In the south of India, there was a city called ‘Mahilaropy’.
In the middle of this city, there was a huge birch tree.
In that birch tree, the king of the crows ‘Meghavarna’ lived with his friends, family and followers.
Near that birch tree, there was a mountain cave. In that cave, the king of the owls ‘Arimardhana’ lived with his followers.
There was a long-standing enmity between the crows and the owls.
Owls are usually seen at night, not during the day.
So they hide in their caves during the day.
They come out to hunt at night.
Even for hunting, they do not have to work hard.
At night, they go around the birch trees and kill and eat small owls.
As a result, the number of owls started decreasing day by day.
One day, the owl king Meghbarna called the minister and the council to the court to discuss this issue.
First, the minister ‘Ujjiv’ said, ‘Your Majesty! Since the owl king Arimardhan is attacking us at night.
He is definitely strong. First, we should know about his strength. Since our enemy is strong.
Therefore, we should not attack him suddenly, but attack him when the enemy is weak.’
King Krishnadevaraya sometimes asked Tenalirama strange questions to test him. One day, while the king was sitting in the court, he asked, “Tenalirama! Can you tell me how many birds are there in our kingdom?”
Hearing the king’s words, Tenalirama said, “Of course I can speak, King. But there are many scholars greater than me present in this court.
It would not be right for me to answer this simple question in their presence.”
Hearing these words of Tenalirama, the king turned his gaze to the scholars present in the palace.
Who else could answer such a strange question?
Who could count the number of birds flying in the sky? That is why everyone sits with their heads down.
No one had an answer to this question.
Since no one in the assembly could answer it, the king finally asked Tenalirama to answer it.
Tenalirama said, “Your Majesty! As many hairs as there are on your head.
There are as many birds in our kingdom.
The king was still not satisfied with Tenalirama’s words and asked him to tell the actual number of birds.
