KARNA: Son of the Charioteer

Chapter 8

After worshipping the sun in the morning like usual, Radheya ran to Ekalavya's place.

"I've been waiting for you since this morning, why haven't you come yet..." Radheya fell silent for a moment upon seeing Ekalavya trying to cover a wound on his right hand with a cloth that already turned red.

"What happened?" Radheya exclaimed in surprise and immediately grabbed Ekalavya's right hand, which was still bleeding.

"I'm fine," Ekalavya said.

Radheya saw a large missing part where the thumb should have been. Now it only left raw flesh and white bone protruding.

"Hold on," Radheya said. He lit a fire where Ekalavya usually cooked and then placed a short knife on it.

He burned the knife until it glowed red. Radheya held Ekalavya's right hand and then placed the hot knife on the flesh where the thumb used to be.

Ekalavya screamed loudly until he passed out.

When he woke up, he saw his right hand wrapped in crushed leaves.

"What happened?" Radheya asked while giving him water to drink.

Ekalavya tried to sit up and then looked towards the military school in the distance. "I gave the gurudaksina To my Teacher."

"Drona's statue?" Radheya asked in astonishment. As far as he remembered, Ekalavya's teacher was a poorly made clay statue that couldn't teach him anything.

Ekalavya shook his head and explained that he met Drona and gave him his thumb. Radheya stood up immediately. "Damn it. I'll settle this with him right now."

"Radheya," Ekalavya shouted, pulling on Radheya's leather clothing. "I learned archery from him, and it's his right to ask for whatever he wants."

"What did you learn from him?" Radheya replied, losing his patience. "You and I, we've been using arrows to hunt wild animals even before we were ten years old. Everything that Drona taught those lazy princes couldn't even be used to hunt wild animals. What knowledge can you gain from watching their training that we could already do before we were ten? We train with our own abilities. Even his smartest student is still far behind us. How can you be so stupid!"

"Radheya..." Ekalavya sighed sadly.

"Ekalavya, realize that you didn't learn anything from Drona." Radheya's tears flowed. "Why were you so foolish to consider him your teacher to the point of cutting off your thumb? How will you shoot arrows after this?"

Ekalavya fell silent.

Radheya sobbed and stood up. "I will go down and challenge his archery skills right now. He shouldn't have taken your thumb."

"Shhhhhh...... BOOM!!!!"

The sound startled Radheya and Ekalavya. They looked towards the sound, which came from the military school training ground. An arrow soared into the sky with a bright light and then pierced through the clouds. Shortly after, thunder roared from the clouds.

"What is that?" Radheya asked, shocked to see such a powerful arrow.

"Devastra," Ekalavya replied.

Deva means god and astra mean weapon. It is a weapon of god.

From a distance, Radheya saw Drona draw his arrow and then shoot one that turned into fire and struck a large tree. Instantly, the tree burst into flames, engulfing all its leaves in a flash.

Drona's second arrow aimed at another tree, causing a powerful swirling wind to uproot and send the tree flying, roots and all.

Radheya's eyes widened, and his mouth gaped in awe at the mastery of archery he witnessed. His body trembled; he knew that the prowess of archery called devastra was beyond his reach, even if he spent thousands of years trying to learn it. And he would never defeat Drona.

"Is there no other way to learn the skill of devastra?" Radheya asked Ekalavya.

"No," replied Ekalavya. "The skill requires initiation from a teacher or the previous owner of devastra to be passed down to their student. The only other way to obtain devastra besides from a guru who already possesses it is to directly appeal to the gods to ask for their weapons. This requires decades of penance, and even then, the gods may not grant it to you."

"Meeting the gods?" Radheya asked, slightly puzzled.

"The weapon that burned the trees earlier is Agneyastra, a weapon from the fire god, Agni. The weapon that caused the swirling wind is Vayvayaastra, a weapon from the wind god, Vayu. Besides these, there are many devastras like Varunastra, which is a water attack from the sea god, Varuna. Vajra is lightning from the god Indra, and so on. However, the most famous is Brahmastra, from the god Brahma. Its power unleashes thousands of arrows that never miss their target, along with powerful fire that can destroy anything. Radheya fell silent, unable to respond.

Ekalavya sat leaning against a tree and sadly looked at his right hand, which had lost a thumb. "Honestly, I had hoped to become Drona's disciple because of the devastras. But now, Drona has asked for my guru dakshina, which means my learning period is over, and he won't teach me anything else."

Tears fell from Ekalavya's eyes. "What is the meaning of my struggle all this time? What is the meaning of my dedication all this time? Now, I can't even draw a bow."

Radheya struggled to find words to comfort his friend. That night, when he returned to Ekalavya's place, he found it empty. His friend had left the forest. Radheya gazed at the military training ground and let out a sigh.

After witnessing Drona's display of power, he knew one thing for sure, no matter how hard he trained on his own, he would not reach that level. He needed a teacher. Someone who could lead him to that level.

This was not something he could learn by seeing and practicing; it was a secret reserved for the top warriors, and not many people were given the privilege, especially for a son of a suta or a slave like him. Life really isn't fair.

In the end, Radheya resolved in his heart and decided to embark on a long journey to find someone who could teach him the skill of devastra.

Radheya appeared wearing a white cloth that covered him, like a Brahmin on a holy journey. He walked towards Mount Mahendra.