I live in the city of Hyderabad…………….65 million years ago, a massive object crashed into the earth, and all life was wiped out including the Dinosaurs…….
the impact was so huge , that a big land mass was thrown up out of the earth….the Deccan Plateau….where millions of years later the famous Golconda diamonds were found, including the world famous Kohinoor Diamond that now adorns the crown of the British monarch…….the British were fond of the local ruler who was loyal to them , and so 300 years ago while most of vast India was ruled by the British, the Deccan…….including the modern day city of Hyderabad…..was ruled by the muslim ruler, the Nizam.
One of his loyal officers was a Hindu , who was so much trusted by the Nizam , that he was entrusted with the duty of collection of taxes and other revenues of the state. He was called RamDas (god servant– servant of god) . He was exceptionally devout to his god Ram. Some say , it was Ram who appeared in his dream , and asked him to build a temple for Him….some say he was anyway devout and so did it ….either way , he misappropriated much revenues of the state to build the temple for his god Ram. The furious muslim king , unable to believe that his own loyal officer had deceived him , sent him to Jail.
Amazingly , Ramdas never felt he had done any crime ! ! ! on the contrary , he accused god Ram of not protecting him , him who was innocent ! ! ! ……the torture continued for days and days….and RamDas kept on praying to his god Ram…..but the torture continued and continued…….finally, some of the important muslim nobles , who always held RamDas in high esteem for his exceptional honesty, sought audience with the Nizam and pleaded for mercy. The Nizam agreed that Ramdas was an honest officer , and even agreed to release him if anyone would reimburse the state of the Astronomical Amount of Revenues diverted ! ! the nobles bowed their heads, and silently shuffled out of the royal audience,…. all their collective wealth would little suffice the deficit !
That night the king had a dream…the goddess of good luck Shree questioned her husband god Ram, how long His great devotee should suffer torture in jail….as long as the suffering of the parrot which RamDas in his previous life had kept in a golden cage ! the lovely bird was treated to royal comforts, BUT inside a golden cage ! Ram smiled and told her that the parrot’s time and the jail time have balanced each other out….the puzzled king shouted ” who are you ? how could you enter the royal palace “. Ram calmly told him ” I am RamDas (ram servant–Ram the servant). I am the servant of all my devotees. Here take these Gold Pieces : they are more than the deficit ! “
The Nizam awoke from his sleep, with a start…he smiled, amused at the dream…..he turned on his side to go back to sleep…his hand hit a bag…and to his astonishment , Gold Pieces tinkled on to the floor !
………and in the museum , beside the huge temple of Ram , visitors now admire the 2 Gold Coins with the logo of the muslim ruler on the one side , and Ram on the other !…… whew , 65 million years of a story….and all this prompted by a rarasaur in jail UNJUSTLY !
………….but then , luck is just around the corner,
and the pretty parrot would fly out,
soon soon soon…………
