Prasenjit, the king of Magadh, had a hundred sons. Out of them all, Shrenik was the most intelligent and clever. He stood out from them because of his appearance & qualities. In order to determine who of the hundred sons would be the appropriate heir to the throne, once King Prasenjit gathered all the princes in a large tent for a meal and served them. As soon as the food was served, the king released a few hungry dogs into the tent. The dogs quickly began eating the food from the princes’ plates. Seeing this, all the princes except prince Shrenik walked away without eating anything. While prince Shrenik placed the plates of the other princes in front of the dogs, he peacefully finished his meal and stood up.
The king was not satisfied with this test so he decided to test them once more. He ordered for some crates to be filled with snacks and got each crate covered with a cloth all around. Then he got a few clay pots filled with water, sealed from the top. He had everything placed in a room. Then he said to all his hundred sons, “My dear sons, you have to spend the entire evening and night here in this room. When you get hungry, eat the food that is packed in these crates without opening them and when thirsty, drink from these pots without opening the pots. But do not remain hungry or thirsty.”
Hearing this, the princes were puzzled and wondered, “What shall we do? How shall we eat?” Finally, unable to come up with a solution all the princes just sat down. However, Shrenik crashed one crate against a wall. Upon crashing against the wall, the snacks within the crate got crushed. Shrenik repeatedly shook the crate until the crumbs fell out from the cracks and he filled his stomach on the crumbs. Then he bound a piece of cloth on one of the freshly made earthen pots. Since the pots were made of clay, water seeped out and soaked the cloth in a short while. Shrenik wrung the cloth and drank the water. All the princes were amazed with what they saw.
This way King Shrenik used to find out solutions in every situation without getting stuck or upset. Eventually, King Prasenjit got an idea who is the most intelligent prince & would be the appropriate heir to the throne.
Related Link-
Magazine on King Shrenik
