Retelling of The Indian Epic Stories; Ekalavya: Hunter being Hunted

Ekalavya: Hunter being Hunted Far from the madding crowd of the city which is confined by the humongous grey walls and unfettered from all the extravagant luxuries of archaic governed palace, there lived a meek and small group of bushmen for whom forest was their abode. Hunting was the chief code of life of these bushmen. They were called and known by the city dwellers as ‘Nishadhas’. The Nishadhas lead a life of peace by enjoying each and every-day of their life. These Nishadhas would have been long forgotten and their past wouldn’t be etched in our minds if it wasn’t for Ekalavya who is the most cherished and yearned warrior of all time. On the never-seen stormy night with it’s thundering clouds, and ravaging winds tearing down the mightiest trees to the ground, there ran a bustle in one of the bamboo hut of the Nishads where the wife of Vyatiraj Hiranyadhanus gave birth to a child who grew to bear a name, Ekalavya. As a boy, Ekalavya was very zealous and used to perform any task assigned to him with at-most involvement and wouldn’t leave his mind to drift away for a moment, until and unless he accomplishes his task. On the very birth of the boy the old wise of the Nishads had made a prophecy that the boy by his feat which remains unsurpassed is the harbinger of glory to their tribe. His father was witnessing the boy growing-up along with his fellow men’s son to stand up to the prophecy, as the boy would always pester him with questions and express such desires which was not even permitted for a Nishad to dream-off. In the spare time the boy was always immersed with his catapult as he desired to be the greatest archer of his time. His father was very concerned about his son’s passion. But the old wise used to console him by saying that just like an arrow released from the bow which can never be stopped and called back, nothing can stop the unstoppable. Ekalavya was tutored along with his friends by the old wise about various trees and plants, all the wild animals of the forest, and hunting. The boy would never get satisfied with the answers of his father and so would often meet the old wise who out of love would answer the boy. And on one such occasion Ekalavya asked to the old wise,” O! Forefather, can you tell me, what lies beyond the other end of this river?” To this the old wise replied that we the Nishads must not know anything about it because nothing but evil resides there. But upon the constant pleading of the boy the old wise says,” Ekalavya, the other end of the river is dwelled by the similar humans like us but their code of life has sea of differences from us. They speak different tongue, dress differently, from birth ceremonies to funeral rites they differ from us. Upon this, they have one thing that we entirely don’t have i.e ‘money’ by which they value the person, labour and things.” The old wise continued, “My great grandfather used to tell me that we Nishads should not even for an eye blink, think of going to that place as the men who had tried were never heard or seen again.” But as the days elapsed, the elder men of the Nishads were encompassed with the fear of the constant encroaching of the forest-land by the outside men of the city. They were highly occupied with this fear because so far the kings and other noble men would come to the woods only for hunting and the woodcutters to sustain their trade, but never would they penetrate deep into the heart of the forest where the tribes like Nishads had lived. Ekalavya comes to know about this as he accidentally overhears the conversation of the elder men with his father in his hut. So, knowing that his father wouldn’t clarify any of his doubts, he meets the old wise and asks him,” Why do you think that these kings are encroaching the forest land?” The old wise says that the king is claiming his ownership for the land. Then Ekalavya commented, “How kings can possibly claim the land? When everything belongs to mother Earth and why are we so afraid to face them?” Then the old wise says,” Ekalavya, we strongly believe that a piece of land is the bestowed gift of mother Earth upon all the creatures which no one can claim it for oneself but the kings treat that very land as piece of commodity of fortune and so they wage wars to claim it, and the great archer you dream to be one-day, is already present in those walled forts and moreover they have an esoteric knowledge which makes them invincible.” Hearing this, Ekalavya takes leave of the old wise and makes way to his hut. Finally, the day arrived when the king’s army came rampaging around with their prodigious weapons to which the Nishads didn’t yield and they sought a war which resulted in the destruction of the Nishads and whole forest was set ablaze to fire. Helplessly, Ekalavya saw the massacre from the top of the hill along with his wounded old wise; he saw the screeching fire engulfing his tribesmen and their huts. The boy’s grief paramounted as he lost his father, friends and the forest being burnt for the prestige of one single man i.e a ‘king’ who wanted to claim and exercise his powers. Then, the old wise advised the heart-broken lad to plunge into the river and save himself by heading to the city where he can seek his passion for the archery. But Ekalavya protested that he wouldn’t leave him behind and he yelled to the wise that he can never survive in the city all alone by himself. The intriguing matter was that Fear pierced into the heart of the boy who never