Sunday, September 14, 2008

HOW TENALI RAMA BECAME THE COURT JESTER?



kriahnadeva raya's guru was thathachariar. tenali rama wants to be a vikatakavi, in krishnadevaraya's court.he approach thathachariar, the raja guru. to his delight, the raja guru, came to say at mangalagiri, a short distance off from tenali.rama took a collection of his poems and went to see the raja guru. ''wonderful!'' thathachariar exclaimed when he heard the poems.''you deserve to be in the royal court at vijayanagara!''he did not think that rama would take his words seriously.

rama,however, waited eagerly to hear from the raja guru in the following days. but , no word reached him.so, he sold his possessions in tenali and went to vijayanagara with his wife, baby son and his old mother.''I'm sure the rajaguru remembers me!'' rama thougrt.he left his family in lodgings and went to raja guru thathachariar's mansion. ''i am the rajaguru's friend, don't let anyone enter while we are taking,''rama told the gourds at the gate and entered the mansion.thathachariar recognised rama and was shocked.

''i never expected to see the fool!i must get rid of him somehow'', he thought to himself.he began shouting loudly, ''how dare you come in to my house! you look like a thief! hey, guards! catch this man and throw him out!''the guards came running and obeyed their master. they seized rama and pushed him out of the mansion in to the road.

rama dusted his ''dhoti''as he stood up. '' i will never forget this, rajaguru!i will take my revenge on you too. just wait and see!he shook his fist angrily and walked away. rama's chance came the very next day ,when he went to krishnadeva raya's court. the rajaguru, thathachariar, and many other shoals were seated in the court. a magician was entertaining them with his tricks.at the end, he bowed and said to krishnadeva raya,''o king! no one here or in this kingdom can equal me in magic!''the king did not like the man's pride.

''is there anyone who can defeat the magician?'' he asked. no one stood up.even the rajaguru did not speak. he did not dare to take up the magician's challenge.tenali rama stepped for word. ''i can defeat the magician, my king''he said confidently.''if you wine , you will get this bag of gold coins. but ,if you lose, you will go to prison''krishnadevaraya waned. rama agreed to the condition. ''i shall perform an act with both my eyes closed. you must do the same hing with the open eyes''he said to the magician who nodded his head.

rama asked for permission to summon guard. he whispered to him.the guard left the court and back soon. he handed something to rama. rama closed his eyes and flung sand on them.'' now you must do the same with open eyes''. he said to the magician. the magician knew that he was defeated ,how could he throw sand into his open eyes?


''sabaash!'' krishnadeva raya clapped his hands, ''i am proud of you ! take this bag of gold coins. from tommorrow you will be part of my court''.he prised rama. tenali rama looked at rajaguru tahthachariar and smiled. now he had his revenge. rama's quick wit had defeated the magician whose challenge the rajaguru had not dare to accept, so he looked small in krishnadeva raya's eyes!.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Madam story of Tenali Rama is good. However some typos and errors makes the write-up less interesting.

If you want I can correct the errors and email it to you, which you can repost in your blog

Unknown said...

This is very long for me to write