Thought of the week: The story of Ekalavya

[Guest guest]

One the most perplexing pastimes in Mahabharata is related to Ekalavya. Why

should a seemingly noble and brave prince be penalized by a noble and

self-realized teacher? As in other pastimes in the Mahabharata, there is much

more here than the superficial interactions of the personalities, and

ultimately there is a very valuable lesson for all of us to learn in this

pastime.

 

Ekalavya the Nishada prince

***********************

Ekalavya was the son Hiranyadhanus, the king of Nishadas. The Nishadas were

jungle tribes that lived in the fringe of cities and were generally considered

to be outcastes. The Srimad Bhagavatam explains how in ancient times there was

a cruel king named Venu who had forbidden any form of worship other than to

himself. Much aggrieved by this, the powerful Brahmans had then killed him by

the powers of their Vedic chants. Then by churning the lower part of his body

they created a man described as short, dark, fierce and submissive. On the

orders of the Brahmans this man began to live in the forests and from him

descended the race of the Nishadas.

 

Ekalavya was very ambitious to become a famous warrior and in order to fulfill

this ambition he approached the most qualified teacher of his time, Dronacarya.

When Dronacarya had become the teacher of the princes of the Kuru dynasty, his

fame spread far and wide with that of his pupils. Kings from all over the

country send their young princes to get training from the famous Drona and

Drona would graciously accept them as his students.

 

However Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as a student explaining that he only

accepted Ksatriya princes as his students. A much disappointed Ekalavya

returned but undaunted, he made an idol of Drona and began to practice very

rigorously. He would also observe Drona instructing his disciples and would

later practice the same moves. So fixed was he in his practice that soon he

became extremely skillful in the use of bow and arrow.

 

Ekalavya encounters the Pandavas

****************************

Once the Pandavas went into the jungle to practice their skills in hunting.

They were accompanied by some dogs for the purpose of flushing out their

quarry. One of the dogs happened to stumble upon Ekalavya practicing his

archery. Alarmed at the unusual sight of the short, dark person, the dog began

to bark furiously. Ekalavya was very much disturbed by the barking and expertly

shot several arrows into the mouth of the dog.

 

When the whimpering dog ran back to the Pandavas, they were amazed to see the

skill with which the arrows had been shot into the mouth of the dog without

hurting it. Curious to see the archer, they traced the path of the dog and

finally came upon Ekalavya. When Arjuna inquired about his identity, Ekalavya

introduced himself as a Nishada prince and a disciple of Guru Dronacarya.

 

Drona had once promised Arjuna that he would make him the foremost archer in

the entire world. However, Arjuna considering the skills of Ekalavya to be

superior to his own inquired from Drona how could he have given him the promise

when in fact he was training Ekalavya to be an even better archer.

 

Drona confronts Ekalavya

*********************

A mystified Drona visited Ekalavya and was greeted with great respect by the

young Nishada. Drona then inquired that despite the fact he had refused to

accept Ekalavya as his student, why did he claim to be his student. Ekalavya

then showed Drona the idol he made and explained how in his heart he had

accepted Drona as his teacher and how he would observe him teaching his

students and then practice before Drona in the form of an idol.

 

At this Drona demanded his guru-dakshina or the traditional payment given by

the student to his teacher as a token of gratitude. In dakshina, Drona asked

for the right thumb of Ekalavya. Well knowing that without his right thumb his

prowess as an archer would be greatly diminished, Ekalavya without hesitation

sliced off his right thumb and presented it to Drona.

 

Lessons from this pastime

*********************

There are many vital lessons to be learned from this pastime. Superficially it

seems that Drona, in order to preserve the supremacy of his favorite disciple

Arjuna acted out of selfish interest. However that is only the partial truth.

The beauty of Mahabharata is that its characters are not entirely black or

white, but very much like its readers, they are shades of gray. While Drona did

to some extend have his self interest in mind, as later revealed by him there

was much more to it.

 

Qualifications to learn

******************

In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that it is much better for one to perform

his own duties, even imperfectly than to try and perform the duties of another

person. A bona-fide teacher instructs a pupil according to the capability of

the pupil to handle the knowledge.

 

Drona did not consider Ekalavya, a Nishada, qualified to handle the immense

power he was imparting to his other students, and therefore he had refused to

instruct him. In fact Drona did not reveal all the secrets of warfare to even

his own son Ashvattama. During the course of Mahabharata when Ashvatthama

witnessed the extraordinary powers of Arjuna he inquired from his father as to

why Drona had not given him the knowledge of all these mystic weapons, despite

the fact that he was his favorite son. Drona replied that he did not consider

Ashvatthama to have sufficient control over his senses to judiciously use these

powerful weapons.

 

However Ekalavya forcibly stole this knowledge from Drona and thus he was

punished by Drona.

 

Approaching a spiritual master

*************************

All scriptures enjoin that the only way to learn is by approaching a spiritual

master, inquiring submissively from him and rendering service to him. When

Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as a disciple at the time this potential

relationship ceased to exist. However Ekalavya persisted unilaterally. Disciple

means subjecting oneself to the discipline of the Guru. However Ekalavya did

not do this, he actually used Drona solely for the purpose of enhancing his own

reputation as a warrior. Drona thus considered Ekalavya's behavior to be

improper.

 

Ekalavya was later killed by Lord Krishna in a battle (the details of this

battle are not given).

 

Instructions by Lord Krishna

***********************

In the Drona-prava, on the fourteenth day of the war of Mahabharata, Karna

kills Ghatotkacha, the fearsome rakshasa son of Bhima. While the Pandavas are

filled with lamentation, every one is surprised to see Lord Krishna smiling in

great happiness. A much aggrieved Arjuna inquires the cause of Lord Krishna's

jubilation, the Lord replies, "O son of Kunti, if Jarasandha, Shishupala and

Ekalavya, the Nishada prince, were not killed by Me, they would have become

unbearably powerful and aligned themselves with Duryodhana in order to fight

with you. Therefore I empowered Bhima to kill Jarasandha and also revealed to

him the secret of killing the Magdha king by bifurcating him. From within his

heart I inspired Drona to ask for the thumb of Ekalavya and I later killed

Ekalavya in battle. Thereafter I arranged for the death of Shishupala by

encouraging him to commit more and more offenses against Me. Similarly I

arranged for the death of Ghatotkacha to utlizie the infallible dart of !

Karna and also because many times in the past I have known Ghatotkacha to have

disrupted Vedic sacrifices. It is my eternal duty to destroy anyone who

disrupts the path of virtue."

 

>From these instruction we can ascertain that Drona had acted justly, in the

interest of religiosity and virtue to punish Ekalavya. The pastime reveals the

proper basis of relationship between a guru and his disciple, and the

importance of executing one's own duty according to one's propensity and

capability.

 

Ekalavaya violated both these tenets and for this he was rightly punished.

Perhaps it was because of his unswerving, though misguided faith in Dronacarya

that Ekalavya received the benediction of being killed by none other that the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Himself.

 

 

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