Being Arjuna is easy, but think of the Eklavyas of India

One of the smallest cameo roles in the Mahabharata is played by a young Nishada prince, Eklavya. In the one lakh verses of the epic, Eklavya appears in less than 35. Just to put that in perspective - remember Rajinikanth's one-and-a-half-minute cameo in Ra.One? That is thirty times more screen space than what Eklavya got in the Mahabharata. Yet, the story of Eklavya has been told and retold for generations. Here is a quick re-telling for the benefit of the newcomer (this episode comes in Chapter 123 of the Adi Parva /Book #1) -

"When Drona's fame as a teacher spread, thousands of princes came to him, hoping to get trained in the art of combat. One of them was Eklavya. Upon seeing him, Drona instantly recognised that a prince hailing from a clan of hunters will become a great archer under his tutelage and in time will excel all the Pandavas and Kauravas. So he refused to teach the young Nishada boy. Eklavya, unfazed, went home and made a clay image of Drona. Treating the image with the same reverence as one would treat a real teacher, he began assiduous practice. Soon he attained mastery over the three parts of archery - fixing the arrow on the bow, taking aim, and letting the arrow fly out of the bow.

Some years later, the Pandavas went to the jungle for a hunt, accompanied by a hunting dog. The dog, roaming around in search of prey, came across a dark man, dressed in black, with matted hair and mud smeared on his body. It started barking loudly.

The young man pulled out his bow; directed by the sound of the bark, he sent seven arrows into the dog's mouth before it could close it. When the dog came back to the Pandavas, they were at once amazed and humbled. They went in search of the unknown archer. Soon, they found the one they were searching for. A young man with a serious face, relentlessly shooting arrow after arrow from his bow. They asked the stranger who he was.

'I am Eklavya, the son of Hiranyadhanus, the king of Nishadas. I am a student of Drona and I am striving to attain mastery in archery.'

The Pandavas went back to Drona and raved about the young archer's feat. But Arjuna met Drona in private and complained: 'You told me that I would be your best student. But now there is another student of yours, the son of a Nishada king, who is better than me!'

Drona asked Arjuna to take him to Eklavya. Then he said, 'O hero, if you are indeed my student, then shouldn't you give me my fees?'

Eklavya replied, 'What can I give you, teacher? Just command me and I will give it to you.'

Drona said, 'Give me the thumb of your right hand.'

When Eklavya heard these harsh words, without flinching and with a cheerful face, he cut off his thumb and offered it to Drona. But when he tried to shoot with his bow afterwards, he found that he had lost the masterful control that he had. Seeing this, Arjuna became happy, having become rid of the fever of jealousy."

While Vyasa highlights the greatness of Eklavya in this episode, in other episodes he highlights the greatness of Arjuna. In an episode in the Udyoga Parva/Book #5, Vyasa shows a negative side to Eklavya where he assists the evil Jarasandha against the Yadavas. But one thing is clear: When it came to the art of archery, there was only one Eklavya and only one Arjuna.

Think of Arjuna as a college-going kid. Extremely intelligent, curious, studious, competitive, and street-smart. Think of Eklavya as a rebel-geek. College dropout, learning to code by himself, capable of hard work, and pursuing three online courses simultaneously, but not particularly diplomatic or suave.

While university education has existed for thousands of years in some form or the other, online education is a rather new concept. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become a rage only in the past three years. (Apparently, IISc Bangalore had proposed such an idea as early as 1999!) If one has a stable internet connection coupled with high bandwidth self-motivation, it is possible to learn almost anything online, especially through MOOCs, which are structured, presented, and explained by some of the finest teachers in the world, for free.

Making a clay image is only slightly harder than signing up for a MOOC but why was there only one Eklavya? Many of the young princes who were rejected by Drona could have as well gone home, made a clay image, and practiced shooting arrows for twenty hours a day. But they didn't. Today, several thousands of people sign up for MOOCs but less than ten per cent actually complete it.

Arjuna's dedication, tireless practice, and resourcefulness are well-known but given such a conducive ecosystem, it is not such a big surprise that he turned out to be a winner. University education is clearly effective - be it the face-to-face interactions, the access to professors and learning material, or the creation of networks. But the prohibitive costs and the limited intake are forcing more and more people to go online to learn.

In this context, the cameo role of Eklavya is valuable to us than the main role of Arjuna. What motivated that lonely young prince, in the middle of a thick jungle, with no instruction but a mute clay model, to persistently send out arrows from him bow, to hone his skills for hours and years, to develop such lightness of hand and brilliance in technique, and ultimately to bring his skills to the level of art? Every time I conjure up the image of the young man with a serious face, relentlessly shooting arrow after arrow from his bow, I typically get back to work with renewed vigour.