felt what it is to be like being feared. This very Fear that trickled down the face in the beads of the sweat of the young hunter, which is the result of the catastrophic war, hunted the young hunter throughout his later years as his memory now and then drifted in the traumatizing agony that he witnessed. Then, Ekalavya says to the old wise,” You prophesied that I’m the harbinger of the glory but look here, I stood helplessly watching my elder men being butchered and our mothers being raped by those soldiers of the king. ” Then the old wise says,” Haa!!, Ekalavya the prophecy was made-up. ” Ekalavya was completely taken aback when he listened to the astonishing reply of the old wise. Ekalavya yelled at the old wise for his blasphemy that he made on his birth ceremony. The old wise says,” All the prophecies are made-up, a mortal will never have the power to see what lies beyond his vision, and if was to, then he would have become an immortal. Yes for I might have uttered a lie but if I did it was for your good cause.” To which Ekalavya replies,” How on earth will it be for my well being? Because of your prophecy I nurtured tons of dreams in my mind palace only to see that it was a palace of glass which is set right to be shattered into pieces.” Then, the old wise says,” Remember you were born on a stormy night, where the thunder bolts was eagerly waiting to turn the whole forest into ashes, the folks were considering you as a charm of bad-luck, so I was bound to make a prophecy of that sort, so that you may live by never being looked down. But let me tell you this,” You are the most skilful among all the Nishads, the sling-shot of your catapults never missed its aim and you are the same old boy who showed to all the Nishads that immense patience, vigilance and concentration fuelled by ardent determination can hunt down the mightiest beast of the forest.” The old wise continued,” Ekalavya, my child, you must believe in yourself. I always believe that human discourse ways more than the divine discourse as it is measured by the true experience and so you must believe me when I say that you have a huge potential in you to do great tasks, so don’t abscond it. And let me give you my last piece of advice that is you must never let the pleasures of those places to blind and behold you.” Hearing this Ekalavya took a last sight of his fore father and plunged into the river and swam across it and then reached the city where he wandered from place to place branded as an unwelcomed outcast. As the days rolled down, Ekalavya reached Hastinapur where he comes to know about the mighty archer Guru Dronacharya. Then he traverses towards ashram to be his disciple, but he was looked down by the princely pupils and Dronacharya though amused and pleased by the conduct of Ekalavya, refused to accept him as his pupil by saying that just like the several trees in the world where none of them will grow into the same height there are different jatis and only the Brahamana and Kshatriya are the uppermost jatis entitled to knowledge and you belonging to a lower jati shouldn’t desire for such knowledge and instead must cling on to your jati and its intricacies. Though Ekalavya was disappointed but he wasn’t heartbroken. Infact his passion to be the greatest archer got much more intensified and he began to observe from far away, hiding himself behind the trees, Drona bestowing his archery skills to the princes of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Then, Ekalavya would imitate them by recollecting his observations and then rehearse his moves for a number of times. In this manner Ekalavya grew to be a skilled archer with shabdavedi in his quiver. Arjuna was furious to see that Ekalavya was a much better archer than him and who was spell bound to see a barking dog’s mouth zipped by seven arrows released by Ekalavya but at the same time not even hurting the dog. This made Drona to go to the hut of Ekalavya to enquire about the supreme source of his mastery on the archery skills. To which Ekalavya responded with courtly respect,” Gurudev, you, yourself is the supreme source of my archery skills. I always used to see you teaching your pupils from the farther end and then used to memorize what you have taught and then rehearse it back in my hut.” Drona was immensely proud with the boy’s obedience and determination but he was immersed in the promise that he gave to his best pupil, Arjuna, to make him the supreme archer. So, Drona says,” Since you accept me as your Guru and since you believe that it’s I who bestowed you the art of archery. Then, I, your Guru Drona would like to have a Dakshina from you as a mark of my tutorship.” To which Ekalavya replied,” O!! Gurudev, it would be my immense pleasure to offer you the Dakshina.” Then, Drona asked Ekalavya to give him his right hand thumb. Ekalavya without any second thought raised his left hand and took a sharp point-edged arrow from his feathered quiver and severed his thumb of the right hand. Drona was speechless to see the act of Ekalavya and whereas the Pandava princes dropped their jaws wondering at Ekalavya’s courage. Though being perplexed and over-riding with guilt, Arjuna thanked his Guru for carrying out such a task. But Drona paused Arjuna’s assurance by saying,” My dear Arjuna, Ekalavya turned out to be like this mighty sun which is now about to set but only to rise again. I had given my words to you and your granddad Bheeshma to make you the best archer in the world. But now I realise at what cost, must I carry my