ABSTRACT
This chapter describes guru as an ideal type in the understanding of an emergent historical situation, and reviews ancient story of Ekalavya and some of its recent glosses. Ekalavya is refused the legitimacy of studying under the greatest teacher of his age: he responds by retreating into the forest and creating an image or copy of the teacher, toward which he directs his discipline and respect. Ekalavya journeys to Hastinapura to join the boys learning the great martial art of archery from Drona. The story of Ekalavya concludes with a different exemplar of the total gift to the guru, the guru-dakshina, than that will be demanded of Aijuna. The gurukul princes and Drona are wandering close to where Ekalavya practices. The chapter discusses the vexed relation of several modern Hindu gurus to the accusation and promise of homosexuality. Baba Ramdev's challenge is to homosexuality as a particular kind of promise emergent with late twentieth-century Indian neoliberalism and its global milieu.
