In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, 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. A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Nishadha ( Sanskrit: निषाध niṣādha) was an indigenous tribe inhabiting ancient India, according to sources in Hindu mythology A Gurukul ( Guru refers to "teacher" or "master" Kul refers to his domain from the Sanskrit word kula, meaning extended family After being rejected by Drona, Ekalavya embarks upon a program of self-study in the presence of a clay image of Drona. In the epic Mahābhārata, Drona ( Sanskrit: द्रोण droNa) or Dronacharya (द्रोणाचार्य droNāchārya He achieves a level of skill equal to that of Arjuna, Drona's favorite and most accomplished pupil. Arjuna or Arjun ( Sanskrit: अर्जुन arjuna) is one of the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, whose name 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.

Contents 1 Drona's rejection 2 Self-training in the forest 3 Dakshina 4 Death 5 Relevance in Modern India 6 References

Drona's rejection

In the Mahabharatha,^[1] Ekalavya is introduced as a young prince of the lowly Nishadha tribes. Nishadha ( Sanskrit: निषाध niṣādha) was an indigenous tribe inhabiting ancient India, according to sources in Hindu mythology Ekalavya was born to Devashrava (brother of Vasudeva, who was father of Krishna)^[2] and was raised by Hiranyadhanus, the leader (King) of the Nishadhas, who was a commander in the army of Jarasandha (the king of Magadha). Nishadha ( Sanskrit: निषाध niṣādha) was an indigenous tribe inhabiting ancient India, according to sources in Hindu mythology Jarasandha ( Sanskrit: जरासंध the king of Magadha, is a character of the epic Mahābhārata. Magadha (मगध formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas ( Sanskrit, "great countries" or regions in ancient India. ^[3]

Desirous of learning advanced skills of archery, he seeks the tutelage of Drona, the legendary weaponsmaster of and instructor of Arjuna and his brothers. In the epic Mahābhārata, Drona ( Sanskrit: द्रोण droNa) or Dronacharya (द्रोणाचार्य droNāchārya Arjuna or Arjun ( Sanskrit: अर्जुन arjuna) is one of the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, whose name Drona, however, rejects Ekalavya on account of the prince's humble origins.

Self-training in the forest

Ekalavya is undeterred and goes off into the forest where he fashions a clay image of Drona. Worshipping 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. Arjuna or Arjun ( Sanskrit: अर्जुन arjuna) is one of the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, whose name 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 to fill the dog's mouth without injuring it. The Pandava princes come upon the "stuffed" dog, and wonder who could have pulled off such a feat of archery. 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.

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. Dakshina ( Sanskrit dakṣiṇā, the feminine of dakṣiṇa "south southern" but also "right-hand side able dexterous clever" 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.

The Mahābhārata is clear that Drona acted in order to protect Arjuna's status as the greatest archer. However, the Mahābhārata does not answer the question whether Drona was ultimately justified. The story thus leaves room for interpretation and moral speculation. As a result, a variety of answers have been proposed to these questions.

• According to some, Drona wanted to hamper Ekalavya's archery skills because he feared that Ekalavya would use them against Drona's employer, the King of Hastinapur^[3] (Ekalavya's father worked for Jarasandh, who was an adversary of the Hastinapur kingdom). WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Hastinapur (हस्‍तिनापुर (Hastinapura in Sanskrit) is a town and a Nagar panchayat
• Others have alleged that Ekalavya learned all the archery skills by secretly observing the training sessions of Dronacharya. When Dronacharaya found out, he visited Ekalavya to verify his suspicions. Although Drona could have demanded an even greater punishment under the laws in effect at that time, he asked only for Ekalavya's right thumb, thus making useless the archery skills which he had learned secretly.
• Others still have said that Dronacharya demanded Ekalavya's thumb because the latter was not a Kshatriya, and in those days only Kshatriyas were supposed to get a military education. Kshatriya (क्षत्रिय kṣatriya from क्षत्र kṣatra) is one of the four varnas (social orders in Hinduism

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. In Hinduism, Rukmini is the principal wife and queen of Krishna at his city of Dwarka. Swayamvara ( Sanskrit: स्‍वयं‍वर in ancient India, was a practice of choosing a life partner among a list of suitors by a girl of marriageable Shishupala or Sisupala was son of Damaghosha, king of Chedi, by Srutadeva, sister of Vasudeva; he was therefore cousin of Krishna ^[3] Bhishmaka decides that Rukmini should marry Shishupala, but instead Rukmini elopes with Krishna. Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari kṛṣṇa in IAST, ˈkr̩ʂɳə in classical Sanskrit is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism Ekalavya is later killed by Krishna, who hurls a rock against him, in a conflict against Jarasandh's army^[3][4]

Relevance in Modern India

In Indian mythology, Eklavya occupies an important place as someone who exemplifies the nature of Guru-shishya tradition of teaching in India, showing extreme reverence for his guru. The guru-shishya tradition lineage or Parampara, is a spiritual relationship in traditional Hinduism where teachings are transmitted from a A guru (गुरु গুরু is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge wisdom and authority in a certain area and uses it to guide others The Eklavya institute for Educational research and Innovative action,^[5] is an institution dedicated to educational research in India, headquartered at Bhopal. Bhopāl ( Hindi: भोपाल bʰoːpɑːl, Marathi -भोपाळ is a city in central India. A 2007 Hindi movie, Eklavya: The Royal Guard, places the story of Eklavya in a modern context. Eklavya The Royal Guard is a Bollywood film directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra which was released in India, the Netherlands, the

Ekalavya-ism, which is a bhava (ideal or sentiment) in the Mahabharata, is a philosophy of self learning with a meditative mind without physical presence of a Guru something which is technologically possible today. Ekalavya-ism also believes in learning for learnings sake, self perfectionism and the ability to give up power when demanded by a Guru. This closely ties in with the Indian Guru Daivo Bhava philosophy as a Guru was thought to be essential in ones self development. American higher education operates on philosophy of apprentice-ship but the question remains to asked whether with newer technology like tele presence, semantic web and neural augmentation the Guru is actually needed to guide the student.

References

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic