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anyone as powerful as the princes for the
safety of the state’, he said. ? What did Eklavya do after
Dronacharya refused to
Eklavya was deeply hurt by Dronacharya’s teach him?
refusal to teach him. He went to the forest,
took some mud from a nearby river and made a statue of
Dronacharya.

Every day, Eklavya practised archery with sincerity and dedication
and became the best archer.

One day, while Eklavya was practising, he heard a dog barking. dedication
He ignored it for some time, but the dog’s continuous barking distracted him. He
turned around and fired seven arrows in rapid succession to fill the dog’s mouth
without injuring it. As a result of this, the dog started to roam about the forests with
its mouth open and went to the same forest where Dronacharya was instructing
the Pandavas, the members of the royal family, about a few finer points of archery.
Everyone noticed the dog with arrows in his mouth. Guru Dronacharya was amazed
and wondered, ‘Who could have pulled off such a feat of archery?’

They saw a boy dressed in tribal clothes. It was Eklavya. Dronacharya praised Eklavya
and asked him, ‘Who taught you archery?’ Eklavya was thrilled to hear Drona’s
praises, ‘From you my Master. You are my Guru’, Eklavya replied humbly.

‘Your Guru? How can I be your Guru? I have never seen you before!’ Drona exclaimed
in surprise.
‘Dronacharya’, replied the boy. ‘I made your statue and worshipped it every day.
Thanks to it, I have become a good archer.’

Hearing this, Dronacharya became silent. He had
promised the king to make Arjuna the best archer in What is guru
the world. After some thought, he asked, ‘Where is ? dakshina?
your guru dakshina? You have to give me a gift for
your training.’

‘Dronacharya, you are my Guru. I will offer whatever you ask for’, replied Eklavya.

‘I would like to have your right-hand thumb as my guru dakshina’, Dronacharya declared.

Eklavya stood silently, for without his thumb he could never shoot arrows again. But he
said ‘Ok Gurudev’, and he gave his thumb to his teacher.
The sage was humbled. Dronacharya blessed the young archer
for his courage. ‘Eklavya, even without your thumb, you’ll be
known as a great archer. I bless you that you will be remembered
forever for your devotion to your guru’, said Dronacharya and left devotion
the forest.
– Adapted from the Mahabharata

The Story of Eklavya 51

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