Mahabharat

'I'll give you whatever you desire.'

'Till I don't give you the guru-donation'

'I will not use the skills I derived from you.'

'As a guru-donation'

'you will give me the thumb of your right hand.'

Here, I have brought a gift for you.

Just check. You will be very pleased.

Are you happy? Is your soul at peace

having an innocent's thumb chopped off?

What do you mean? - What do I mean?

Go and ask the master

who to make you an expert archer

asked Ekalavya for his thumb as an offering.

So that better archers than you can't even fire arrows now.

What are you saying, brother Duryodhan?

You should be ashamed of making allegations at the master.

You should be the one to be ashamed.

To prove your superiority

you make one suffer thus?

Has your recluse of a father taught you such strategies?

Take a look at the chopped thumb.

Someone's dreams lie destroyed.

His future has been chopped off

just because of you!

Along with that your righteousness

and your respect has been laid to waste too.

Arjun, dew drops can't fill up a reservoir.

Superiority attained in charity has no value.

Had I been in your stead

I would have taken an oath to never touch the bow.

Right now!

You can ask me anything.

Aren't you confident about me, master?

Can't I become the best archer through practice?

What concerns me is how much you believe in your master.

Have you assumed that to make you superior

I am being impartial to my other students?

The clouds shower more rains on the forests

and less on the deserts.

But a master's knowledge is never biased.

So the master is termed superior to the clouds.

Then why such an offering from Ekalavya?

What offering should a master ask from his students

can be rightfully decided only by a master.

But, master, why ask for an offering which is a disgrace?

I know

that the sons of Dhritarashtra would accuse me of being biased.

Not only them

the future generations would also accuse me of being biased.

Arjun, I was helpless before my duty.

Ekalavya would have used my knowledge for Magadha

which is an enemy of the Kuru dynasty.

Can the boundaries of a kingdom control knowledge, master?

No.

But the master delivering the knowledge

is bounded by his oath and his promises.

My mouth eats the grains given by the Kuru kingdom.

So my loyalty is only towards the throne of Hastinapur.

Had Ekalavya attained knowledge from another master

and become a better archer than you

I would have been pleased.

But...

But the allegations made on you...

How would they be cleared, master?

There is one solution, dear.

You should prove undisputedly that you are the best.

Why just Ekalavya?

Even Bhishma can't be a better archer than you.

Prove it, dear. Prove it.

If you do that

I will get rid of the allegations.

Ashwatthama, my friend.

We are here to seek your permission.

Permission?

We, the sons of Dhritarashtra, are leaving the seminary.

We were fortunate to find a friend like you at the seminary.

But we are sure

we will not attain anything more than this here.

Moreover

can you attain anything when Arjun is here?