THE LAST WISH

 

 

The Brahmins of King Krishnadev Rai’s kingdom had grown quite greedy. One way or the other, they used to extract money from the King, who was very religious-minded and generous in nature. One day, the King asked one of the Brahmins, “My mother expressed a wish to eat mangoes before she died. However, her last wish could not be fulfilled. Can we do anything now, so that her soul may rest in peace.”

The Brahmin replied, “Sir, if you distribute one hundred and eight mangoes of pure gold to the Brahmins of your kingdom, your mother’s departed soul would definitely rest in peace.” Immediately, the King got one hundred mangoes made of gold and donated them to the Brahmins of Vijayanagar. All the Brahmins were very happy.

 

 

Tenalirama was very upset to hear this news. He knew the Brahmins had exploited the King’s love for his dead mother. He waited for the right opportunity to teach the greedy Brahmins a lesson.

After a few days, Tenalirama’s mother died of sudden illness. He invited the Brahmins to his house for a lunch, as part of the religious ceremonies for his dead mother. Expecting a grand feast, all the Brahmins arrived at Tenalirama’s house.

When all of them had settled down and the food was about to be served, Tenalirama asked his servant to close the door of the room. Quietly, he asked the servant, “Bring red-hat iron rods and place them on the Brahmins bodies.”

 

 

 

Seeing the servant with hot iron rods in his hand, all the Brahmins started screaming with fear. They tried to escape but couldn’t . Each of the Brahmins received severe burn injuries on their bodies.

The news of this incident reached the king. He was very angry and went to Tenalirama’s house to rescue the Brahmins. “What’s this?” the king shouted at Tenalirama. “Your Highness! Please pardon me. My mother suffered from severe joint-pains. Before she died, she had expressed the wish that-hot iron rods should be placed on her aching joints, to give her relief from pain. I couldn’t fulfil her last wish then. So I thought, like you, let me also fulfil my mother’s soul would definitely rest in peace.”

The king understood what Tenalirama was trying to convey. He had a hearty laugh at Tenalirama’s clever logic and sarcastic remarks. And heads of all the Brahmis fell in shame.