Mohammedans ruled parts of the
sub-continent with Delhi as their capital for over two centuries. Few of the
Mohammedan rulers maintained patience towards Hindu rituals and maintained
communal harmony encouraging Hindu scholars and prophets.
Delhi was in Adil Shahs rule
concurrently while Sri Krishna Deva Rayalu was ruling Vijaya Nagar. A war broke
out between the two kingdoms for supremacy over one another. At one stage, both
the rulers felt there was a need to establish peace in the region. Adil Shah
invited Rayalu to Delhi for finalising the peace treaty.
Hoping to utilise the opportunity
to establish a cordial relation between the two empires, Rayalu headed for
Delhi with a big team comprising of poets, dancers, scholars and others. At
Delhi, Adil Shah gave red carpet welcome to Rayalu. During the pleasant rounds
of discussions, Adil Shah urged the scholars and poets from the Rayalu band to
recite some sequences from the epic Mahabharat.
The visitors recited several
sequences to please the Delhi Sultan. It was then that trouble shot up for the
Vijaya Nagar ruler. Adil Shah expressed his wish and requested Rayalu to make
his men rewrite the Mahabharat portraying him and his friends as Pandavas and
his rivals as Kauravas. The total visiting team was shocked to hear the Sultan.
They somehow managed to close the days meeting immediately.
Rayalu was worried about the
development. He called for an emergency meeting with the learned persons of his
team. In the meeting, he sought suggestions from them to avert the problem.
Everyone started scratching their heads to find an amicable solution. None
could come out with any concrete proposal. After watching all this, suddenly
Ramalinga raised and put his proposal before Rayalu.
He said, My Lord! I think there
is not much for you or us to get so much worried and burdened about the Delhi
Sultans wish about Mahabharat. You please leave the problem onto my shoulders
and have a relaxed sleep. I will solve the problem without any problem. The
King Rayalu had his own doubts about the safety of the kingdom and its people.
Ramalinga Rayalu said, I am
aware that you are a genius. However, it is not a common situation. Dealing
with the Delhi Sultan is not an easy job. It is similar to fete on the edge of
a sword. You should be very careful! He was worried that if the problem was
not dealt properly, there was a chance that Delhi Sultan might declare a war on
Vijaya Nagar.
Ramalinga was stiff to his
argument and assured everyone to leave the matter to him. The big heads of the
meeting could not comprehend how Ramalinga was confident that he could solve
this so easily! Anyway, they told each other, as we could not come out with
any proposal for the solution, let him handle this. The meeting finally nominated
Ramalinga to take care of the situation.
Next morning, the court was
packed with both the rulers and their henchmen. Adil Shah recalled his wish
about re-composing of the Mahabharat. Ramalinga rose from his seat and saluted
the Sultan. Huzoor! All of our poets are into the job assigned by your
majestys wish. However, every one of us is stuck at one specific issue. It is
not proper for us to discuss the subject in the court. If you can kindly permit
me, I wish to present the poking issue before you in private.
Adil Shah thought that there
should really be some problem and consented for the one-on-one meeting with
Ramalinga in a separate room. Ramalinga folding hands and presenting all
respects to the Sultan in his words started, Your Highness! You are the king
of kings! It was our pleasure to know about your inclination about our epics
like Mahabharat. The poets and scholars started re-composing the whole epic, in
accordance to your majestys wish. You are being portrayed as Dharmaraja,
eldest of Pandavas and your friends as Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva.
Ramalinga paused a second and
continued, This is where we had to scratch our brains However he was not
forth coming with the problem. Adil Shah waited and when it was clear that he
has to get it out of Ramalinga he ordered, What is the problem? Tell me
clearly and quickly."
You are aware Huzoor! That
Pandavas are five. All the five were married to Draupadi and were sharing her
equally Ramalinga stressed, We are unable to portray your image as
Dharmaraja in this regard, thinking about the prestige of the King of Kings.
Long before Ramalinga could
complete, Adil Shah hastened to say, Stop this nonsense now. I cannot take
this anymore. Stop rewriting Mahabharat immediately. I can never accept this.
Ramalinga tried to say Huzoor!
We started to work as per your wishnow, how can we turn away from the word
given to you by uswe Look Poet! Adil Shah raised his voice, you should
drop the Mahabharat topic as of now if you wish the friendship and co-operation
between the two kingdoms to last long. Is that clear and walked off the room.
Ramalinga bubbling with joy
returned to his King Rayalu and his bandwagon of delegation and explained the
whole sequence. Everyone including Rayalu appreciated the sharp intelligence
and presence of mind Ramalinga had in solving the toughest problem just like
that!
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