2017-01-25 Wed

Teachers hold a place in our life so great that we owe our success to them. But great teachers are incomplete without great students. There is one such student whose unmatched devotion to his ‘guru’ (teacher) has inspired generations- he is Eklavya, the greatest archer in the world.

For those unfamiliar with his story, Eklavya, the son of a commander-in-chief of the Magadha army under King Jarasandha wanted to learn archery from Dronacharya, an excellent guru of archery. The political tension between these two states was highly prevalent back then; Dronacharya refused to teach him as he only taught the royal princes of Hastinapur, the Pandavas and Kauravas. Eklavya went to the forest, made an idol of Dronacharya and practised before it eventually becoming an excellent archer.

One day Dronacharya while passing through a forest along with the princes noticed a dog whose mouth had been shot with an arrow in such a way that neither could it bark nor could it bleeds. It was done so by Eklavya as the dog’s constant barking was disturbing his practice. Impressed, Dronacharya enquired about his guru and Eklavya said that Dronacharya himself was his guru.

Dronacharya, worried about failing his promise of making Arjuna the best archer in the world asked Eklavya to cut and give his right thumb to him as Guru-Dakshina; Eklavya obliged without hesitation. At this, Dronacharya blessed Eklavya with eternal glory.

What is noteworthy is that if Dronachaya had not asked for this Guru-Dakshina we would not know of his existence. Eklavya still remained the best archer and used his remaining four fingers for archery. Since he was better than even Arjuna, there were chances that he would be killed so as to eliminate any threat to the royal lineage of Kuru clan; he, the kind-hearted guru that he was, had now gone to the extent of disabling him, his pupil, in order to protect him.

India Post issued this 5 rupees commemorative stamp of Eklavya on 27th December 2013.