Episode#16
One day while practicing, he got disturbed by a barking dog, he shot several arrows in the direction of the dog and without hurting the dog, and his arrows stuck in his jaws in a manner in which the dog was unhurt but at the same time could not bark and disturb him, Arjuna saw this predicament of the dog and concluded that he must be a master-archer, he took the dog to his Guru Drona who also felt that it was a great workmanship of a skilled archer, to their great surprise it turned out to be Eklavaya, seeing Guru Drona, he fell at his feet and the sage questioned "who taught you these skills?"
Eklavaya replied "You are my Guru and you are my inspiration, I have learned from you" Drona remembered that he had promised Arjuna to make him the greatest Archer of the Bharat Varsh. He had to set aside Eklavaya for he was far better than Arjuna - with Eklavaya's kind of expertise, Arjuna did not stand the remotest chance to be the best of the best.
Drona adroitly said "If you call me Guru, you have to pay my Guru Dakshina (fees) Eklavaya smiled and said "I shall offer whatever my Guru says, your wish is my command, oh Lord"
From with a cold-blooded voice asked "Give me the thumb of your right hand" without any hesitation Eklavaya pulled out his knife and chopped his right thumb and placed at Guru Drona's feet.
All Pandavas were stunned and shaken realising as henceforth he would never be able to use the bow-and-arrow. It was and is a crystal-clear example that greatness is not achieved by being better than others; it can also be achieved by pulling down others who are better. The first method brings self-gratification while the other does not.
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The past life of Drona is full of ups-and-down! As a boy Drona had studied in an ashram where prince Drupada also studied and both were good friends.
Years later, when the Prince had become the King, Drona, tired of his glaring poverty went to meet Drupada in his court and reminded him of their childhood friendship. But to his shock, Drupada spurned him, saying that friendship was possible only between equals and a poor Brahmin could never claim friendship but only patronage - Drona, humiliated in this way, rejected his patronage and left Drupada's court vowing vengeance.
He was appointed by Bhisma Pitamah at Hastinapur to teach all the princes the various skill of archery and armoury. He became adept at the arms of Arjuna and Bhima, proved themselves better than others - Arjuna excelled in archery while Bhima in wielding the mace, here the seeds of jealously was sown when Bhima superseded Duryodhana, after training completed, Drona thought this was right time to avenge Drupada with the help of his highly talented pupils. Drona asked his pupils to assualt on Drupada's kingdom!
Drupada was defeated and Arjuna brought him as a bound prisoners to Drona. Drona took away half Drupada's kingdom and released him saying "Now we are equals" revenge is an entity that never gets terminated - on the contrary, it starts a constant spree between the two rivals and often ends in the disaster of either - or both of them proving again to the world that not enmity but affection increases one's power.
After facing humiliation, Drupada returned with multi-fold venom of vengeance brewing within him, he performed a huge sacrificial-ceremony to the Fire-God and obtained three blessings in the form of a girl Draupadi, her half-brother Shikhandi and a boy who was named as Dhrishtadyumna.
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