KARNA: Son of the Charioteer

Chapter 7

The shouts of victory echoed loudly from Radheya's lips, intentionally mocking Drona once again, which angered Ekalavya. Ekalavya then initiated a shooting contest without looking, which he won by a small margin. He proceeded to mock the sun god, Surya, who was Radheya's teacher.

Half a year passed with the two young men competing against each other. Radheya trained from morning till night to perfect his archery, as did Ekalavya. Often, they would light a fire at night just to practice. They ate together every day, joked around, and teased each other.

"I am Drona's best student," Ekalavya declared one day as he successfully shot an eye from a wooden fish-shaped statue from a great distance. Radheya could only grimace.

That morning, Ekalavya had invited Radheya to spy on Drona's military school where a competition among Drona's students was being held. One prince managed to shoot an eye from a small wooden fish statue hanging on a distant tree, earning Drona's high praise.

Ekalavya was eager to try it and forced Radheya to tie a poorly carved wooden fish statue—made by Radheya—to a tree. Ekalavya then took a further distance than Drona's student and successfully shot the eye of the fish without difficulty.

Radheya couldn't understand why Ekalavya was so pleased to associate himself with Drona and always wanted to boast about his teacher's name.

"Little one," Radheya said, taking his bow and placing two arrows. Carefully, he adjusted his breath and the position of the arrows. As the two arrows were released from the bow, Ekalavya immediately saw that both eyes of the wooden fish statue were pierced.

"Isn't my teacher Surya even more magnificent?" Ekalavya retorted, and they raced again. It was joyful days for Radheya, having a friend who shared the love for archery and was willing to practice tirelessly to improve. For them, the art of archery seemed boundless. Initially, they thought it impossible to reach a certain target, but with time and hard work, they achieved what they once deemed impossible. And then, they set another target even further ahead and chased it again without hesitation.

Radheya even reached a point where he believed that he and Ekalavya were far superior to Drona. But he dared not say it aloud, knowing Ekalavya would be furious.

Several months later, one morning while Ekalavya was worshiping Drona's clay statue, a hunting dog barked in his direction.

"Be quiet or leave," Ekalavya shouted, feeling disturbed.

The dog continued to bark, prompting Ekalavya to take his bow and place seven arrows at once. Without seeing the dog's direction but estimating the barking, Ekalavya released his arrows. The seven arrows flew into the dog's mouth without harming it, perfectly covering its entire snout.

The dog stopped barking and quickly ran towards its owner, where five young men were walking towards him. They were the ones who had released their hunting dog to find prey, and they were astonished to see the arrows in their dog's mouth.

"Who could have done this?" one of the five young men named Bhima asked his younger brother Arjuna.

Arjuna then noticed the arrows in the dog and removed them. "Only a highly skilled archer like Guru could have done this."

Yudhisthira, the eldest of the five brothers, immediately led them towards where the dog had come from.

"Who are you?" Yudhisthira asked when he saw a man with long hair, dark skin, and powerful muscles.

Ekalavya was surprised by their arrival and answered, "I am Ekalavya, a student of Guru Drona."

The five of them were surprised but didn't dare to deny it.

"Did you shoot this dog?" Bhima asked.

"It was disturbing me while I was worshiping Guru. But I didn't harm it."

The five Pandavas looked at the clay statue resembling Drona and then left to report it to their teacher, Drona.

Upon hearing the report from his students, Drona was surprised that there was an archer capable of such a feat. He quickly returned with the five Pandavas to the scene.

Ekalavya, seeing Drona's arrival, immediately prostrated himself before him. "Accept my respects, Guru."

Drona was surprised as he had never accepted this dark-skinned student before. "From whom did you learn archery?"

"You are my teacher," said Ekalavya. "Everything I have learned comes from you."

"Show me the result of your training," Drona said curiously.

"With your permission, Guru," Ekalavya said, taking his bow. Closing his eyes, Ekalavya shot four times in opposite directions. Each arrow hit its target: two birds flying, a running rabbit, and an arrow soaring high before falling right in front of Drona as a sign of respect.

Arjuna and the other four Pandavas were astonished, as they did not expect someone to shoot without seeing the target, especially not only easy targets but distant and moving ones, which would be difficult even with eyes open. Their teacher, Drona, had never taught them how to shoot arrows like that.

Drona couldn't help but be impressed. At that moment, Arjuna looked towards him with a sad face because they both knew Arjuna wouldn't be able to do it.

The gaze of his favorite student seemed to blame him, for he had sworn to make Arjuna the greatest archer of all time. With Ekalavya being able to shoot better than Arjuna, he felt he had deceived his student.

"Who are you, and where do you come from?" Drona asked.

"I am Ekalavya, son of the Nishadha tribe chief from the kingdom of Magadha."

Drona suddenly remembered a few years ago when he had rejected a son of that tribe because the kingdom of Magadha opposed the Kuru kingdom. Another reason he refused to teach him was because Ekalavya came from a lower caste.

Driven by his desire to make Arjuna the greatest archer, Drona approached Ekalavya and said, "You have completed your learning," Drona said to Ekalavya. "It is time for you to give me the guru dakshina."

Guru dakshina is a gift from a student to honor the teacher for their guidance and teachings at the end of the learning.

Ekalavya prostrated himself, "Please ask, and I will give."

"I want your right thumb," Drona said.

Without hesitation, Ekalavya took out a small hunting knife and cut off his right thumb. With a smile, he took his thumb and presented it to Drona.

"Please accept it, Guru."

Drona took the thumb and left Ekalavya still prostrating before him, with blood flowing from his right hand.