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Mahābhārata The History of the Great India
<< 23 The Story Of Ekalavya >>
 |  | Gathering together all his grandsons, with varieties of riches, Bhisma said, "Here are your disciples." He turned everything over to Drona with proper protocol, and the great archer Drona accepted the Kaurava princes as his disciples.
| | | When they were alone together in a secluded place and the disciples sat at his feet, Drona said to them with great determination, "There is a task that needs to be done, and it ever turns in my heart. Once you have learned weapons, you must execute that task for me. O innocent ones, tell me in truth that you will."
| | | O ruler of the earth, hearing these words the Kaurava princes remained silent. But then Arjuna, the great fighter, promised to give to his guru all that the guru desired. Drona then kissed Arjuna's head again and again, and embracing him with affection wept tears of joy. The powerful Drona then taught the sons of Pandu to use all kinds of divine and human weapons.
| | | Joining the sons of Pandu, kings and princes from the Vrsni and Andhaka dynasties and from many other countries came to Drona, the best of brahmanas, for they were eager to learn the use of weapons. Radheya, an alleged son of a chariot driver, also came to Drona to accept him as guru. Angry by nature, Radheya wanted to defeat Arjuna. With the support of Duryodhana, he insulted the sons of Pandu.
| | | Sri Vaisampayana continued:
Arjuna consistently endeavored to honor his guru and strived to master the weapons with absolute dedication. He thus became especially dear to Drona.
| | | Once Drona called the cook to a private spot and told him, "Never give Arjuna food in the dark." Thereafter, when Arjuna was once eating by lamp-light the wind blew and extinguished the lamp's flame, but Arjuna continued to eat. He noticed that his hand was not baffled in finding his mouth, because his hand was so accustomed to eating.
| | | So, despite Drona's warning to the cook, Arjuna discovered the effect of constant practice and began to practice shooting at night. O Bharata, Drona heard the reverberating twang of the bow, and rising from bed he approached Arjuna. Embracing him he said, "I shall now teach you in such a way that no bowman in the world will be your equal. I declare this to you in truth!"*
| | | Drona then taught Arjuna the art of fighting on foot, on chariots, and on the backs of elephants and horses. He carefully instructed the son of Pandu in the battle of clubs, swords, darts, lances, and javelins, and in the art of combat that mixed weapons.
| | | Witnessing Drona's skill, kings and princes assembled by the thousands, Maharaja, eager to learn the military Veda. Hiranya-dhanu, the Nisadha king, had a son named Ekalavya, who also approached Drona, but the master would not accept him as a student, out of consideration for the others.**
| | | [Yet even though Drona had turned him down, Ekalavya did not accept the decision of the master.] The fierce warrior Ekalavya grabbed Drona's feet and placed his own head upon them. He then went to the forest and without the teacher's knowledge or consent crafted out of earthen clay a mystical form of Drona. By unflinching endeavor for power and with a strange faith in this illicit deity, Ekalavya then began to acquire unholy speed in the art of firing arrows.
| | | One day, with Drona's permission, all the Kuru and Pandava princes, who were fierce warriors, set out on their chariots to hunt in the forest. One man carried the paraphernalia of the Pandavas and followed behind them, taking along a dog. As all the princes wandered about, each engaged in his own quest, the foolish dog lost its direction, and while roaming about in the forest the dog approached Ekalavya, the son of the Nisadha king. Staring at the dark Nisadha man, who was covered with dirt and dressed in a black deerskin, the dog kept barking. As the dog barked at him, Ekalavya shot seven arrows into its mouth, so quickly that they seemed to fly all at once.
| | | Its mouth full of shafts, the dog ran back to the Pandavas. When the heroic sons of Pandu saw the hound, they were utterly astonished [for all seven arrows had entered the dog's mouth before the dog could close it]. Realizing the extraordinary quickness required for such a feat, and verifying also by certain symptoms that the bowman had aimed the arrows at the sound of the target, without looking, the princes were humbled, and they praised the feat.
| | | The Pandavas searched the forest for the forest-dweller who had shot the arrows, and they found Ekalavya incessantly hurling his arrows. O king, not recognizing him because of his strange appearance, they inquired, "Who are you, sir, and whom do you serve?"
| | | Ekalavya replied:
Please know, my dear warriors, that I am the son of Hiranya-dhanu, the Nisadha king, and that I am a disciple of Drona striving hard to master the Dhanur Veda.
| | | Sri Vaisampayana continued:
Realizing Ekalavya's identity, the Pandavas returned home and told Drona the entire amazing story. Arjuna in particular kept thinking of Ekalavya. Motivated by love for his teacher, he met Drona in a secluded place and said, "Did you not embrace me once with affection and tell me in private these very words: 'No student of mine shall be better than you?' Why then is there now another student of yours, the son of the Nisadha king, who is a better warrior than I, better indeed than anyone in the world?"***
| | | Drona thought for a moment and made his decision. Taking ambidextrous Arjuna with him, he went to see the Nisadha prince. Drona beheld Ekalavya smeared all over with dirt and filth, his hair in matted locks, his garments ragged, and with bow in hand, incessantly firing arrows.
| | | Seeing Drona approaching, Ekalavya came forward, touched his head to the ground, and embraced his master's feet. [Ekalavya had not actually obeyed Drona's order that he couldn't become Drona's disciple, but] now Ekalavya worshiped Drona according to standard procedure. Presenting himself as Drona's disciple, he stood before the great master with hands folded in reverence.
| | | Then, O king, Drona said to Ekalavya, "If indeed you are my disciple, then you must at once give me my fee."
| | | Hearing this, Ekalavya was pleased and said, "What may I offer you, my lord? May my guru command me! O best of Vedic scholars, there is nothing I would not give my guru."
| | | Drona replied, "Give me your right thumb".
| | | Hearing Drona's frightful words, Ekalavya kept his word, for he always made true his vow. His face jubilant and his mind free of remorse, he sliced off his right thumb without hesitation and offered it to Drona. He then continued shooting arrows with his remaining fingers, O king, but not as quickly as before. Arjuna was then free of his intense anxiety, and he was also satisfied, for Drona was now true to his word;**** now none could defeat Arjuna.*****
| | | * It is said that Drona originally tried to favor his son and make him the pre-eminent warrior, but then, seeing Arjuna's devotion, the master made this vow to Arjuna.
| | | ** Drona worried about the consequences of his revealing such potent knowledge to the future leader of an uncivilized people like the Nisadhas.
| | | *** It was not from pride that Arjuna desired to be the best, but from love for his teacher; he wanted his master's word to be kept and his prestige as a guru thus sustained. Arjuna was also destined to protect the principles of justice, and if his teacher revealed advanced military secrets to unfit persons, Arjuna and his brothers could not perform their divine mission of removing the wicked and reestablishing virtue on the earth.
| | | **** An essential trait for a respectable man of the time.
| | | ***** See "Ekalavya's Fault".
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