*Story of Great Indian Poet' Marriage - Kalidas and Vidyotma*



There was a king who had a very learned daughter Vidyotma, in her knowledge
she surpassed all the scholars of the kingdom. She declared she would only
marry the person who would defeat her in a battle of wits. The scholars of
the kingdom decided to take their revenge from the princess by marrying her
to a fool. They went looking, and in the forest saw a man sitting on a tree
who was cutting the branch he was sitting on. On seeing this, they decided
they had found their man, and they would marry him to the princess, and
they told him *"Come with us, we will take you to the palace and you will
be given good food to eat, but do not say a word when you are there, only
use hand gestures."*

So he went and the scholars said to the king - *"Maharaj (Your Majesty), we
have chanced upon a great scholar who would like to challenge your
daughter, but he won't speak anything"*. The fool was presented before the
princess. The princess Vidyotma showed him one finger of her right hand,
the fool thought she intended to blind him in one eye. He showed up two
fingers signaling that if she would blind him in one eye, he would blind
her in both eyes. Next the princess showed the open palm of her hand, now
the fool took this to mean she would slap him. He showed a fist to signal
he would box her in return.

The scholars who were accompanying the fool explained the actions this way.
The princess's one finger means there is only one God Almighty, but the
scholar means that there is one God Almighty, but there is also the human
soul (which as per Hindus is considered as a part of God). Next the five
fingers of the princess's palm signify the five human senses, but according
to the scholar the fist means when the five senses are kept under control
one can attain greatness. The princess conceded defeat and was married to
him.

After the marriage when Vidyotma discovered her husband had no knowledge
and was in fact a big fool, she insulted him and left him. At this the fool
was very upset and he decided he would attain wisdom. The scholars who had
got him there all left him alone. It is said that he went to the temple of
Garhkalika in Ujjain and prayed to the goddess for the gift of knowledge.
He prayed and offered to the goddess his tongue as sacrifice and when was
about to cut it off with a sword the goddess appeared before him and
blessed him. Because of being blessed by the goddess, words of wisdom
started flowing through his mouth and he began to write poetry and prose in
Sanskrit language. He then created works like 'Shakuntala' and 'Meghdoot'
and the beauty of his expression made him very renowned.





*
*  <http://sig.graphicsfactory.com/>*

நல்லதுசெய் நல்லதே நடக்கும்
*जन सेवा ईश्वर  सेवा *
*cnu.pne*

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