given words.” Then back there in the hut, after Ekalavya treated his right hand palm with some herbs and bandaged it, then he stood to his toes gazing at the setting sun, and walked as if counting his every steps, and as he walked, the droplets of blood dripped from his bandaged right hand and in each drop, there was years of patient practise which now got soaked deep into the earth. But Ekalavya never gave-up and after years of practise he became a ‘savyasachi’ who could use both the hands for shooting the arrows. Then, he goes back to his forest and meets the handful survivors of the Nishads and lives with them. Then for years to come Ekalavya lived a life of content as he married the chief Nishad’s daughter and beget her, a son and thus he led his tribe in peace. But then he foresaw the upcoming Great War between the Pandavas and Kauravas. One-day to his astonishment, his hut had visitors and they were none other than Krishna and Arjuna who came there as the embassy of the Yudhisthir’s army to seek the support of the Nishads. But Ekalavya after seeing to their welfare, kindly declined their invitation, saying that he wants to be neutral for the sake of wellbeing of his own people. Then, this enraged Arjuna who urged Ekalavya to support and fight for the causes of righteousness rather than to sit idle, and not to shed blood for one’s own wellbeing and necessity. To this Ekalavya replied,” Oh!! Arjuna, I’m afraid that according to the princely men like you I can never understand what is righteousness? yes I do believe that Yudhisthir should get his share of the kingdom and when he got Indhraprastha, he kept it at the stake, for the dice game and by doing so, he sold his own people as slaves and so he sold his brothers and you and his wife. If he had some sense of righteousness in him back then, he could have walked out of the dice game.” Arjuna commented back by saying that his brother had been deceived by wicked Shakuni. But Ekalavya gently asked,” How could a man of such stature as Yudhisthir? Who is known as Dharmaraya could be misleaded.” Then Arjuna says,” What it matters for a hunter like you about righteousness, about honour, and you won’t support us even when God like Krishna is with us. You live unorganised, here deep in these woods hiding from reality where your life is always shrouded in the dark mist, always being unaware of the happenings and always being un-noticed.” Then Ekalavya says,” For us, only mother earth is the God upon which you claim your ownership and her natural happenings are our rules by which we live, differing from your lopsided, arcane, and archaic rules of your ancient scripts. For us, honour is our life but we would refrain ourselves to slaughter lakhs of people only for our honour. Yes, you are true when you say that we live deep in these woods but we are not hiding, we just like to live peacefully unfettered by your money through which you buy a person, we are free from your luxuries of power for which you claim thousands of life and spell tricky political manipulations. And we aren’t afraid of anything, so we are unorganised. But for men like you, who you claim yourself as the civilized, likes everything to be in an order and when those order breaks, you fear for the resulting havoc. By this organised system of yours, you have suppressed many, whose voices are always unheard, who always live toiling hard for your benefits. Yes I’m spell bounded by the knowledge of yours but even it is biased, and what use of it when it is not setting us free but rather shackling us. You and your men with your fear of God, manipulating knowledge and unconquerable money are leading humans and their humanitarian virtues to a grave pit from which it is unlikely to rise back.” When Ekalavya finished his words there was a deep silence. This silence was only broken by Krishna when he commented,” Ekalavya if you take part in this war, then you can display your mettle and people will sing songs and narrate stories of your bravery and valour for years to come.” Then, Ekalavya still insisted to stay neutral by replying,” We hunt with our skills not to show our valour but we hunt out of our need and I can never join you and your men who hunt for entertainment And do believe me, Time is the only true captivator in itself as it is ever unmatched, and before which even our minds has to kneel as it lays frozen by the timely death. And so, your stories and songs will live to be like words spoken in air which carries no weight.” Finally Krishna thanked Ekalavya for his benign hospitality and then left him in his hut along with Arjuna, satisfied to see that Ekalavya stood neutral. When Krishna’s chariot reached the end of the forest, Arjuna ridiculed the pride of Ekalavya, and his life of being a hunter. Krishna just replied casting a cryptic smile at Arjuna,” Yes a mere hunter! A mere hunter! ” May be Krishna foresaw; he dying at the arrow of the hunter. Back in the woods, Ekalavya stood tall and erect where the wind blew gently as if to caress the leaves of the trees setting up a soothing musical chant, then the sun was turning to blood red sinking in to the river, all the birds were heading to their nests and then he saw the huts of his tribesmen and recollected his past where once he stood at the very same spot watching helplessly at the sight of his place being burnt alive in the fire. Ekalavya murmured to himself,” Why is it that we live by not letting the others to live and even after doing so, we live the life only to leave it? ” ishis ashaaa