151 Stories of Tenali Raman

Madho was a milkman. Before selling milk he always added water to it. His customers knew but were helpless. There was no other milkman in the locality. One day as Madho was about to start on his rounds in the morning, Tenali stood before him. Madho cowered in fright. “Why do you add water to […]

Once king Krishnadeva Raya was on bed due to illness. So he called his three sons to meet him. The king said that he was on his death-bed and wanted to test them. He asked them to fill the entire room with something, and whoever did handsomely would become the next king. The first son

Once Tenali, returning home with his week’s wages, was accosted by an armed robber on a deserted street. “Take my money,” said Tenali, “but do me a favour; shoot a bullet through my hat, otherwise my wife won’t believe I was robbed.” The robber obliged. He threw Raman’s hat into the air and shot a

Tenali had told his four disciples that they were never to do anything without his permission. One day while they were on their way to gurukul, Tenali fell asleep in the bullock cart they were travelling in. His head rolled from side to side and suddenly his turban slipped from his head and fell on

When Tenali Raman was a child, he always seemed to be at death’s door. His neighbour was a widow, bent with age. Whenever she caught sight of the girl she would shake her head sadly and say: “Oh God, why do you torment that poor child? If you want a life, take mine!”One evening a

Tenali’s neighbour Gopal was always trying to get the better of him. One day, Gopal saw a mango growing on his tree. He knocked it down, wrapped it in a cloth and waited for Tenali to come by. When he did, he called out to him. “I have a riddle for you,” he said, “Can

Once, Tenali went to a vaidya with multiple complaints.“I see spots before my eyes,” Raman said. “It’s due to too much stress,” the vaidya said. “No food suits me,” said Tenali. “That too is due to too much stress,” said the vaidya. “My back is giving trouble,” persisted Raman, “Sometimes the pain becomes unbearable.” “Too

Once, for a national festival the king asked everyone to sell coloured sweets that would look attractive and good to eat. Hearing this every sweetshop got busy in the process. One day when the king asked about Tenali, he was nowhere to be found. It took some days for the guards to find him and

Once, a priest came to the court and challenged the ministers present to prove that everything was maya, an illusion. While the Rajguru said it was written in the Shastras and they were always correct, he could not prove it. Then, Tenali got up and said that while the Himalayas are at the northern tip, 

Once, during a discussion with the king Tenali said that given a chance anyone would lie to which the king said he never lied. Tenali asked to prove it in a year’s time with 1,000 gold coins. During that year Tenali went away and built a palatial house and placed a big mirror on one

Once the chief of army had a son and so he invited everybody to bless the son. When the king said he should grow to be a warrior like his father Tenali said he would be far greater. One of the jealous courtiers then said how he could say that by merely looking at the

Once, the king gave the prime minister a lot of money to build wells around the kingdom. After some time, the king went to inspect and was satisfied with the work the minister showed him. One day, some people came to Tenali to complain about the minister as he had used the money for his

Once, the king imported some horses from Persia and gave them to his cavalry men to train along with enough money for their upkeep. Tenali also asked the king for one horse and was granted. He created a barn that was closed on all sides and made a little hole from which he passed hay

Once, a spy from other kingdom with an intention to kill the king came to Tenali’s house and asked to stay saying he was Tenali’s far relative. While Tenali couldn’t recognize him, he let the stranger stay at his place. One day,  Tenali had to go out of town for a few days, so the

Once a scholar came to the court and challenged all the courtiers to debate with him on any subject since he had read all the books in the world. Since nobody volunteered, the king asked Tenali to compete with the scholar. On the appointed day Tenali came dressed as a great priest with a bundle