Ekalavya
Sign in to saveAlso known as Eklavya
Ekalavya (, also spelt as Eklavya) is a character from the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He is described as a young prince of the Nishadas, a confederation of forest and hill tribes in ancient India.
Key facts
- Character.series
- Mahabharata
- Character.info hdr
- Information
- Character.image
- Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists - Ekalavya.jpg
- Character.alt
- Ekalavya
- Character.caption
- A painting by Nandalal Bose depicting Ekalavya practicing in front of a clay sculpture of Drona.
- Character.family
- Hiranyadhanus (father)Ketuman (son)
- Character.origin
- Nishadas
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- literary character
- Gender
- male
- Image
- Stamp of India - 2013 - Colnect 477814 - Eklavya.jpeg
Show 2 more facts
- present in work
- Mahabharata
- Commons category
- Ekalavya
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Legend
- ''Mahabharata''
- ''Puranas''
- Legacy
- See also
- Notes
- References
Ekalavya (, also spelt as Eklavya) is a character from the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He is described as a young prince of the Nishadas, a confederation of forest and hill tribes in ancient India.
The son of Hiranyadhanus, a king of the Nishada tribe, Ekalavya seeks to learn archery from Dronacharya, the royal teacher of the Kuru princes, including the epic's main protagonist Arjuna. However, Dronacharya refuses to accept him as a disciple due to his Nishada background, as well as the potential to surpass the Kuru princes. Ekalavya trains himself in the forest using a clay statue of the teacher as his guide. His exceptional skill attracts the attention of Arjuna, who, feeling threatened, complains to Dronacharya. In response, Dronacharya demands Ekalavya’s right-hand thumb as gurudakshina (teacher’s fee), which Ekalavya willingly gives, diminishing his abilities.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ekalavya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.