Paravasu

Tormented by envy that his ascetic father receives no honour while a rival sage and his sons are celebrated, Yavakrita resolves to obtain the Vedas through sheer austerity rather than study. He burns his body in a great fire, disturbing Indra himself — who tries twice to dissuade him, first with advice, then with a parable of a sand bridge across the Ganga.

Arvavasu returns to the sacrifice, cleansed of his brother's sin — but Paravasu sees him approaching and tells King Brihaddyumna that Arvavasu is the killer of a brahmana who must be expelled. The servants throw Arvavasu out, though he cries out that he is innocent and that he performed the vow for his brother's sake.

Paravasu returns to the sacrifice and confesses to his brother Arvavasu that he has killed their father, mistaking him for an animal in the dark. He tells Arvavasu that he alone cannot complete the expiatory rite — Arvavasu must perform the penance for killing a brahmana while Paravasu finishes the king's sacrifice.