* Tribal chief’s son surreptitiously learned the secrets of Dron’s teachings.

* Tribal chief’s son paid a heavy price for “learning without permission” – he had to part with his right thumb.

* Tribal chief’s son remained loyal to his Guru Drona and rued the fact that he could not avenge his guru’s death in the Mahabharta battle.

* Many people blame Arjun for Eklavya’s loss of thumb. They ignore the fact that it was Drona who asked for the thumb as a payment from Eklavya, not Arjun.

1) As a Nishad, Eklavya was from a community that was antagonistic to the Aryas. For Drona, teaching Eklavya would have amounted to giving away his military secrets to his enemy.
2) Drona was specifically employed to teach only the Kuru princes.
3) Drona had taken a lot of time and effort to weld together several different systems from Bhardwaj, Agnivesh and Parshurama to create his own unique system of military science. He wanted to teach his system to a select group of students who could afford his fees.

When Guru Drona was teaching for free, no one came to him to learn. Infact the situation was so dire, he could not afford milk for his son. Only when he was teaching princes and was being paid handsomely for doing this, did people like Eklavya thought it prudent to learn from him. Having tasted the bitterness of world's rejection, why should Drona give away his intellectual property for free?

How many countless Dronas have had to leave government schools, government hospitals to go into the private sector because our soc only values those who are rich? How many countless primary school teachers get sidelined and ignored because they make so little money. Proffesors get the high wages and presitage, while those who create the foundation of education are usually low paid. Only high paying vocations get 'respect'. If a girl has to chose between marrying a doctor or a teacher, I can tell you what all her friends and relatives will advise her to do!!!! Sadly, despite all our sanctimonious preachings, we do not value vidya above wealth. Wealth wins everytime. Having suffered society's rejection, Drona was unwilling to let his precious IP fall in the hands of those who would not be able to compensate for it and certainly not to a 'prince' who was from an enemy nation.

Eklavya belonged to the Nishad kingdom which was at varience with Kurus. Why would Drona want to teach an enemy prince his priceless military scerets ? This would only raise a potential problem for the future and he could even prove fatal for his son and students. By taking away Eklavya's thumb, Drona neutered a potential enemy. Even today, we do not exchange information that we think will be detrimental to our nation. The situation at that time was similar to our export compliance on technology in our modern world. It’s simple! Export controls restrict or prohibit exports to certain countries, individuals, and entities. These may be fueled by concerns about our own national security, terrorism, or foreign policy.

Drona turned Eklavya away from his ashram and refused to teach him because he was paid to teach only Kuru princes. It was an elite, expensive school reserved for princes of a very specific royal family. With 105 students, Drona's hands must have been very full indeed. He certainly wasn't looking for new students.

As the head teacher of his elite gurukul, Drona was within his rights to ask for whatever payment he saw fit for anyone who benefited from his curriculum. Eklavya had learned his art of war without permission – indeed – against express wishes of Drona. Hence whatever Eklavya learned was as good as theft. If we look at it from a modern point of view, Eklavya breached the copy right of the intellectual property of Drona. What Drona did was the ancient equivalent of “sue his pants off” for a breach of his "copy rights".

Just like we have different types of schools now (government run free schools to expensive boarding schools), at that time, there were a number of different kinds of gurukuls.
Some gurus taught for free - like Sandipani.
Some charged a modest fee - like the ashram of sage Agnivesh.
Some were free but exclusive to a specific caste or denominations - like those of Parshuramji (reservation is not a new idea).
Some were elite and expensive with restricted access reserved only for those who could afford it - like those of Drona.

However, is karma and taking away Eklavya's thumb cost Drona his own life. Karma does not spare anyone, Krushna or Kansa, it deals out its due measures to one and all ! Having ruined Eklavya’s chances of being the best warrior he could have been, Drona suffered for it in the final battle of the Mahabharata. At the last moment when Dhrishtadhyman was about to kill Drona, Eklavya was unable to shoot fast enough to adequately protect his guru. Eklavya had to pay a heavy price for taking knowledge without permission. But Drona died because he denied Eklavya his dues as a good student.

Eklavya and Drona

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