Mahabharata – 217
by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
Aadivamsa avatarana Parva
Drona appointed as a preceptor of Kuru and Pandava princes
The great Bhisma was the disciple of Parashuram. And there was no match of Bhisma as a warrior in the world.No wonder that he could appreciate Drona’s qualities as a master of the art of war. Besides, Drona was seeking employment. Bhisma wanted some good teacher for his
grandchildren. Therefore Bhisma was glad to appoint Drona as theresident teacher of these children. But access to Drona was not meant for the Pandavas and Kauravas only. Any one among the Kshatriya clan could learn with Dronacharya or Drona the teacher.Be that as it may,
while teaching other children Drona also took care of his own son Ashwatthama. Arjuna was so eager to learn that whenever Drona used to give any tip to his own son Arjuna would be present there. And accordingly the intelligent Arjuna, that foremost of all men possessing a knowledge of weapons, had no inferiority to his preceptor's son in respect of excellence. Arjuna's devotion to the service of his preceptor as also to arms was very great and he soon became the favorite of his preceptor. And Drona, seeing his pupil's devotion to arms, summoned the cook, and told him in secret,
-----Never give Arjuna his food in the dark, nor tell him that I have told you this. A few days after, however, when Arjuna was taking his food, a wind arose, and then the lamp that had been burning went out. But Arjuna, endowed with energy, continued eating in the dark, his
hand, from habit, going to his mouth only. His attention being due to the habit, from then onwards, Arjuna - set his heart upon practicing with his bow in the night. One day Drona, hearing the sound of his bowstring in the night, came to him, and embraced him, and said
--------- Truly I tell you that I shall do that by which there shall not be an archer equal to you in this world. Thereafter, Drona began to teach Arjuna the art of fighting on horse-back, on the back of elephants, on chariot, and on the ground. And the mighty Drona also instructed all the Kuru princes the art of fighting with the mace, the sword, the lance, the spear, and the dart. And hearing reports of Drona’s skill, kings and princes, desirous of learning the science of
arms, came to Drona by thousands. Ekalavya Among them was a prince named Ekalavya, who was the son of Hiranyadhanu, king of the Nishadas. Drona, however, being aware about
the rules of the then morality, did not accept the prince of Nishada as his pupil in archery. That is, a nishada prince did not have the right to study at the school where ksharityas and brahmins were eligible for study . Consequently Ekalavya, touching Drona's feet bowing down, returned to the forest. There he made a clay-image of Drona, and began to worship it respectfully, as if it was his real preceptor, and practiced weapons before it with the most rigid vow. Left alone Ekalavya took the vow that he would be finest archer in the world by way of worshipping Drona and practicing archery on his own.
In consequence of his exceptional reverence for his preceptor and his devotion to his purpose, all the three processes of fixing arrows on the bowstring, aiming, and letting off, became very easy for him.
This episode is singularly interesting. The critics of ancient India blamed the caste system. Education was not for all in those days just as education is not for all in the world today. Children of the rich have greater opportunities in the field of education even today .If
you are a child of a rich person you can have a test player to teach you cricket. Sidhu was the son of a rich man and no wonder that it is heard that he got a test player as his tutor in his boy hood. No wonder that he became a successful test player in times to come. If you are the child of a rich person you can get admitted into the best institutions of the world for studies. The children of the poor are foredoomed to appreciate the performances of the rich as reported in
the media. This is simply ignoble. Just as it is with us the poor do not get the employment that they deserve and the education they deserve so was it with the world of the Mahabharata. But exceptions are there even today. A genius can not be always choked with social physical limitations. Deafness dumbness and the likely other physical limitations could not stand in the way of Helen Keller becoming one of the greatest intellectuals of our time. Stammering
could not stand in the way of Demosthenes the greatest orator of the world. Poverty did not stand in the way of Megnhad Saha to become one of the greatest scientists of our time. The truly educated is one who is self taught. And Ekalavya is an instance. He is the role model of
those who are socially or politically or economically deprived. They must however follow knowledge like a sinking star. With Ekalavya Dronacharya was the symbol of knowledge ----- animated knowledge as such. If Dronacharya did not teach Ekalavya physically so what?
