Raman of Tenali was the court jester and the favourite minister of King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Raman always pulled pranks on the king and the other court ministers to make them understand some basic simple premises.
All this ended well for Raman all the time. However, once Raman had gone too far. The king in anger ordered Ramanto be buried in the sand with his head alone out and then be trampled by an elephant.
The king ordered his guards to take Raman to a far off place and bury him in the sand and then take the Royal elephant and do the deed.
The guards buried Raman in the sand with his head poking out and left him there to get the elephant, because the guards knew that Raman could not escape.
The place where Raman was buried was near the river and the washerman had come there to wash his clothes.
After the guards had left, a washerman passed that area. The washerman who had come there, was already a hunchback and years of carrying a heavy burden of clothes on his back had made the washerman’s stoop even worse.
The washerman was first shocked to see Raman buried under the sand. Because there were no guards in the vicinity the washerman had no reason to believe that this was a punishment meted out to Raman.
Looking at Raman the washerman concluded that Raman was a sage who was performing penance in a very odd manner.
The washerman bowed to Raman. “Great one, what are you doing here?”
Raman sighed in relief on seeing the washerman and realized that the washerman had mistaken him for a sage. “I am not a great one. I am as ordinary as you. I am a washerman.”
Adapted from Indian Folk Stories
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