Puttuku man sumandha kadhai

This is one of the divine play known as "Thiruvilayadal" by God Shiva with his devotees, where the God himself came in digsuise and carried sand to stop the flood in the River Vaigai.

In Madurai, one day God Shiva made it rain heavily and the banks of the River Vaigai was flooding. 

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So the people rushed to the Pandya King for help. The king said we need to raise the height of the bank. One person from each household should come forward so that we can do this quickly.

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There lived an old lady named "Vandhi" and she made & sold Puttu (Steamed rice cakes) for her living. Delicious were the Puttu made by her.

Always she kept a portion of the Puttu as an offering to Lord Shiva before she starts her sale. Hearing the king's order, she was upset as she was weak and old to help them. She prayed to God Shiva and lamented that she is of no help to her country.

God was moved by these words from her sincere heart and he came down to help her in the disguise of a young boy. The God who was invisibly accepting her Puttu offering is now making his presence to taste her delicious Puttu!

He offered his help to her on a condition that she has to feed him unlimited puttu till his heart's content. Condition was agreed by Vandi Paati and she served him hot delicious puttu before he left for work.

When we over eat, we tend to feel sleepy. There is a saying in Tamizh "Unda Mayakam Thondanukum Undu".  So the god in disguise after his tummy was full, lied down and slept.  Seeing him not working, the people complained to the supervisor, thus this reached the King's ears. 

The King rushed to the place and saw the lad Sleeping. Angry king, took a cane and beat the sleeping lad. The pain was felt by everyone present there including the King. This unusual experience made them realise that it is not a man but a God.

This divine play is still remembered and celebrated in Madurai. In the month of "Aavani" (Shravan /  (Chinga masam in malayalam) on the day of Moolam Star, this event is celebrated in Shiva Temple in Madurai as an event. Puttu is distributed as Prashad to all the devotees.

Those who want to try this recipe will find it here

These were the stories told to children and I was lucky that I was from that generation that I could here a lot of such historical divine plays and more.

Shambo Mahadeva!

An evening in the Garden - Tenali Raman Stories

Raman is very good in presenting timely wits and ease the tense of the situation.

One Evening, in the Palace Garden, the King, Tenali Raman, few courtiers, general, few important & brave soldiers were present. Some of them were boasting about their bravery in the war. They tried to portray themselves as the hero by with competing with each other in 'self praising'. Slowly they got into arguments.

Hearing this Tenali Raman got bored, raised from his seat, grinned and said "My friends, what you have done is nothing. I have done even more when I fought in the war"

Hearing this all of them were wondering "when did Tenali Raman fought in a war"?!

One man asked "Rama, when did you fight in a war? which one? what did you do?"

Raman replied "I cut the legs of an enemy soldier"

Another man asked "Why did you cut his legs? you should have cut his head. what bravery is there to boast about?"

Raman replied "What to do? Someone had already severed his head"

hearing this the garden was filled with laughter.

Satyavaan Saavitri

Saavithri the daughter of King Asvapathi was a very beautiful & intelligent girl.  She was born to the king after his dedicated prayers & devotion to the goddess. Once she set on a pilgrimage. On the way  in a forest she met a young man who lived with his blind parents. The blind father was king Dyumatsena who lost his kingdom and was forced to live in exile in the forest with his wife and son Satyavaan.

Saavitri decided to marry satyavaan seeing his devotion towards his parents. But Devrishi Narad interferes and tells savitri and her parents that Satyavaan was going to die in a year. Saavithri stood by her decision and finally got married to Satyavaan and went to live with him in the forest by supporting him in serving the old parents. Everyday Satyavaan collected wood from the forest, sold it & earned the bread for his family. Saavitri prayed to goddess regularly.Months rolled and the D-day came. Saavitri observed severe fast that day and requested Satyavaan to take her along with him and so both of them went in search of wooden logs.

After sometime, satyavan felt tired and decided to lie down with his head on the lap of his wife savitri. Suddenly, he felt breathlessness and saavitri kept praying to the goddess. She saw yama approaching them.

