Was Ekalavya Killed By Krishna?

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The Mahabharata is full of obscure stories intertwined with the main storyline. The characters cannot be coloured black or white. Each character, including Lord Krishna, can only be dyed in shades of grey. Each of them had both good and bad, righteousness and evil and morality and immoral values in them.

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One such character was Ekalavya. There are many stories that are told about this character. The most common one ends with him cutting off his bow-weilding thumb and offering it to Guru Dronacharya as 'Guru Dakshina'. But there are many things that you probably are not aware of, like the fact that the death of Ekalavya came at the hands of Lord Krishna.

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Why would Lord Krishna kill a righteous man like Ekalavya? Read on to learn the answer to the question and more.

Relationship Of Ekalavya And Krishna

Ekalavya was Krishna's cousin brother. Ekalavya's Father, Devashrava, was Vasudeva's brother who got lost in the woods. He was adopted by the king of hunters, Nishada Vyatraja Hiranyadhanus.

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Krishna Was Behind The Guru Dakshina

It is said that Krishna had himself planted the idea of asking for the bow-weilding thumb as Guru Dakshina in Dronacharya's mind. This was to make sure that Ekalavya did not become a greater archer than Arjuna.

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Ekalavya And Jarasandha

Ekalavya and his clan, from the times of Nishada Vyatraja Hiranyadhanus, were great supporters of Jarasandha. Jarasandha was the arch enemy of Krishna, which made Ekalavya his enemy too, inspite of the fact that they were cousins.

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Ekalavya Killed By Krishna

When Krishna and Rukmini eloped, Ekalavya fought with Shishupala and Jarasandha. Enraged, Krishna picked up a stone and hurled it at Ekalavya, killing him.

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The Reason Behind Ekalavya's Death

In Drona-Parva, Krishna reveals that he had to let people like Jarasandha, Shishupala and Ekalavya be killed as they would have later sided with the Kauravas and would have obstructed the establishment of Dharma.

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Ekalavya- The Great Archer

Some versions say that even though Ekalavya lost his bow-weilding thumb, he was still a great archer. He supposedly learnt to be ambidextrous.

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Ekalavya As Drishtadyumna

It is belived that Krishna gave Ekalavya a boon at his death that he would be reborn to kill Dronacharya. It is said that it was Ekalavya who was born as Drishtadyumna and finally killed Dronacharya.

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