The Sage in the Well

The sages told the Pandavas of Trita, the sage who was abandoned in a well by his own brothers and yet, by his wit and his devotion, performed a sacrifice from the depths of the earth and won his way out - a tale of resourcefulness in misfortune, of the betrayal of kin, and of the spirit that will not be defeated even at the bottom of a pit.

There were three brothers, sages all, named Ekata, Dvita, and Trita - the First, the Second, and the Third. Of the three, Trita, the youngest, was by far the most gifted: the most learned, the most accomplished in sacrifice and sacred lore, the most honored among men for his wisdom and his power. And because of this, the two elder brothers, Ekata and Dvita, though they should have rejoiced in him, were instead consumed with envy of their younger brother, whose gifts so outshone their own; and their envy festered into a readiness to do him wrong.