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Yamaa is the god of dharma. He carried the soul of satyavaan and was about to leave towards his abode, when savitri saluted him and requested him to leave her husband's soul back to his body. But Yamaa being the god of dharmaa said that he was carrying out his duty as assigned to him hence he could not give the soul of satyavan back and carried on his journey. Saavitri followed him. When yama anoitced her coming behind, he said "child, you cannot come with me. as your time has not yet come. go back to your home" but saavitri refused to go back to her parents-in-law's place without her husband and continued following him.

Yamaa got impressed with the speech of saavitri and her dedication in getting her husband's life back, offered to grant a boon to her. to ask anything except the life of satyavaan. So for the first boon, Saavitri requests that her parents-in-law get good eyesight with a healthy life. Yama granted that boon and again carried on with his journey. Saavitri again followed him.

When yamaa turned back, savitri saluted and praised him. Yamaa pleased with her devotion, offered to grant second boon. This time saavitri requested that the kingdom lost by her parents-in-law be restored to them. Yamaa granted that boon, told her not to follow and again carried on. But saavitri, never gave up and again started to follow him.

Yamaa decided to offer her the last & final boon & tell her to ask for anything except satyavaan's life and that she should not follow him after this final boon. Saavitri requested him to bless her 'to have children with long life'. Yamaa granted her the final boon saying 'so be it' thinking that saavitri will now go away. 

But intelligent savitri again followed him. Yamaa turned back and said "child when I granted the final boon, I told you not to follow me anymore" to which Saavitri replied, "Oh the king of Dharmaa, you have granted me a boon to have children. But how can I have children without my husband?". Hearing this Yamaa realised the effect of the boon he had granted, not wanting to go back in his words, he finally impressed by the intelligence of Saavitri, grants the life of Satyavaan back and bless them with long, healthy & happy life and vanish.

The day in which saavitri kept her vrath (fasting) is observed as 'Karadayan Nonbu' during which day, the married women (for the well being of their husbands) and Unmarried girls (to get a good husband) prays to goddess observing fast, preparing special offerings and pooja. 

Satyavaan's soul enters his body back and his love for his beloved wife increased many times. They return to the forest to see their parents who got their vision back. Their kingdom was restored to them and they lived happily ever after with their children.

sharing the sweet and salt adsi neivedhyam. picture

The Golden Mango (Tenali Raman Story)

Once Emperor Krishna Deva Raya’s other was lying in her death bed. She told her son to grant her last wish of eating a sweet ripe mango. It was not a season for mangoes. But still the king managed to get a basket full of ripe mangoes. Before it could reach the old mother, she breathed her last. Krishnadevaraya was disappointed that he could not fulfill his mother’s last wish. He was not attending the court regularly. Seeing the king in grief, the royal guru a greedy person, advised him to donate golden mangoes to the courtiers which will help his mother’s soul rest in peace. King ordered the goldsmith to make the mangoes ready.

The treasury incharge informed this to the minister and cautioned him that the treasury wealth would soon dip to nothing. The minister called Tenali Rama and discussed the seriousness of the issue. Requested Rama to stop king from doing this at the earliest.   Wise Tenali Rama assured him and told him not to worry that he would handle the matter.

Next day, Raman addressed the waiting courtiers thus “Dear all, mangoes will be awarded only to those who gets a blister at their back ”. The courtiers in their greed to get golden mangoes, accepted to get their back burnt with a blister. A man asked Raman,” shall I get two golden mangoes if I get two blisters?” Raman said “ofcourse!” and offered him two. When this man’s turn came, he was given one golden mango by the king. The man complained saying he got two blisters in his back hence he should be given two golden mangoes. Hearing this the king was stunned and asked him what the matter was. The man told him the condition on which the golden mango was donated. King called for Raman and asked him why he is treating the Brahmins so cruelly. 

Raman said, “Oh King! My mother was suffering from a disease for which giving blisters was the only cure. She asked me arrange for it immediately and before I could, she breathed her last.   Hence to grant her last wish, I am offering them blisters” The king realized what a big mistake he had made and immediately withdrew the donation. He also thanked raman and rewarded him as he has proved the real side of the greedy courtiers.

