Drona and Ekalavya

 

Summary

Dronacharya asked Ekalavya to cut his thumb when he faced a very complex challenge. 

1. The Kuru kingdom gave him money, power and recognition when he was enduring abject poverty. So, he was obligated to respect and strive for the sovereignty of the Kauravas. Ekalavya is from the enemy side of the Kuru kingdom. So, Dronacharya denied teaching archery to him. But Ekalavya learnt all the knowledge clandestinely. When the Kuru prince asked about him, Ekalavya introduced himself as a disciple of Dronacharya. So, it looked like Dronacharya trained an enemy who can challenge the Kauravas.

2. Dronachaya promised to make Arjuna the greatest Archer in the world. But Ekalavya clearly outsmarted Arjuna's skills. On top of it he had introduced himself as Dronacharya's disciple. So, this would have made a bad example of an Acharya who cannot keep up his promise. 

So, Dronacharya had two challenges in front of him. 1. To nullify any threat to Kauravas from Ekalavya, 2. To ensure there is no body on top of Arjuna in archery skills. On top of it, he has to punish Ekalavya for deceiving his guru. So, he asked Ekalavya to cut his thumb. 

As you can see, there is no caste discrimination in this. Infact, after Ekalavya cut off his thumb, Dronacharya felt very sorry and gave him a boon. The story of Drona and Ekalavya is an intricate play of greed, mastery, politics and integrity. All the players are ultimately defined by their destiny.

Story of Dronacharya

When saint Bhardwaja saw an angel named Ghritachi on a riverbank, he

wished to bear offspring. Then his sperm fell into a pot. It developed into

an embryo, and a child is born from that pot. That child was brought to the

hermitage and was named Drona.

Drona and Prince Drupada were good childhood friends. Both Drona and Drupada learned all the sciences in saint Bharadwaja's hermitage. Drupada once promised to help Drona in his time of need. As time passed, Drupada became the king of the Panchala kingdom. Drona became a sage and teacher. Drona had a son named Ashwatthama. Drona was poor because he was not interested in material wealth. Once, Drona's son Aswatthama saw his friends drinking milk while playing with them. He asked them for some. But instead of giving him milk, Aswatthama's friends mixed flour with water and gave it to him. Drona felt sad and angry when he heard this. He remembered Drupada's friendship and his childhood promise. He went to Drupada's palace and requested a cow to provide milk for his son. But Drupada was in a different mindset by then. He refused to recognize their past friendship and insulted Drona by calling him a beggar. This insult angered Drona. He left that place, vowing to take revenge on Drupada. At that moment, Bhishma came to Drona along with Kripacharya and requested him to teach all Kauravas the Pandavas. Drona agreed to that and started teaching lessons to Kauravas and Pandavas.

One day, Drona saw Arjuna practicing archery in complete darkness. When he asked Arjuna about it, he said," O Guru Drona! I saw my brother Bhima eating food in the dark. Then I thought if Bhima's hand can find his mouth in complete darkness, why cannot my arrows find their target in darkness? So, I started practicing archery at night". Drona was very impressed by Arjuna's concentration and determination. He promised Arjuna that he would make him the greatest archer on earth. Drona taught special knowledge of Dhanurveda to Arjuna. He taught mantras to wield Brahma's most potent divine weapon, known as Brahmasirashastra but instructed Arjuna not to use this invincible weapon against any human being.

Ekalavya is the son of chief Nishada. He requested Dronacharya to teach him archery. But as his father was a general under Jarasandha, the ruler of Magadha (an enemy kingdom), Dronacharya refused to train him along with the Kauravas and Pandavas. But undeterred by this, Ekalavya secretly began learning archery from Drona. He sculpted a clay idol of Dronacharya and began worshiping him as his guru. With hard work and determination, Ekalavya acquired exceptional archery skills.

One day, a dog of the Kuru princes barked loudly when Ekalavya was observing them at the training camp of the Kuru Pandavas with a keen eye. Ekalavya got distracted by the sound of that barking dog. Enraged, Ekalavya shot arrows at the dog. He filled the dog's mouth with arrows so it could not bark. He did it so skillfully that the arrows filled the dog's mouth but did not cause a wound. Unable to shout, the dog came to Kuru princes. The Kuru princes were surprised to see it and searched for the archer who shot arrows so well. Then Ekalavya accosted Kuru prince and introduced himself as Drona's disciple. Arjuna learned about this incident. He knew that he would not be able to shoot arrows into a dog's mouth without causing a wound on it. He was sad that he did not have the talent to shoot arrows as well as Ekalavya. This incident landed Drona in trouble because he promised to make Arjuna the greatest archer on earth. He pondered on how he could fulfill his promise to Arjuna. He greatly admired Ekalavya's skill and dedication, but he did not like Ekalavya learning archery from him without his permission. Moreover, the lord of Ekalavya's father and Drona's king are enemies. So, Drona would not have a suitable answer if his king asked why he taught such skills to their enemies. Drona accepted Ekalavya as his student, but to limit his abilities and further growth in archery, he demanded the thumb of his dominant hand as Dakshina (tuition fee). Ekalavya was a devoted disciple. He worshiped Drona's clay idol every day. So, he immediately cut off his thumb and offered it at Drona's feet. Moved by Ekalavya's sacrifice, Drona blessed him to attain erudition even without his thumb.