It happened once that the Emperor Akbar was hunting with some companions, and though they rode deep into the woods, the had no luck. Finally, tired and thirsty, they came to a small village where they decided to rest, and there a young local boy named Mahesh Das willingly offered them assistance.

Akbar saw that the boy was intelligent and ready to serve, so when they departed, he gave Mahesh Das a ring, and said he would like to meet again when Mahesh had grown up. Only later did the boy understand that it was a royal ring, and that he had met the Emperor Akbar himself.

Some years later, Mahesh decided he should visit the court of Akbar. There he found the Emperor sitting amidst the assembly, and the young Mahesh Das stood in a corner to listen and observe. Then Akbar asked his nobility which flower they thought was the most beautiful flower on earth.

Some answered rose, some answered lotus, some answered jasmine, but then Mahesh spoke from the corner and said that he thought the cotton flower was the most beautiful. The assembly all laughed, for the cotton flower has no scent. But then Mahesh explained that not only was the cotton flower the most useful, giving thread and cloth, but everyone wore its beauty upon their backs, winter and summer.

Akbar was impressed by the answer, and invited the boy to come closer and talk. When Mahesh introduced himself and showed the ring the Emperor had given him, Akbar immediately appointed him one of his noblemen, and Mahesh Das, who was later called Birbal, ultimately came to be the foremost of the ‘navaratnam’, the Nine Jewels that formed Akbar’s inner circle.