Raman went home happily with the prize money in his hand and the greedy disappointed courtiers’ jealousness increased with Raman getting closer and closer to the King.

The Wise Villagers (Indian Folk Tale)

There was a rich man in a village who was a miser.  Whenever a poet or any poor man vists him, he will get something done through them, but never paid any reward.  

It was his Birthday,  hence he announced that unlimited ladoos would be served to those who come  for the big party that he was going to organize with a good gift.  This message reached soon the nook and corner of the village. The villagers were surprised to hear this announcement from a Miser. They thought he had atlast changed himself for a day.

Every man, woman and child dressed themselves in their best attire, packed a gift and started towards the bungalow of the Rich Man. There was not any sign of a celebration there except a servant who  was standing outside welcoming & guiding them to a big hall after collecting the presents from their hands. The air there was filled with the aroma of delicious ghee laddu  and made the visitors’ mouth water.

After every village men and women arrived, the Rich man made his appearance in his best robe. His greed went to such an extent that he announced that unlimited ladoos would be served soon and that no one should eat it neither with their own hands or by bending & taking ladoos with their mouth. Hearing this, there was a deep silence prevailed in the hall for sometime.

Ramu the wise one whispered something into the ears of the man standing next to him. Soon the whisper was passed to others and the hall soon was filled with joyous cries accepting the challenge. The rich man was stunned seeing the reaction but greedily smiled in a corner thinking that his ladoos are saved.

The villagers seated themselves in a huge spiral formation.  Plates loaded with ladoos were placed in front of every one. Soon the rich man saw the wise villagers feeding the other one with unlimited ladoos. Hurray! the villagers are enjoying themselves well. Soon all the ladoos were finished. The rich man learnt a lesson for his greed.

Everyone, appreciated and congratulated clever Ramu without whom they could not have enjoyed the feast.

Mahesh Das walks his way to the Hall of fame (Akbar Birbal Story)

 

Once Emperor Akbar declared a ransome prize money for the one who can draw him exactly and present the portrait to him.  Many artists gave a try to their level best but Akbar was not satisfied with the work and denied all of them. 

During this period, Emperor Akbar was on his visit to a village in his mobile court. The artists from that village were showing the portraits they have drawn and was showing it to Akbar and he as usual was not satisfied with any work. 

Young  Mahesh Das  went to akbar with a covered portrait in his hand. He sought the permission to see the Emperor and opened the portrait. Akbar was astonished to see it. Mahesh Das has wrapped a mirror and showed it as a portrait. He asked “Jahanpanah, aren’t you looking exactly like how you are now?”. Akbar was very pleased with his wit and gave him the prize money along with his ring and told him to visit him at the palace.  BIrbal ‘s original name is Mahesh Das.

After some time, Mahesh Das  felt that time has come for him to meet Akbar. He started his journey towards the royal palace.  He reached the majestic gate guarded by soldiers. The One at the entrance stopped him and enquired about him. When Mahesh Das showed the ring gave by Akbar, the soldier immediately allowed entry but on a condition that Mahesh Das will give half of what he receive from the Akbar to him. 

Mahesh Das agreed and went inside. He reached the court, offered his salutations and showed the ring. Akbar recognized him seeing the ring gifted by him. Akbar pleased to see this wise man offered him a gift and asked him what he wanted for a gift and that will be granted to him.  Mahesh Das said “Oh King of Kings, I need 100 lashes from you as gift and half of it to be given to my friend”. Emperor was surprised to hear it and thought he might have gone crazy to ask for such a reward. Asked Mahesh “Oh gentleman, why do you ask for such a reward when you have not done anything wrong? Why do you include your friend also into it?”. Mahesh Das said “Jahanpanah! I promised your gate keeper to give half of what  I receive as per his demand. So give me 50 lashes and give the other 50 to your gatekeeper”. Hearing this the other guests and courtesans also confirmed to the emperor that the gate keeper is corrupt.

