Ekalavya's Gift

Deep in the forest lived a boy called Ekalavya. He was the son of Hiranyadhanus, the chief of the Nishadas, a tribe of forest people and hunters.

Ekalavya had one dream. He wanted to become the greatest archer in the world.

He had heard about Drona, the famous teacher who trained the princes of Hastinapura. So one day he walked all the way to Drona's school, bowed at his feet and asked to become his pupil.

The door that closed

Drona looked at the boy. He saw his simple clothes and knew he was the son of a forest chief, not a prince.

Drona was the teacher of the royal family. He had promised to make the prince Arjuna the finest archer on earth. He would not take this boy as a pupil.

He turned him away.

Ekalavya was hurt. But he did not give up his dream. He bowed to Drona once more, and walked back into the forest.

The teacher made of clay

In a quiet clearing among the trees, Ekalavya gathered clay. With great care, he shaped it into a statue of Drona, the teacher who had refused him.

Every morning, he bowed to the clay figure as if it were his real teacher. And then he practised.

He practised when it was hot and when it rained. He practised until his fingers were sore and his shoulders burned. He watched, he tried, he failed, and he tried again. He believed that his teacher was with him, even if it was only in clay.

Year after year, his skill grew. And slowly, the boy from the forest became an archer of wonderful speed and lightness of hand.

A dog in the forest

One day, the princes went hunting in the forest with Drona. A dog that was travelling with them ran ahead and found Ekalavya practising. Seeing the stranger, dark and dressed in deerskin, the dog began to bark.

Ekalavya raised his bow. In a moment, before the dog could close its mouth, he shot seven arrows into it, one after another, so swiftly and so precisely that the barking stopped.

The dog ran back to the princes, its mouth full of arrows. The princes were astonished. Who could shoot like that?

They searched the forest until they found Ekalavya.

"Who is your teacher?" they asked.

"I am a pupil of Drona," said Ekalavya.

The fee

When Arjuna heard this, he was troubled. He went to Drona.

"You promised that no pupil of yours would ever be better than me," he said. "But here is a pupil of yours who is better."

Drona went with Arjuna into the forest. When Ekalavya saw his teacher coming, he ran to him, touched his feet and stood before him with joined hands.

In those days, when a pupil finished his learning, he gave his teacher a gift, called a guru dakshina.

"If you are truly my pupil," said Drona, "then give me my fee."

"Ask for anything, my teacher," said Ekalavya. "There is nothing I would refuse you."

"Then give me the thumb of your right hand."

The thumb is what an archer uses to draw the bowstring. Without it, Ekalavya would never shoot the same way again.

Ekalavya's face did not change. Cheerfully, without a moment's hesitation, he cut off his right thumb and gave it to his teacher.

After that, it is said, he still shot arrows, but never again with the same lightness of hand.

What do we learn?

People have argued about this story for hundreds of years.

Some see Ekalavya as the most loyal pupil there ever was: a boy who taught himself with nothing but determination and a statue of clay, and who honoured his teacher completely.

Many readers today also see the unfairness of it. A gifted boy was turned away because of where he came from, and then asked to give up his gift so that a prince could stay the best.

Both lessons are worth keeping. Ekalavya shows how much a determined learner can achieve, even alone. And his story reminds us to ask: are we giving every child a fair chance to learn?

About this story

The story of Ekalavya comes from the first book of the Mahabharata, the Adi Parva. In India today, his name is often given to awards for sport and to schools, especially schools for children from tribal communities, as a symbol of talent and self-belief. This version is a shortened, simplified retelling.