Ekalavya had the image of his preceptor in his heart. He externalized his preceptor at heart in the shape of an image and worshipped it and pursued his practice of archery and lo! He became the greatest archer of his time. Thus Ekalavya story is the lesson for the downtrodden and
the deprived who must fight out the inequality thrust upon them by our society. It does not necessarily mean that worshipping prince Charles of England will make a boy a duke and a deft pilot of an aircraft. But if he has a definite chief aim and if he follows the laws of success and a role model with devotion, nothing can stand in his way to success. If you place a mountain upon the head of the like of Ekalavya he will shatter the mountain and rise above it.
by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
Aadivamsa avatarana Parva
Drona appointed as a preceptor of Kuru and Pandava princes
The great Bhisma was the disciple of Parashuram. And there was no match of Bhisma as a warrior in the world.No wonder that he could appreciate Drona’s qualities as a master of the art of war. Besides, Drona was seeking employment. Bhisma wanted some good teacher for his
grandchildren. Therefore Bhisma was glad to appoint Drona as theresident teacher of these children. But access to Drona was not meant for the Pandavas and Kauravas only. Any one among the Kshatriya clan could learn with Dronacharya or Drona the teacher.Be that as it may,
while teaching other children Drona also took care of his own son Ashwatthama. Arjuna was so eager to learn that whenever Drona used to give any tip to his own son Arjuna would be present there. And accordingly the intelligent Arjuna, that foremost of all men possessing a knowledge of weapons, had no inferiority to his preceptor's son in respect of excellence. Arjuna's devotion to the service of his preceptor as also to arms was very great and he soon became the favorite of his preceptor. And Drona, seeing his pupil's devotion to arms, summoned the cook, and told him in secret,
-----Never give Arjuna his food in the dark, nor tell him that I have told you this. A few days after, however, when Arjuna was taking his food, a wind arose, and then the lamp that had been burning went out. But Arjuna, endowed with energy, continued eating in the dark, his
hand, from habit, going to his mouth only. His attention being due to the habit, from then onwards, Arjuna - set his heart upon practicing with his bow in the night. One day Drona, hearing the sound of his bowstring in the night, came to him, and embraced him, and said
--------- Truly I tell you that I shall do that by which there shall not be an archer equal to you in this world. Thereafter, Drona began to teach Arjuna the art of fighting on horse-back, on the back of elephants, on chariot, and on the ground. And the mighty Drona also instructed all the Kuru princes the art of fighting with the mace, the sword, the lance, the spear, and the dart. And hearing reports of Drona’s skill, kings and princes, desirous of learning the science of
arms, came to Drona by thousands. Ekalavya Among them was a prince named Ekalavya, who was the son of Hiranyadhanu, king of the Nishadas. Drona, however, being aware about
the rules of the then morality, did not accept the prince of Nishada as his pupil in archery. That is, a nishada prince did not have the right to study at the school where ksharityas and brahmins were eligible for study . Consequently Ekalavya, touching Drona's feet bowing down, returned to the forest. There he made a clay-image of Drona, and began to worship it respectfully, as if it was his real preceptor, and practiced weapons before it with the most rigid vow. Left alone Ekalavya took the vow that he would be finest archer in the world by way of worshipping Drona and practicing archery on his own.
In consequence of his exceptional reverence for his preceptor and his devotion to his purpose, all the three processes of fixing arrows on the bowstring, aiming, and letting off, became very easy for him.
This episode is singularly interesting. The critics of ancient India blamed the caste system. Education was not for all in those days just as education is not for all in the world today. Children of the rich have greater opportunities in the field of education even today .If
you are a child of a rich person you can have a test player to teach you cricket. Sidhu was the son of a rich man and no wonder that it is heard that he got a test player as his tutor in his boy hood. No wonder that he became a successful test player in times to come. If you are the child of a rich person you can get admitted into the best institutions of the world for studies. The children of the poor are foredoomed to appreciate the performances of the rich as reported in
the media. This is simply ignoble. Just as it is with us the poor do not get the employment that they deserve and the education they deserve so was it with the world of the Mahabharata. But exceptions are there even today. A genius can not be always choked with social physical limitations. Deafness dumbness and the likely other physical limitations could not stand in the way of Helen Keller becoming one of the greatest intellectuals of our time. Stammering
could not stand in the way of Demosthenes the greatest orator of the world. Poverty did not stand in the way of Megnhad Saha to become one of the greatest scientists of our time. The truly educated is one who is self taught. And Ekalavya is an instance. He is the role model of
those who are socially or politically or economically deprived. They must however follow knowledge like a sinking star. With Ekalavya Dronacharya was the symbol of knowledge ----- animated knowledge as such. If Dronacharya did not teach Ekalavya physically so what?
Ekalavya had the image of his preceptor in his heart. He externalized his preceptor at heart in the shape of an image and worshipped it and pursued his practice of archery and lo! He became the greatest archer of his time. Thus Ekalavya story is the lesson for the downtrodden and
the deprived who must fight out the inequality thrust upon them by our society. It does not necessarily mean that worshipping prince Charles of England will make a boy a duke and a deft pilot of an aircraft. But if he has a definite chief aim and if he follows the laws of success and a role model with devotion, nothing can stand in his way to success. If you place a mountain upon the head of the like of Ekalavya he will shatter the mountain and rise above it.
No comments:
Post a Comment