Emperor was pleased with the wit that Mahesh Das has very diplomatically brought the corruption to his attention . He thought Mahesh will be an asset if he is absorbed into his advisory board as a minister. He named him “Birbal” meaning brave heart and took him into his court as a minister. Soon Birbal became very close to Akbar with his wit, wisdom and humourous nature.

The Sweet Brinjal (Tenali Raman Story)

Tenali is a village in Andhrapradesh. Our Raman was from that village hence prefixed  “Tenali’. He was a very wise man and was called ‘Vikatavi’ in the court of King Krishnadevaraya. The king had a special place in his heart for Raman for his wit.

One day, a foreign traveller visited Krishnadevaraya’s court and gifted ‘a sweet brinjal plant’ and some sweet brinjals to the king.  Brinjal is common but sweet brinjal sounded new. Everyone was curious to have a look at it and to taste too. 

The king called the cook and told him to prepare a nice curry out of those sweet brinjals and ordered the Gardener to plant the sapling in the royal garden. The order was carried out and  the lunch turned out to be so special with the curry using ‘sweet brinjal’.  As king was very close to Tenali Rama, he invited him also to join for the lunch. There was a huge broad smile in Raman’s face and all the courtiers envied him a lot and blamed their ill-luck.

On the Dining table laid the feast for eyes and toungue with variety of dishes filled to the brim of the vessels, steaming hot. Its was a colourful feast too with lot many vegetables & mouth watering flavours filled the dining hall with its aroma. The banana leaves are neatly laid down, washed and fresh in place.

The king took the main place and seated himself followed by his family and Tenali Raman. The server first served the sweet of the day followed by the curries, pickle, dhal. Then came the white rice which was perfectly cooked with each grains separate, into their leaves followed by a dash of ghee. Suddenly the king noticed something missing. Yes,  ‘the sweet brinjal curry’.  The cook was called to bring it to the table for serving.  Everyone was curious and eagerly they turned their heads towards the dining entrance from kitchen.

First the a delicious aroma filled the air, then slowly steam escaped from the kitchen passage to the dining hall. Then the head of the cook appeared with the lovely piping hot sweet brinjal curry.  There was a great relief seen in everyone’s face when their much waited curry came.

Soon a spoon full of sweet brinjal curry was served in all the leaf. All the diner’s heart was thumping with joy to taste it and their eager hands soon reached the leaf and was controlled forcibly to stay away as its custom to offer some thanks giving prayer to god. Then the king took some curry in his hand and in went the curry inside his watering mouth. Others soon followed him without wasting a second. 

It was a grand feast as the sweet brinjal tasted very yummy! Taking all of them to the heaven with its flavour & taste. The lunch lasted for an extra half-an-hour than the routine as everyone was lost in the thoughts of sweet brinjal.  Finally, the lunch was over and all of them proceeded to the next chamber where beetel leaves & nuts were offered for easing the digestion process. After that nice sumptuous feast, the king and Raman sat and discussed about the sweet brinjal and the feast.

That evening, Tenali Raman ran home to share this with his wife. Their young son was listening to their conversation. Raman’s wife was so eager to taste it hence Raman promised to bring few brinjals for her. After few days, the king was sent a message that the sweet brinjal plant was ready for harvest.  This news reached the ears of Tenali Raman too. The king ordered to harvest it the next day and that more plants be planted.  A separate fenced garden was created with some guards to keep a watch on it. The plants grew up, flowered soon and bore ripen brinjals.  Tenali raman was also secretly watching the garden and that night, he slinked away from his home into the darkness covering himself in a black blanket towards the royal garden. He managed to slip into the garden without being caught and plucked few brinjals. While getting out of the garden, the guards notice some movement and followed the shadow but our clever Raman escaped into the dark and reached his house.

Raman’s wife quickly made a curry and the dinner was served. Tenali Raman’s son was so happy to taste this new dish and kept asking what it was. The mother told him that it’s a sweet brinjal curry, the son said he wanted it daily and finished his dinner quickly.  They put their son to sleep and Tenali raman told his wife not to leak this out.  After the little boy was soon asleep, Tenali raman poured a pot full of water on him. The boy woke up from the sleep crying ‘Its raining! Raining!”  The parents consoled him and soon all of them were asleep.

