In the poem ‘Buttoo’, the poet, Toru Dutt brings out Buttoo’s (Ekalavya’s) values of self – help, truth, and modesty. Buttoo is a poor tribal boy. One day he approaches Guru Dronhacharya and humbly requests him to teach him archery. But the guru refuses to teach him archery as he thought it was below his dignity to teach archery to anyone who is not from a royal family. But Buttoo is determined to learn archery. He makes a statue of guru Dronacharya and begins selftraining in front of idol and eventually masters the art of archery.

Once while Dronacharya and the Pandavas where hunting in the forest, Buttoo was practicing archery. The Pandavas noticed his exceptional skill at archery and reported it to’Dronacharya. Dronacharya noticed Buttoo’s skill at archery and wanted to know who his teacher was. Buttoo humbly credited his skill to guru Dronacharya himself. He did not behave arrogantly with Dronacharya but admitted the turth and had the modesty to credit his expertise to Dronacharya.