Week 7 Storytelling: Eager Ekalavya
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Ekalavya wanted to be an archer his entire life. As long as he could remember, he dreamed of being the best archer in all the lands. Being a Bhil, Ekalavya knew his chances were slim, yet he knew he had to try to achieve his dreams. So when the call for new trainees to come, Ekalavya traveled for days to reach Drona, who was the best trainer in all the land. When Ekalavya arrived to train with Drona, he was immediately dismissed because he was a Bhil and seemingly unworthy of training with Drona. Drona obviously had some unhandled childhood trauma he was projecting onto Ekalavya, but nevertheless Ekalavya was sent away.
Ekalavya wanted to be an archer his entire life. As long as he could remember, he dreamed of being the best archer in all the lands. Being a Bhil, Ekalavya knew his chances were slim, yet he knew he had to try to achieve his dreams. So when the call for new trainees to come, Ekalavya traveled for days to reach Drona, who was the best trainer in all the land. When Ekalavya arrived to train with Drona, he was immediately dismissed because he was a Bhil and seemingly unworthy of training with Drona. Drona obviously had some unhandled childhood trauma he was projecting onto Ekalavya, but nevertheless Ekalavya was sent away.
As a young boy, this was devastating
to Ekalayva and for weeks he wept. He just wanted to be like the other boys,
and get to pursue his dreams. One day, Ekalavya woke up in the early morning
and knew what he had to do. If Drona refused to teach him, Ekalavya would have
to teach himself. So everyday before dawn, Ekalayva woke up to train. He was
very disciplined and never missed a day of training. As he grew older and
stronger, he became a spectacular archer. His notoriety grew from town to town,
and soon everyone knew that the best archer was Ekalayva.
Drona heard these stories of an
amazing archer, but thought it could not be true because he hadn’t trained the
boy. So Drona headed off to find out for himself. As he reached the Bhil
Kingdom, he stopped to hunt for food. He was just about to shoot his dinner,
when an arrow whizzed past him and killed the rabbit he was aiming at. He
looked around to see who had disrespected his hunt. Ekalavya rode up and
brought the rabbit to Drona. Drona was enraged by this act of insolence.
Ekalavya was disheartened by Drona’s anger as he had hoped to finally win
Drona’s praise for his archery. Drona was not pleased with the act though and
with one swift motion, he cut off Ekalavya’s right thumb as payment for the
disrespect. Satisfied that his honor was restored he rode off.
Ekalavya went back to his home and
once again was distraught by Drona’s actions. This time Ekalavya was a man and
skilled, but he had still not been worthy of Drona and was now maimed. Little
by little, Ekalavya healed though, and the same determination from his
childhood drove him to learn how to shoot a bow with his middle fingers. Soon,
he was even better than he was before and because of this everyone in the Bhil
Kingdom copied him. This is how the archers from the infamous Bhil Kingdom got
their unique style and became the best archers in all the land.
Author's Note: This story is an adaptation from part of the Mahabharata. In the original, Drona turns Ekalavya away, but Ekalavya still worships Drona. In the end, Drona asks for Ekalavya to cut off his own thumb, which he does and it makes him a lesser archer. This all seemed mean and sad to me because Ekalavya tried so hard to be a great archer and it was unfair from the beginning that Drona would not train him, so I switch the ending around for Ekalavya. I love the side characters in these epics because they have such rich back stories despite having small parts int he overall plot line, so I enjoy giving them a little bit of justice because often they are mistreated.
Image Information: Wikimedia Commons, Depiction of Ekalavya, Source
Hi Kennedie great story! Changing the perspective to focus more on Ekalavya drastically changes the way the story was told. I never really thought much about Ekalavya and his misfortune, and this story does a great job to make me think more about it. I really liked how you switched the ending around. Instead of ending the story right after Ekalavya cuts his own thumb off, you kept the story going and made it turn out better for Ekalavya. Great job on your story!
ReplyDeleteHi Kennedie!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story “Eager Ekalavya.” Further, I liked the picture you incorporated into your story I felt like it complemented it really well. Also, I liked how you changed the original story and made the ending of your own story a happier one. Overall, I think you did a great job on your story and I cant wait to see what you come up with next week!
Hello Kennedie. I enjoyed your story. The title is a nice touch and fits well. Ekalavya story was indeed sad in the Mahabharata, and I didn’t care for it. It was nice of you giving so much attention to a minor side character. Your changes are something similar to how I would have changed the story. I hate sad endings, however realistic they may be. Overall you did well, and I look forward to your future writings.
ReplyDeleteHello there, Kennedie! Nice story you wrote there. I really like your story because you wrote a story on side character and people don’t usually do that and that mean me I wouldn’t even have thought of doing it. I also like how you gave Ekalavya happy ending then the original story. Anyway good job writing this story it was really interesting.
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