Ayoda-Dhoumya

Upamanyu is tasked with tending his preceptor's cows. Each time his teacher sees him healthy, he forbids the source of his sustenance — alms, milk, even the froth the calves leave behind. Starving, Upamanyu eats poisonous leaves, goes blind, and falls into a well.

Veda is told by his preceptor to stay and serve in his house. For a long time, he obeys without complaint, enduring heat, cold, hunger, and thirst like a yoked bull. His teacher's eventual satisfaction grants him complete knowledge and a life as a teacher.

When his preceptor orders him to stop a breach in a dike, Aruni finds he cannot do it with earth or stone. He lies down in the breach himself, using his body to hold back the water, and waits until his teacher calls him out.