right thumb as a teacher's fee. The loyal Ekalavya cripples himself and thereby ruins his prospects as an archer by severing his thumb and giving it to Drona.
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[edit] Drona's rejection of Ekalavya
In the Mahabharatha, Ekalavya is introduced as a young prince of the lowly Nishadha tribes. Ekalavya was the son of Hiranyadhanus, the leader (King) of the Nishadhas[1], who was a commander in the army of Jarasandha (the king of Magadha)[2].
Desirous of learning advanced skills of archery, he seeks the tutelage of Drona, the legendary weaponsmaster of and instructor of Arjuna and his brothers. Drona, however, rejects Ekalavya on account of the prince's humble origins.
[edit] Ekalavya's self-training in the forest
Ekalavya is undeterred and goes off into the forest where he fashions a clay image of Drona. Worhshipping the statue as his preceptor, he begins a disciplined program of self-study. As a result, Ekalavya becomes an archer of exceptional prowess, superior even to Drona's best pupil, Arjuna. One day while Ekalavya is practicing, he hears a dog barking. Before the dog can shut up or get out of the way, Ekalavya fires seven arrows in rapid succession into the dog's mouth. The Pandava princes come upon the injured dog, and wonder who could have done such a feat. Searching the forest, they find a dark-skinned man dressed all in black, his body besmeared with filth and his hair in matted locks. It is Ekalavya, who introduces himself to them as a pupil of Drona.
[edit] Ekalavya's dakshina
Arjuna fears that Ekalavya may have eclipsed him in skill with the bow. As a result, Arjuna complains to his teacher Drona, reminding Drona of his promise that he would allow no other pupil to be the equal of Arjuna. Drona acknowledges Arjuna's claim, and goes with the princes to seek out Ekalavya. He finds Ekalavya, as always, diligently practicing archery. Seeing Drona, Ekalavya prostrates himself and clasps the teacher's hands, awaiting his order.
Drona asks Ekalavya for a dakshina or deed of gratitude that a student owes his teacher upon the completion of his training. Ekalavya replies that there is nothing he would not give his teacher. Drona cruelly asks for Ekalavya's right thumb, knowing that its loss will hamper Ekalavya's ability to pursue archery. Ekalavya, however, cheerfully and without hesitation severs his thumb and hands it to Drona. For his part, Arjuna is relieved to find that the crippled Ekalavya can no longer shoot with his former skill and facility.
According to some accounts, Drona wanted to hamper Ekalavya's archery skills because of the fear that Ekalavya will use them against Drona's employer, the King of Hastinapur[2] (Ekalavya's father worked for Jarasandh, who was an adversary of the Hastinapur kingdom).
As per the Mahabharata, Ekalavya learns all the archery skills by observing the training sessions of Dronacharya secretely by hiding.When Dronacharaya knows that, he visits Ekalavya to verify with him and founds that as true. Although he could give a bigger punishment,as per the laws at that time,he changes his mind after seeing his gurubhakti and asks for Ekalavya's right thumb, lesser punishment to make his archery skills useless, which he learned secretely.
[edit] Death
Later, Ekalavya worked as a confidant of King Jarasandh. At the time of Rukmini's Swayamvar, he acted as the messenger between Shishupala and Rukmini's father Bhishmaka, at Jarasandh's behest[2]. Bhishmaka decides that Rukmini should marry Shishupala, but instead Rukmini elopes with Krishna. Ekalavya is later killed by Krishna, who hurls a rock against him, in a conflict against Jarasandh's army[2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva, Sambhava Parva: section CXXXIV
- ^ a b c d A. D. Athawale. Vastav Darshan of Mahabharat. Continental Book Service, Pune, 1970
- ^ Dowson, John (1820-1881). A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature. London: Trübner, 1879 [Reprint, London: Routledge, 1979]. Also available at Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India
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