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Legend of Eklavya has been narrated in the great epic Mahabharata written by the great sage Vyasa. When the Pandava and Kuru sons grew up, Bhishma, the royal grandsire, became eager to find for the princes of the two imperial houses, a teacher who might train them thoroughly in the use of arms. At last, he came across Drona, the very teacher he was seeking. Drona started to train the children of the two royal families the art of warfare. Princes came from the neighboring kingdoms as well for learning the art of warfare and his pupil included the Kurus, the Pandavas and the sons of the great nobles.
Ekalavya was a forest boy who had some god gifted characteristics that made him different from other kids. He had a spark in himself that made him unique and ambitious. He always had a desire to learn archery and knew that he can get the best teachings from the great teacher Drona who was already teaching the same to the Kaurvas in the Gurukul nearby.
In those days, there was no such system as a school, college, university or hostel. The only place where one could get education was a “Gurukul”. A Gurukul (Guru refers to “teacher” or “master”; Kul refers to his domain, from the Sanskrit word kula, meaning extended family.) is a type of ancient Hindu school that is residential in nature with the shishyas or students and the guru or teacher living in proximity, many a time within the same house. The Gurukul is the place where the students reside together as equals, irrespective of their social standing. The students learned from the guru and also helped the guru in his day-to-day life, including carrying out of mundane chores such as washing clothes, cooking, etc. The education imparted thus, was a wholesome in nature.
When Ekalavya reached Dronacharya’s Gurukul, he saw that it consisted of a group of huts, surrounded by trees and an archery yard. The disciples were practicing to shoot arrows with their bows and arrows in the yard. It was an engaging sight. But Eklavya’s eyes searched for Drona. Without Drona, all his purpose of coming to the Gurukul would be meaningless. But all his worries soon subsided. He didn’t have to wait for long. There was the man standing near a tree busy instructing a boy, who was none other than the third Pandava prince Arjuna, as Eklavya came to know later. Though Eklavya had never seen Drona before, he put his guess at work. He went near Drona and bowed.
Thus in order to meet guru Drona , Ekalavya also took two boars as a token of gift . Although Guru Drona was a Brahmin but in that era there was no prohibition against eating meat for the Brahmins (according to Sarala version) moreover it was served during marriages and sraddh etc. In order to meet a Guru one could not go empty handed, because it was considered a part of the initiation of education process. He told Drona that he was Ekalavya, the young prince of Nishada tribe. He expressed his wish to learn archery under his guidance. But that time people of lower class were not allowed to take lessons from the royal guru as they were untouchables and they were not entitled to get education.
Drona was impressed with the boy’s efforts. Drona wanted to make him his student somewhere in his heart but Duryodhana objected. Being a normal forest dweller, he had no right to learn with the royal boys because they were considered outside the cultured society. Yudhisthira disagreed with Duryodhana as he was not concerned about any moral principles, but was thinking in a practical way that having a forest dweller in the Gurukul will help them bring things from the forest like boar, honey etc. Arjuna also preferred his choice only. But Duryodhana’s opposition was stubborn that a forest dweller can never sit in their community hence he told his obedient brother Dushasana to take the forest boy away and also bully him.
Eklavya was stunned at their behavior. He himself was the son of the chief of his clan, but he never insulted anyone below him in such a way. He looked at Drona for some kind of support, but the sage remained silent. The message was loud and clear. Dronacharya also wanted him to leave. He refused to teach him. Drona was helpless. Neither Pandavas could do anything. They were just the children of the king who was dead now leaving behind his wife Kunti. Gandhari, the queen never had any comfortable relation with her or her children. Duryodhana was the king’s son. Drona was like the employee of king Dhritarashtra. He knew that the king loved Duryodhan above anyone else. He couldn’t risk king’s displeasure and invite trouble for himself by not following his judgement.
The innocent tribal boy was deeply hurt by Drona’s refusal to teach him. “It’s not fair!” he thought miserably. “God has given knowledge to all, but man alone differentiates his kind.” He left the place with a broken heart and a bitter taste. But it could not shatter his ambition to learn Archery. He was still as determined to learn Archery.
Although Ekalavya was humiliated that day but he did not gave up. He was not only highly focused and motivated but was also very enterprising and intelligent too. He carved a small tunnel in the forest from which through one end of the tunnel he could observe the body movement of Drona by sitting on the other end of the tunnel. He used to observe Drona very keenly and intently and also practiced what Drona taught the others. He started worshiping Drona from his heart and made a clay murti (image) of his in the place where he resided and put a garland round his neck to pay tribute. After that he made a virtual relationship of teacher and student with him and continued learning archery from him from distance. On the other hand, at the Drona’s training centre everyone forgot him completely and never talked about him anymore after he was thrown out.
After a long time. One day Drona and his students went into the forest where Arjuna came across a dog that was 
unable to bark because they saw arrows around his mouth amazingly constructed. It was harmless for the dog and was just preventing him to bark anyway. Drona was amazingly surprised. Although Arjuna who was the greatest archer was not able to understand how, someone could have so delicately done this. Then they looked around and saw a boy practising archery in front of the mud statue of Drona. Drona asked that boy that where had he learnt archery from and the boy who was Ekalavya bowed to him and said “from you guruji”.
Dogs have a natural tendency to bark if they see any strange object or person. And according to Drona, Ekalavya harmed the dog’s natural behaviour thus he thought that this boy could become a trouble for the society in the near future. Hence he told Ekalvaya that a student must be ready to offer his guru with guru Dakshina.
Ekalvaya was so happy that his guru was going to accept him solely from now. And Drona asked his thumb of the right hand. And Ekalavya took out his knife and without any hesitation sliced his thumb off and showed his gratitude to Drona. The princes gasped at Eklavya’s act of bravery. But the tribal boy betrayed no signs of pain, and held out his severed thumb to Dronacharya.This incident showed that Ekalavya was a dedicated and truthful student. However it was also considered as a mean decision by Drona because he had promised Arjun to make him the best archer in the world and hence he removed all the barriers in his way.
But despite his handicap, Eklavya continued to practice archery. How could he do so? When one is dedicated, one can make even mountains bow. With practice, Eklavya could shoot arrows with his index and middle finger and he became an even greater archer than he was ever before. His name spread far and wide. When Drona came to know this, he blessed the boy silently and begged for divine forgiveness.
The sage was humbled. He 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 loyalty to your guru,” Drona declared and left the forests. He was moved and grieved at his own action. But he was content that his promise to Arjuna was not broken. The Gods blessed Eklavya from above. And true to Drona’s blessing, Eklavya is still praised as the most loyal and brave student in the epic of Mahabharatha
Eklavya is called as one of the foremost of the kings in the Rajasuya Yajna where he honors Yudhishthira with his shoes. Though he didn’t have his right thumb, he was noted as a very powerful archer and charioteer. He was killed in battle by Krishna, who hurled a rock at him.
