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Tribal chief’s son dreamed of being a great archer.
Tribal chief’s son approached the best weapons’ master of the period.
Tribal chief’s son was turned away from the elite
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. They also forget that as the head teacher of his elite gurukul, Drona was within his rights to ask for whatever payment he saw as fit for anyone who benefited from his curriculum. Eklavya had learned his art of war without permission – indeed – against express wish of Drona. Hence whatever Eklavya learned was as good as theft.
As now, at that time, there were a number of different kinds of teaching institutions - gurukuls. Some gurus taught for free, some charged a modest fee, some were free but exclusive to a specific caste or denominations (reservation is not a new idea) and some were elite and expensive with restricted access reserved only for those who could afford it.
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
family. With 105 students, Drona's hands must have been very full indeed.
He was certainly not looking for new students.
If we look at it from a modern point of view, Eklavya breached copy right to the
intellectual property of Drona. What
Drona did ancient equivalent of “sue his pants off” for such a breach of his
copy rights.
Karma is karma though.
Having ruined Eklavya’s chances of being the best warrior he could have been, Drona suffered for it in the final battle of Mahabharata. At the last moment when Dhrishtadhyman was about to kill Drona, Eklavya was unable to act 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.
Karma is Karma !