The next morning in the court, the king was alerted about the visit of a thief to the royal garden and that some sweet brinjals were missing. The king ordered an enquiry and the guards said that they doubt Raman as the shadow was seen heading towards his place. King sent oders to Raman’s wife and son to appear in  the court. When they arrived, our Clever Raman said that he was sound asleep that night and he was innocent. The other jealous courtiers suggested to the king “Oh  King, a child will never lie. So let us ask raman’s son” The king questioned Raman’s son what the menu for their dinner, the previous night.

The innocent child said that he had a special curry which tasted sweet and that he could not recollect the name of the vegetable.  The king was very angry and asked Raman to explain that. Immediately Raman told “Oh my lord, please don’t go by the word of a small child. Please ask him whether it rained the previous night” The king interrogated the boy to which they boy replied “Yes it rained heavily and  I was feeling cold”.  Raman “Now is it clear, oh my king.  It never rained yesterday.” The king was atlast convinced and declared Raman as innocent. He also ordered to strengthen the security around the special fence. Raman with his wit escaped with a clear chit and saved his reputation with the king too.

After lunch, Raman had a meeting with the king and requested him to award a sapling of sweet brinjal to every citizen of their country to avoid the robbery of this kind. King was relieved and immediately ordered to award the sapling to his country men. The whole country of Krishna Devaraya enjoyed their meal with the sweet brinjal curry and no more guards employed to guard the special fence. All of them lived happily.

The Pot of Wisdom (Akbar & Birbal)

Once a foreign traveller visited the court of Emperor Akbar. He offered the gifts sent by the king of his region to the him. In turn, Akbar offered return gifts consisting of valuables, ripen sweet mangoes and other specialities of our country to the king of the foreign land.

The traveller wanted to play a witty prank. He told the king, “Oh Emperor! Thank you for the wonderful gifts. Our King will be very happy to receive them. Our land is so rich and have everything in it.  We have heard that you have wise men in your court, which pulled me to pay a visit here. So I want a pot of wisdom  to take along with me to show & prove that to our countrymen”.

Akbar asked his courtiers to face this challenge and offered a prize money to one who will be able to give the traveller what he wanted. Soon some whispering sounds filled the air, with each other looking into their puzzled faces. 

Our brave Birbal raised from his seat and accepted the challenge “Oh Traveller! Please come to me after a month, finishing your business, by that time, your pot of wisdom will be ready for you to show to your country men. But under the condition that you should  transfer it to your pot without damaging  the wisdom and take  it to your country”

The Traveller with mischief sparkling in the corner of his eyes controlled his laughter and readily accepted the conditions of Birbal thinking him a crazy and fool. He walked out of the court so confidently that he had given an’ impossible to accomplish’ task to the fools.

Birbal went to potter’s place and asked him to give a big pot with a small mouth. The potter delivered the pot to Birbal as per his specifications. Birbal then approached a farmer, gave him this pot and told him to cover the pot over the flower of the  plant in his farm. The puzzled farmer afraid of questioning the wise man silently carrid out his order. Birbal told him to keep a watchful eye on the pot and inform him once the crops are ready for harvesting. The day of harvest came . The farmer informed birbal . Birbal told him to remove the pot carefully with its content. The farmer did as he was told. Birbal happily went with the pot of wisdom in his hands. The curious farmer and potter followed him.

The  traveller with a broad smile of victory entered the court after a month, full of pride. He paid his humble respect to Akbar and informed that he had come to collect his pot of wisdom. But Birbal was not found in the court. The courtiers looked at each other suddenly they saw a shadow entering the court. Yes!! Its our Birbal! Now it’s the turn of the traveler who had a puzzled look at his face seeing Birbal with a pot in his hand. 

