Tenali Raman and the Great Scholar

Once there came a great scholar to the kingdom of Vijayanagar. 

King Krishnadevaraya was the ruler of Vijayanagara and he welcomed the scholar to his kingdom. 

However the scholar was a very arrogant man. The scholar challenged other scholars in the court of Vijayanagara and he was easily able to prove that he was more knowledgeable than the ministers and scholars in Krishnadevaraya’s palace. 

All the other ministers and scholars in King Krishnadevaraya’s court admitted defeat.

Finally it was the chance of Tenali Raman to have a debate with the scholar.

Tenali Raman was the court jester and the minister of the court of Vijayanagara and he was a very clever man and one of the confidantes of King Krishnadevaraya. 

When Tenali Raman heard that the king had wanted him to have a debate with the scholar he came up to the palace the next day with a cloth covering what seemed like a book. 

Tenali Raman placed the book before the great scholar. “This book is called “Tilakshata Mahisha Bandhanam”. I shall read this and this is the topic that we shall have a debate on tomorrow.”

The scholar was given one night to prepare.

However the scholar had not even heard of such a book, let alone capable of having a debate on it. He was worried that he would lose the debate and he quietly packed his things and left the kingdom that night. 

The next morning king Krishnadevaraya was surprised when he found the scholar had left the kingdom. 

The king was impressed with Tenali Rahman and asked about the book that had scared the scholar away. 

Tenali Raman unpacked the cloth only to reveal that it did not have books at all. The cloth had some ‘til’ sticks and some sheep dung tied together by a rope to tie buffaloes. All these names combined together in Sanskrit gave the name as “Tilakashta Mahesha Bandhanam.” 

The king was very happy with Tenali Raman and rewarded him.

Adapted from Indian folk tales