Ekalavya Upākhyāna

The Ekalavya Upākhyāna is told in the Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapter 132. It comes in the account of Droṇācārya’s years as teacher of the Kuru princes.

Ekalavya, son of Hiraṇyadhanu, king of the Nishādas, came to Droṇa and asked to learn dhanurveda (the science of archery). Droṇa refused. Ekalavya went back to the forest, made a clay image of Droṇa and treated it as his guru. Through his own practice he became the most skilled archer of his time. When Droṇa later asked for his right thumb as guru-dakshiṇā (the teacher’s fee), Ekalavya cut it off without hesitation.

Ekalavya’s request

Hiraṇyadhanu was king of the Nishādas, a forest people outside the four varṇas, skilled as hunters and woodsmen. His son Ekalavya was a young man of great natural talent and a burning wish to master dhanurveda. He had heard of Droṇācārya, the unmatched teacher who was training the Kuru princes at Hastināpura, and he decided to learn from him.

Ekalavya came to Droṇa, bowed to the ground with full respect and asked to be taken as a student.

Droṇa refused. His reason was that he was committed to his students, the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava princes, and could not take a student who might surpass them. This was above all true of Arjuna, to whom he had already given his word that no student of his would exceed him in archery. Droṇa did not accept Ekalavya.

The clay image and the guru of the heart

Ekalavya took the refusal without anger or despair. He bowed to Droṇa with respect and went back to the forest. He gathered clay from the riverbank and shaped a figure of Droṇācārya, as true a likeness as he could make, and set it up in a fitting place in the forest.

He then treated the clay image as his guru in every way. Each morning he greeted it with proper respect and made offerings to it. He asked its leave before he began his practice, and he held it in his heart as his teacher through all his training.

With this devotion as his base, Ekalavya practised dhanurveda from dawn to dusk, day after day, with full concentration and strict self-discipline. His practice had three marks: śraddhā (complete faith), niyama (strict regularity) and abhyāsa (unbroken repetition).

The seven arrows in the dog’s mouth

One day the princes were hunting in the forest with a dog. The dog wandered off alone and came upon Ekalavya in his forest clearing. He was a dark figure smeared with earth, with matted hair and bark clothes, a bow in his hand, and he was practising. The dog barked and barked at this strange sight.

Before the dog could take a breath to bark again, Ekalavya shot seven arrows at once into its open mouth. They filled it completely and did not hurt the dog at all. The dog trotted back to the princes with its mouth full of arrows, unable to bark. Its mouth was not cut and did not bleed.

The Pāṇḍavas stared at the dog in wonder. They had never seen or imagined such speed, aim and control. They asked Arjuna, who was in the party, whether he could do this. Arjuna had to admit that he could not.

They went into the forest and found Ekalavya. They asked who he was. He told them that he was Ekalavya, son of Hiraṇyadhanu, and a student of Droṇācārya.

Arjuna’s distress and Droṇa’s visit

Arjuna was deeply troubled. Droṇa had told him that no archer among Droṇa’s students would be greater than he. Yet here was someone who called Droṇa his guru and who was clearly more skilled. Arjuna went to Droṇa in private, reminded him of his promise and told him about Ekalavya.

Droṇa went to the forest with Arjuna. Ekalavya saw him coming and ran to him. He bowed fully to the ground and stood before him with folded hands. He greeted Droṇa as he greeted the clay image each day, with the same respect he would show a living guru.

Droṇa understood what had happened. He looked at the clay image of himself, at the clearing where Ekalavya practised, and at the signs of years of devoted self-training. Then he asked: “If I am your guru, you owe me guru-dakshiṇā. Will you give me what I ask?”

Ekalavya answered at once: “There is nothing I would not give you, guru.”

The thumb

Droṇa asked for Ekalavya’s right thumb.

For a moment everything was still. All present understood what this meant. Without the thumb, Ekalavya’s archery would be lessened for good. Drawing a bowstring with an arrow fitted depends greatly on the right thumb, and he would never again do it with the same speed and force.

Ekalavya smiled. With no sign of grief, anger or hesitation, he took his knife, cut off his right thumb and offered it to Droṇa.

After the thumb was gone, Ekalavya tried to draw his bow. He could, but his arrows now came much more slowly than before. His fingers could pull the string, but not with the aim and lightning speed the thumb had given. Arjuna’s place as the best of archers was secure.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapter 132