The last you would have heard of a well’s wedding was in the folklore of Tenali Rama. Once upon a time, it had so happened that King Sri Krishnadevaraya and his wise advisor Tenali Rama had a spat over some trivial issue, following which the King banished him from the royal court. After this episode, Tenali Rama left the kingdom and moved to a nondescript village. Soon, the King realised that Tenali Rama was, in fact, correct, and he was keen to have him back in his court. But his special advisor was nowhere to be found. To look for him, the King had to use his wits. An announcement was made saying that the King had organised the royal well’s wedding in his capital Vijayanagar on the full moon night, and the village panchayats in his kingdom were cordially invited to attend the same with their wells in tow. The King wouldn’t tolerate any defiance, and if the villagers failed to bring their wells along for the wedding, they would be penalised 100 gold coins. The harried villagers sought Tenali Rama’s advice. He suggested that they meet the King the following day and tell him that the village wells would attend the wedding for sure, but only if the royal well comes and invites them personally. The King knew that it could be only his witty courtier Tenali Rama, who could give the villagers this suggestion to outwit the King’s proposed well’s wedding plan, and well, eventually both won the battle of wits in equal measure.  

Taking a leaf out of this folklore, a quaint neighbourhood — Vikas Nagar — in Ward no 8 of the Barh subdivision of Patna district organised a wedding of its well with great pomp and show on November 28, 2019.