Thenali Ramakrishna’s Tanesha Bharatam
With a view to use the sacred story of the Pandavas for some material purpose, the Tanashah of Delhi once invited to his court the renowned poets of Vijayanagar. These poets were asked to describe the distinctiveness of the Mahabharata. They did so in a beautiful and attractive manner.
After hearing the story Tanashah wanted them to write a fresh epic in which he would figure as Dharmaraja, the eldest of the Pandavas. All the ministers whom he liked would figure as the other Pandavas and all his enemies would figure as the Kauravas. In other words, he asked them to write a Tanashah Bharata. These posts were not inclined to produce an epic of this kind and were discussing among themselves as to how they could tackle the situation.
Amongst them a clever poet by name Tenali Ramakrishna came forward and said that he would undertake preparing this book. He wanted to teach a good lesson to the Tanashah. The Tanashah then asked him to prepare the text in a week’s time. The week was coming to a close and Ramakrishna had not even started writing and the other poets were afraid that the Tanashah would punish them. By the end of the agreed period, Ramakrishna took a few pieces of paper and went to the Tanashah who in turn had invited many friends to listen to this great text. Tanashah asked Ramakrishna if the Bharata was completed. Ramakrishna said that it was nearly completed but that there were one or two minor doubts which required clarification from the Tanashah. Then the Tanashah asked him what these doubts were so that he could clarify them. Ramakrishna replied that he had some hesitation to raise these doubts in public and he would wish to do so when both of them were alone.
Tanashah and Ramakrishna went inside and Ramakrishna said that he had a doubt as to who would fit in the role of Draupadi. Since Draupadi was wife to all the five Pandavas in the story. This means that Tanashah’s wife would be a wife to the ministers as well. Ramakrishna asked Tanashah if he would agree to give this role to his wife. This was not at all liked by Tanashah and he told Ramakrishna that there was no need to write such a Bharata and asked him to clear out after giving him suitable gifts. We see here that the Tanashah wanted to have the reputation of the Pandavas, but he did not want to accept the sacred terms under which the five Pandavas took Draupadi as their wife.
Today if we want to establish the nobility of our culture, we should realise and accept as a fact that the basis for it is respect for morality and truth. We should follow the path of morality and truth . If we want to have the reputation alone but not follow the path followed by our ancestors, we will only be doing what the Tanashah wanted to do. This will be leading to an artificial life. We should not hanker after getting a name and cheap popularity. We should rather look to the fulfillment of life.