Hinduism: Details about 'Birbal'
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home
|
Raja Birbal (1528-1586) was a courtier in the administration of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and one of the members of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as 'navaratana', a Sanskrit word, which means 'nine jewels'. Witty and humorous interaction and exchanges between Akbar and Birbal resulted into Birbal being called as a court jester. Born an impoverished Brahmin, Maheshdas (as he was originally named) was a poet and author whose wit and wisdom led the Emperor Akbar to invite him to be a part of the royal court and to bestow upon him a new name, Birbal, and conferred on him the title of "Raja", meaning a king. The exchanges between Akbar and Birbal have been recorded in many volumes, which are still popular. Many of these have become folk stories in the Indian tradition. In these stories, Akbar would usually ask a question on any matter, philosophical, witty, bizarre, and even unusual, and Birbal would provide either a funny or a very plausible answer. Birbal's collections of poetry, published under the pen name Brahma, are preserved in Bharatpur Museum, Rajasthan, India. Raja Birbal died in the battle of Malandari Pass, attempting to quell unrest amongst Afghani tribes in Northwest India. Akbar was said to have mourned for a long time on hearing the news. Further readings
See alsoTenali Ramakrishna External link
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||