Tenali Rama - The Greater Pundit

Dadi: "Another Tenali story tonight, Guddu! This one is about a battle of brains."

Guddu: "A brain battle? Like a quiz competition?"

Dadi: "Even more intense! A foreign pundit, a great scholar, came to King Krishnadevaraya's court. He was very proud, claiming he knew everything about every subject."

Guddu: "Everything? That's impossible!"

Dadi: "That's what he claimed. He challenged the king's ministers to debate him. One by one, he defeated them all with his arguments. The ministers were embarrassed, and the king was worried."

Guddu: "Didn't they call Tenali Rama?"

Dadi: "The king finally did. He said, 'Tenali, you must save our kingdom's honor. Defeat this arrogant scholar!'"

Guddu: "Did Tenali know more than the pundit?"

Dadi: "*winking* Maybe not. But Tenali had something better than knowledge. He had cleverness. He came up with a brilliant trick."

Guddu: "What trick?"

Dadi: "First, he gathered some common things from his house. Some sesame seeds, which are called 'thila' in Sanskrit. Some sheep droppings, called 'kashta.' And he tied everything together with a rope made from buffalo hide, which is 'mahisha bandhanam' in Sanskrit."

Guddu: "Ew, sheep droppings? Why?"

Dadi: "*laughing* Wait for it! Tenali wrapped this bundle to look like a very old, very important book. Then he announced to the whole court that he would debate the foreign pundit on the topic of... 'Thilakashta Mahisha Bandhanam'!"

Guddu: "That sounds like a real book name!"

Dadi: "Exactly! It sounds very impressive and scholarly in Sanskrit. The foreign pundit heard this and started sweating. He had studied thousands of texts, but he had never heard of this one!"

Guddu: "Because it didn't exist!"

Dadi: "Right! But the pundit didn't know that. He was too proud to admit he hadn't read a book. All night he worried. What if Tenali asked him questions about this mysterious text? His reputation would be ruined!"

Guddu: "What did he do?"

Dadi: "Before sunrise, while everyone was still sleeping, the great pundit quietly packed his bags and left the city. He ran away rather than admit he didn't know something!"

Guddu: "*laughing* He was scared of a fake book!"

Dadi: "The next morning, when the king asked where the challenger was, Tenali laughed and revealed the truth. He opened the bundle and showed everyone what was inside: sesame seeds, sheep droppings, and buffalo-hide rope!"

Guddu: "The whole court must have laughed so hard!"

Dadi: "They did! The king was delighted. He rewarded Tenali handsomely for defeating the arrogant scholar without even having a debate!"

Guddu: "Dadi, Tenali won without knowing more than the pundit!"

Dadi: "That's the wisdom, beta. The pundit lost because of his own arrogance. He was so proud that he couldn't admit not knowing something. If he had simply said, 'I haven't studied that text,' he would have discovered the trick."

Guddu: "So being honest is better than pretending to know everything?"

Dadi: "Always. True scholars know that learning never ends. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know. Only fools think they know everything."

Guddu: "Like when I pretend I understood the math problem but I really didn't?"

Dadi: "*smiling* Exactly. It's always better to ask questions and admit confusion than to pretend. Pretending only hurts you in the end, like it hurt that pundit."

Guddu: "I'll try to ask more questions then."

Dadi: "Good boy. And remember, no one, not even the greatest scholar, knows everything. There's always something new to learn, even for grandmas like me!"

Guddu: "What do you still need to learn, Dadi?"

Dadi: "How to beat you at video games! Now, bedtime for little pundits."