A Short History of Folktales in India

Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them.

Tenali Rama or Tenali Ramakrishna (born Garlapati Ramakrishna; also known as Tenali Ramalinga was born as ; 22 September 1480 – 5 August 1528) was a Telugu poet, scholar, and advisor in the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. Hailing from Tenali, he earned acclaim as one of the Ashtadiggajas, a group of eight celebrated Telugu poets in Sri Krishnadevaraya’s court, and is best known for his sharp wit and humour.

A Folktale From Rural Andhra Pradesh

The queen mother lay dying and she said, I have one last wish. I would love to taste a sweet mango before I die. But alas, it was not the mango season. The King sent messengers far and wide, and it was weeks before they could bring back one measly little mango. It was too late. The king’s mother had died meanwhile. The king was heart-stricken that he could not satisfy a simple wish of his dying mother. Furthermore, he was afraid that she would haunt the palace as a discontented ghost. So he summoned the wisest of Brahmans in his court and asked them what he should do to appease his mother’s spirit.

The Brahmans had a solution: the king should make a gift of a gold mango each to one hundred Brahmans, and then the queen mother’s soul would find peace. So the king ordered the palace goldsmiths to fashion a hundred mangoes of gold, picked a good day for the gift giving ceremony, and arranged a royal feast.

Also Read: Tenali Rama’s Dream

On their way to the feast, the Brahmans had to pass Tenali Rama’s house. He was standing at the door with iron rods and a stove full of red hot embers next to him. He said to them, ‘Our king said to me yesterday: any Brahman who lets himself be branded with these iron rods will get two golden mangoes instead of one. The Brahmans were greedy and got themselves branded, and some even more than once. Then they went groaning with pain to the king’s palace, but each of them got only one golden mangoes from him. They showed him their welts from branding and asked for more mangoes. When the king got angry with them, they told him, what his favourite, the jester Tenali Rama, had done. He was furious, summoned Tenali Rama, and asked for an explanation. The jester said, ‘your highness, when my mother died, she was racked by arthritis. The local doctors advised me that the real cure was to brand her joints with hot irons. But my mother, poor thing, she died before I could do it. When I heard that your highness was giving golden mangoes to these Brahmans to appease your dead mother’s spirit, I thought I should do the same, I am glad both our mothers are now at peace, thanks to these holy Brahmans.

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Road To Nara by Narayan Kaudinya