Ayoda Dhaumya has three pupils, Aruni, Upamanyu and Veda. Upamanyu herds the cows and stays plump; each evening the teacher asks how he lives and forbids it: alms must be handed over, a second round robs other beggars, the milk is not his, the froth is the calves'. With nothing left he eats arka leaves, is blinded and falls into a pit. Dhaumya, searching, hears him answer from the well and tells him to glorify the Ashvins. His long hymn calls them birds of fair plumage who weave the year from the white and black threads of day and night and set the wheel of 720 spokes turning. They appear with a cake. He refuses to eat without offering it to his preceptor, even when they say Dhaumya once ate such a cake unoffered. Pleased, they say his teacher's teeth are black iron, his shall be gold; his sight returns and Dhaumya promises him the Vedas.