Many years back, there lived a boy named Eklavya in the forests of Hastinapur. He wanted to learn archery, so he went to great Dronacharya. But he refused to teach him. The boy was hurt and returned home. He started practising archery on his own in front of guru Drona’s statue made by him. Soon he mastered archery. One day, while teaching princes in the forest, Drona saw a dog whose mouth was very skilfully stuffed with arrows to stop it from barking without hurting it. Everyone was surprised at the art and they began searching for the skilful archer in amazement. They found the skilled archer Eklavya who had prevented the dog from barking. Drona recognised him. He asked who had taught him such skilful archery. Eklavya told him the whole story. Drona asked for Eklavya’s right-hand thumb as his gurudakshina because he wanted his favourite disciple Arjuna to be the world’s best archer. Eklavya at once took his knife, cut off his thumb and offered it to Drona. He blessed Eklavya and begged his divine forgiveness. Eklavya is still praised as the most loyal and brave student in the epic of the Mahabharata.
EKLAVYA, THE SKILLED ARCHER
