S.D. Lal

An evil magician invokes a demon to gain great power and the demon advises the magician to reach Princess Chintamani of Adityapuram and get power by using her beauty as an instrument. By using three personal questions of the magician, the Princess asks any man who comes to marry her. If they fail to answer them, the Princess chops their head off. So all her suitors starting from Purandara, Chinthamani' s uncle, were beheaded by Chinthamani with their count reaching 999. Finally Pratap, Prince of Kaivalyapur knows that three questions and they are related to three kingdoms,namely Nandivardhanpuram, Sampangipuram, Nagisheelapuram, beforehand from the help of his lover, Kamalakshi, Princess of Avantipuram and a close friend of Chinthamani. So Pratap leaves for each kingdom to get the answers and brings the royal folk related to the questions and he successfully answers the questions before Chinthamani. King Mathimantha of Nagisheelapuram chops the magician's head off, after revealing that he is a wicked sage who has committed grave sin of adultery in all three kingdoms.By Goddess Kali's grace, Pratap brings to life all the suitors killed by Chinthamani. Atlast, Chinthamani repents her mistake and the story ends by the marriage of Pratap-Kamalakshi and Chinthamani-Purandara love couples. —Sunil Kumar Marella, Andhra Pradesh, India