Upamanyu

Upamanuy was one among the three disciples of sage Ayoddhoumya. The other two were Aruni and Veda.

One day Ayoddhoumya called Upamanyu and assigned him the job to look after his cows in the pasture till sunset. In the evening he found that Upamanyu was not looking tired at all!! The curious sage asked his disciple the reason and was told that Upamanyu had begged for alms and had eaten in the afternoon; the afternoon meal had kept him cheerful.

This angered the Guru and he chastised his disciple for not sharing his alms with the Guru first. On the next day Upamanayu brought and emtied his begging bowl at Ayoddhoumya's feet. Ayoddhoumya kept it all and gave Upamanyu nothing before he took the bovines to the grazing land.

The following evening, Upamanyu was again looking equally strong. When asked about it he replied, "After begging for you, I went for begging again and ate everything from the alms." Ayoddhoumya became furious at this. He scolded Upamanyu, "Because of your greed one boy got nothing in alms though he desperately needed some alms. Stop going for begging twice from tomorrow."

The next evening Ayoddhoumya was again surprised at the liveliness of Upamanyu. He again asked his disciple, "How have you maintained this lively spirit?" Upamanyu reported that he had suckled from milching cows. Ayoddhoumya rebuked Upamanyu, "Cow milk is only for the calves. You have no right on it. You stole others' property. Don't repeat this ever again."

The following evening, Upamanyu was again looking energetic. When asked, Upamanyu said that he had drunk the froth left after the calves were done with suckling. "The suckling calves must have left those froth for you finding you eyeing them with greed. Don't drink froth again," Ayoddhoumya thundered.

Next day was really tough for Upamanayu. He strolled all along the meadow throughout the afternoon in search of something edible. Out of severe hunger he gobbled some "Akanda" leaves whose poisonous juice went to his eyes and blinded him. He entered the forests and fell inside an abandoned well.

The next day, the worried Guru went looking for Upamanyu with the other disciples. On reaching the meadow, he started calling his name. When the search party approached the forests, Upamanyu heard his call and replied from beneath the well. The Guru rushed to the well and listened to what had happened to the poor boy. Then he advised him to pray for help from the Twin Aswin Kumars, the divine doctors, who had the powers to save him.

Upamanyu then started his prayers. He kept chanting Vedic hymns in praise of the Aswin Kumars, he braved sleep and hunger, rain and sun and finally one day the Twin Aswin Kumars appeared in front of Upamanyu. They offered him a piece of cake but even before taking the cake, Upamanyu requested them to take him to Ayoddhoumya. The surprised gods asked him the reason. He told that he had to offer the cake to his Guru first. The deities tried to convince him that they had already given another cake to Ayoddhoumya. Yet Upamanyu stuck to his resolution of not eating the cake without first offering it to his Guru. Twin Aswin Kumars were highly impressed at Upamanyu's obedience of his preceptor. They restored Upamanyu's lost vision, and showered many a boons of prosperity upon him.

With the renewed vision, Upamanyu went to see Ayoddhoumya. The later was so glad that he also showered him with many a boons including deep understanding of the Vedas and Dharmashastra.