Birbal handed over the pot to him saying “Oh my friend! Here is the pot of wisdom you have asked for. Please transfer this to your pot and show to your fellow country men as per the condition you have agreed for.” Now its not only the traveller, but the emperor himself and the courtiers all were looking confused and puzzled. Everyone was curious to have a peep inside the pot.  The traveller received the pot and looked into it. His eyes opened widely with a surprise and his face was lit up with a big smile. He bowed before the emperor and said “Oh king, how stupid I am to challenge a wise man. Your countrymen are really wise. My king will be very happy to see this. Please pardon me”

Akbar could not control his curiosity and so are the courtiers. They turned towards birbal hoping to hear it from his mouth. But Birbal stood politely as if nothing had happened. Akbar ordered the traveller to reveal the content of the pot. The traveler handed it over to him. Akabar’s face also lit up and he started laughing loudly. The pot was passed to every one present in the court. Then the entire court was filled with laughters and happy tears.

Akbar called Birbal and presented him with a big bag full of gold coins, hugged him and said “Birbal, I am so happy to have you in my court. Thank you for saving our country’s pride.”

I can see you also curious to know the content of the pot. Ok! Ok! The pot was turned over the flower of Ashgourd plant. The ashgourd * grew inside the pot and filled it completely. Traveller as per the conditions he agreed to Birbal could not transfer the ‘wisdom’ (ashgourd) without breaking the pot. So our clever Birbal has won the game of wit as usual.

* Ashgourd = white Bhopla, Poosanikaai

Akbar, Birbal and Banana

Emperor Akbar and his minister Birbal were very good friends. Birbal is famous for his wits & wisdom hence he had a special place in the Emperor's heart.

One evening, Akbar and Birbal were sitting in the garden and discussing about official matters. A maid brought a plate of banana and some juice for them. In the course of their talk, slowly one after the other, the bananas were vanishing from the plate.

Akbar played a mischief by placing all the banana skins in Birbals side. When the conversation was finished, Akbar showing the banana skins on Birbal's side told "Birbal, you have eaten so many bananas!"

To this Birbal politely replied "Aalampana, i have eaten only the bananas leaving the skin but you have eaten the skin too"

Akbar was once more got impressed by Birbal's wit and they laughed heartily.

Mulla & the rains

Mulla Nassrudin is a wise man who always come out successfully from any challenges put to him with his wit. He was living with his wife in his small house. It was very cloudy one day. Mulla was standing near the window and enjoying the cold breeze. He saw a holy man passing by his place when suddenly it started raining. 

Mulla called the holy man and said "Rain is a blessing from God, so why do you fear and running away from it. You should enjoy it" . The man hearing this had no other option but walked in the heavy rains, fully drowned.

Next day, mulla was passing the holy man's place and it started raining. Mulla out of fear of getting wet, soon started running towards a shade. The holy man was startled by this action of Mulla and called him "Mulla, yesterday you said, rain is a blessing from God. So why are you running away from it ?" To which Mulla hurriedly replied, "Oh Holy man! i am not running away from it but saving myself from committing the greatest sin of 'stepping' on the 'blessing' from God!" and soon reached a shady place.

Hearing this, the holy man went dumb! See how clever our Mulla is in giving a quick & apt reply.

one will get what one deserves

There was a blind man who had neither had relatives nor Home. Daily he used to go and sit near a Shiva Temple and sing songs in praise of Lord. Some kind hearted devotees offered alms in terms of cash and kind. His days passed like this. Lord Shiva and his consort, Devi Parvathi was watching this everyday.

One day, Devi Parvathi asked Lord Shiva, "Oh my Lord! the blind man comes and sits near the temple door and sings beautiful songs in praise of you and me. In turn he get alms but that too not regularly. He eats just once in a day and some times, he even didn't get that. I really pity him. I feel we should help him". Hearing this Lord Shiva said " Oh Parvathi! everyone in this world has to bear his Karma. One will get what one deserves". Devi Parvathi said " Oh the mighty Lord! but one can be forgiven isn't it. This birth, the blind man didn't do any harm to anyone but was only singing our praise with true devotion". Lord Shiva "Parvathi, it seems you have lost your thoughts in those praises". Parvathi "No, Lord. I pity him. Shall we give him one chance?". Lord Shiva said "Ok. You give him one chance. Only one".

