Ekalavya is often misrepresented as a very young, poverty stricken tribal child who was denied basic education by the upper class Drona. Is this what Vyasa says?
Not really. Find out who Ekalavya was and what reasons Drona could have had to reject...
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Everyone knows Ekalavya as a dedicated student who practiced archery on his own but credited his success to Guru Drona who had rejected him. Yet Drona asked for his thumb. Only this part of the story appears in Vyasa MB so we think of Ekalavya as a tragic hero, a child eager to learn but rejected by the guru.
If we go back and trace Ekalavya's roots, we see a different story taking shape. We can also see a different perspective on why Drona might have rejected him and why he took his thumb.
Ekalavya's back story appears in the Harivamsha and it goes like this.
Devashrava- 3rd brother of Vasudeva (Krishna's father) was rumoured to have another son, Ekalavya, who had been brought up by tribal people. (Excerpts in my twitter thread: https://twitter.com/MyMBJourney/status/1336525778905747458?s=20)
Why was the child abandoned? Nothing is mentioned here but the strange thing is that not one person in the Yadav clan later mentions his name later.
We get a glimpse of Ekalavya in the Mahabharatha for the first time when he shoots arrows at a dog because it was barking near his practice space. Would it not have sufficed to shoo it off? Note that the 'without causing any pain' part is nowhere mentioned in the Mahabharatha text.
BORI Sambhava Parva excerpt:
"When it kept on barking, he displayed great dexterity. In one instant, he shot seven arrows into its mouth. The dog dashed back to the Pandavas, its mouth full of arrows. On seeing this, the brave Pandavas were extremely surprised. At this supreme and dextrous feat of shooting blind, they praised the person who had done this, but were also ashamed oftheir own skills."
Let's see who Ekalavya was, what was his back story as we can see from the Harivamsha, khila bhaag of the Mahabharatha, also written by Vyasa:
1) Ekalavya was a known and sworn enemy of the Yadavas. He was an ALLY of Jarasandha and participated in the 17 attacks on Mathura to kill Krishna post Kamsa's death. The Yadavas were obviously allies of Hastinapur, especially since Kunti was a Yadava princess. In fact, Ekalavya dies at Krishna's hands when he attacks Dwarka. So why was an experienced warrior coming to Drona to 'learn' along with the kids?
2) Was Ekalavya a child? Nopes, he was also considerably OLDER than Krishna . Krishna fights Ekalavya's SON in one of the many battles with Jarasandha's army at Rukmini swayamvar time. In short, Ekalavya was old enough to have children when Krishna was a teen.
Since Krishna- Arjuna are just 6 months apart in age (Same day born as per Bhagavad Puran), Ekalavya was considerably older than regular students too when he approached Drona in the story we all know. Why was an older experienced warrior approaching Drona, at his enemy state Hastinapur to learn warfare now? Being older was not the problem- Karna was 22 years older than Arjuna. But older plus enemy plus already trained raises some questions.
3) Was Ekalavya a poor child? No, he was the prince who later became the king of Nishadas. We know of another famous Nishada king, Nala. Guha, who takes Rama, Lakshmana, Seeta across the river, who is embraced by Rama, is also Nishada. Nishadas were kings, chieftains too. We see Ekalavya make a second appearance in Vyasa Bharatha at Yudisthira's rajasuya, probably by this time, as king.
4) Drona has lived in the Raivataka region earlier in his life in the same parts that Ekalavya resides in. Possible that Drona knows him from before, knows about his affiliation with Jarasandha. Anyhow this would be common knowledge since he is part of the army attacking Mathura.
5) Drona's school also had Vrishnis, Andhakas etc. Ekalavya is sworn enemy of these people. The Vrishni, Andhaka kids learning at Drona gurukul are inexperienced children. Ekalavya is an experienced warrior.
Now, the logical questions:
1) Why would Drona reject him when he willingly taught Vrishnis, Andhakas, Karna etc. who were not Hastinapur's princes? He even tutored Dhristadyumna who was destined to kill him.
2) After Drona rejected him, why did Ekalavya stay on in the forest adjoining the gurukul where the young princes roamed?
3) Was it not possible for Ekalavya also to learn to shoot with his other hand/ arm like Arjuna did to become Savyasachi?
Was Drona justified in asking for his thumb? In my opinion, NO. But Drona would make his decision after thinking of the political fall out of handing Ekalavya higher weapons and elite class training that cud be used against his employer (Hastinapur) logically.
I wonder what would have happened if Bhishma had come across this sworn enemy of state, hiding in the forest, fully armed and practicing shooting.
