Mahabharat Tales: What happened to Ekalavya after giving his thumb to Guru Dronacharya?

By Aishwarya Nair | First Published Oct 3, 2024, 3:00 PM IST

Mahabharat Facts: Everyone knows about Ekalavya, who cut off his thumb for Guru Dronacharya in the Mahabharata. But very few people know what happened to him after giving the thumb.

Interesting things related to Eklavya: There are some warriors in Mahabharata, about whom very little has been told. One such character is Ekalavya. Being from a lower caste, Guru Dronacharya demanded Ekalavya's thumb as Guru Dakshina. Even today Ekalavya is remembered first as a disciple. Very few people know what happened to Ekalavya after giving the thumb. Know further interesting things related to Ekalavya…

Who was Ekalavya?
According to Mahabharata, Ekalavya was the son of Hiranyadhanu, the king of the Nishads, his original name was Abhimanyu. Eklavya wanted to learn archery like the Kshatriyas. For this, his father took him to Guru Dronacharya, but being from a lower caste, Guru Dronacharya refused to teach him archery. Due to this, Ekalavya started secretly watching Guru Dronacharya giving weapons training to the Kshatriyas and started practicing it alone.

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When Ekalavya shot arrows at the dog:

Once when Guru Drona was teaching his disciples, he saw that a dog had many arrows struck in its mouth which only a great archer could do such a thing. Thinking like this, Guru Drona started searching for the one who struck the dog. Going into the forest, he saw a young man practicing archery in front of his idol.

Why did Guru Dronacharya ask Ekalavya for his thumb?

When Guru Dronacharya asked the identity of the young man who was shooting the arrow, he told his name as Ekalavya and narrated to him the whole truth. Guru Dronacharya had already given Arjuna the boon of being the best archer. Seeing Ekalavya's archery, Dronacharya understood that he too was an archer like Arjuna. That's why he asked Ekalavya for his thumb as Guru Dakshina.

Which army did Eklavya join?

Even after his thumb was cut off, Ekalavya started practicing archery with his fingers. He became completely proficient in this too. When he grew up, Ekalavya joined the army of Jarasandha, the king of Magadha. Jarasandha considered Lord Krishna as his enemy. Jarasandha attacked Mathura several times. Ekalavya was also with him in this attack. Ekalavya also caused a lot of damage to the army of Dwarka.

How did Ekalavya die?

Once when Jarasandha attacked Mathura, at that time Ekalavya killed many great warriors of the Yadav army. Seeing Ekalavya's valor, Shri Krishna himself had to come to fight him. There was a war between Shri Krishna and Ekalavya, in which Ekalavya was killed. After Ekalavya, his son Ketuman became the king of the Nishads. In the Mahabharata war, Ketuman fought on the side of the Kauravas and was killed by Bhima.

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