The Teacher who asked his Student to Cut off a Thumb
There is an old Hindu story about a man named Eklavya. He was a student of a legendary military expert named Drona, many believe he was his best student, which is a massive praise since the alumnus of Drona’s school included some of the great heroes of Hindu myth. Eklavya might had been Drona’s best student; however, not his favorite. That honor belonged to Arjuna the Pandava, one of the most important figures in Hindu mythology. Arjuna and Eklavya were both master archers, unable to miss even if they tried. However, Drona noticed that Eklavya was slightly better than Arjuna. This did not sit well with the teacher.
In India there is a tradition called Gurudakshina, it means donation to the teacher, students ask their teachers what they would like and then give it to them to thank them for the education. Usually this means paying some money or giving a gift. During Eklavya’s graduation ceremony he asked his teacher what he would like as his Gurudakshina, Drona simply replied, “Your right thumb.”
Eklavya was the greatest archer to have ever graced the world, he used his right thumb to hold arrows, for an archer the tiniest change can make a titanic difference. Eklavya’s teacher. The man who had taught him how to be a great archer. The man who taught him how to be a great warrior. The man who had taught him how to be a man. A person who he regarded in the same light as his parents, asked him for his right thumb. The greatest archer to have ever graced the world, unsheathed a blade and fulfilled his teacher’s wish without hesitation.
This story twists the stomach, angers the mind and remains perplexing. In India it is used as a symbolic tale of the great archer who was an even greater student. However, cutting off one’s own livelihood and future for a teacher seems counterproductive for the purpose of being a student. Unless there is something else, a different perspective, definitions of student and teacher which have been lost. Eklavya does not view himself as a customer of Drona, he does not view his teachings as a service, he instead sees himself as the product which Drona is crafting. If the craftsman wishes to remove something from his art, then the art has no say and must submit to the craftsman, for the craftsman alone envisions the finale.
Eklavya did go on to master how to shoot without his thumb; learning how to become great after loosing it all must have made him resilient, humble, and realize that hard work and dedication can equal natural superhuman ability.
Maybe Drona never favored Arjuna over Eklavya. Maybe the teacher saw that the true natural gift in Eklavya was not his ability to shoot an arrow but the magnitude of his character. The teacher is the artist, the student the art. Eklavya was Drona’s masterpiece.