The Blind man was on his way to the temple. Devi Parvathi put a bag of gold in the path. The blind man using his stick used to check whether the path is clear. He reached the spot where the bag of gold coins was dropped. Another two steps, he will step on it. But his destiny played its role. As soon as his stick touched the bag, he mistook it for a stone and just brushed it aside with his stick and moved ahead. Though he is blind, his ears are sharp. But he neglected the noise raised by the coin bag and carried on.

Lord shiva told Devi Parvathi, "Parvathi, did you notice that he don't deserve that! Though it was lying in his path, he didn't realise it though his stick touched it. His mind was occupied by some other thoughts that he didn't notice the jingling sounds of the coins. One will get only what one deserves. His karma is like that. So this birth, let him sing our praises, so that he will be absolved of all his past sins and reach the heavenly abode"

Let us think & do only good to others to make our karma take a twist and join the gods in their abode.

The Boon

Once upon a time, there was a small village called matiwadi where lived the village headman "Vittal". His wife 'Maitri" was about to deliver when a Jyotish visited there place and told vittal that 'the baby is a Boy but soon after the boy is delivered, the yama dootas will come & take maitri and that his son will not be a good at studies'. Hearing this Vittal became very sad as he loved his wife very much, at the same time, he could not do anything to avoid it as the labour pain has already started for Maitri.

Vittal with a stick in his hand was walking impatiently near the door, thinking that he will be able to stop the yamadutas entering his house. The yam dootas came. Vittal told them "Oh, the vulnerables, i humbly request you to spare the life of my wife" but the yamdootas told that they cannot go against their master's order and that one has to face his karma. Helplessly he stood near the door. Soon he heard the voice of baby crying and went inside to see his dear wife dead.

Vittal showered all his love on this small boy and named him 'Krishna'. When Krishna turned 5, he was sent to school in that village but he turned out to be poor in studies. after few years, the teacher became so impatient and sent Krishna back home, once for all. Vittal was worried about the future of the boy who showed no interest in studies. Few years went by and Vittal also fell severely ill.  Slowly, whatever meagre wealth he had also started diminishing with the treatment expenses. Krishna also didn't do any job and was sitting at home & taking care of his father. Vittal was praying to god with tears in his eyes to save his son by throwing some enlightenment on him.

God was moved with this sincere prayer and wanted to help. So one day God sent a buffalo to his house thinking that Krishna will milk it and earn his daily bread. When Krishna got up in the morning, saw a buffalo standing in front of their door, which seemed tobe owned by none. So, he took the buffalo to the market and sold it there. In return he got some money, bought the neccesities and that day's problem was solved as he and vittal could get a hearty meal after a long time.

Next morning, also he saw a buffalo standing and went to the market. sold it and with the money bought that day's requirement. Many days went on like this. God was taken back  by the cleverness of  little Krishna and was pleased by his devotion in taking care of his father at such a tender age, so appeared before him. 

God said " Dear Krishna, i grant you a boon, only one boon. Tell me what do you want?"

Krishna said "Oh God! I am very honoured that i am able to see you and so nice of you that you are going to grant me a boon. But i would like to take some time to think what i would like to have, as you are going to offer me only one boon. So please come tomorrow and i will ask you that boon".  God vanished . Krishna's joy knew no bounds that he had a darshan of god and he is going to grant a boon.  He didn't sleep that night and was in deep thoughts. Vittal was very puzzled about this stranger behaviour of his boy. T

The next day, when Krishna was praying, God appeared before him "Krishna, have you decided what you want?", Krishna said "Yes, almighty. Please grant me that one boon 'that you will grant me how many ever boon i ask you, whenever i ask you"

God was very pleased with his wit and granted him that one boon saying it will take effect if the boon is for good, blessed him and vanished.

What more can i write, you know very well how our clever krishna used his boon and lived happily everafter!! :-)