151 Stories of Tenali Raman

Once, a hunter gifted a beautiful parrot to the king which he and his queen kept in their private chamber. They fed him best sweets and nuts, and taught him some holy chants as well. Once when Tenali came to visit them, the queen boasted of the parrot’s holy chants to which Tenali said that […]

It was the king’s birthday and hence everyone was showering him with expensive gifts. One of the jealous courtiers noticed that Tenali was missing and complained of the same saying Tenali was a miser. It made the king angry. After a few hours Tenali came to the court and wished the king giving him a

Every year, a Ramlila troupe from Varanasi performed in Vijaynagar but one particular year, they denied since the troupe members were sick. There was no time to call some other troupe and, hence, Tenali said he would call another troupe from a nearby village. When the troupe performed, everyone praised their skills extensively as most

Tenali got to learn about a dishonest money lender who charged ten times the interest for his loans, so he decided to teach the lender a lesson. He asked to borrow two large vessels and paid three gold coins as rent. Next day, Tenali returned them with two smaller vessels saying the large vessels were

Once, everyone who owned horses in the kingdom started selling them at low costs owing to the spread of a dangerous disease that could affect humans too. When the king found out, he got to know that the horses in royal stables were absolutely all right, so he asked Tenali to investigate the matter. In

Once the king decided he would make his kingdom as beautiful as heaven. So, he employed many labourers, craftsmen and other workes for the same. Soon there were beautiful buildings and gardens that attracted many visitors to the kingdom and brought great fame. When the king was discussing this in the kingdom, one of the

Once, a shepherd came to the court demanding compensation from his neighbour for the death of his sheep due to the wall collapse. When the king was about to call the neighbour and punish him, Tenali spoke up that the neighbour was not at fault. The king asked him to prove who the real culprit

One day, the king noticed that his favourite roses were disappearing every day. He asked the guards to find the thief. Within a few days they caught Tenali’s son stealing the roses and began to take him to the palace. When they passed Tenali’s house, his wife told him that their son was caught. He

Once, the jealous Rajguru told the king that Tenali had a special stone called ‘Paras’ that can turn iron into gold. When inquired, Tenali understood that someone was trying to show him down. He said ‘yes’ he had a stone. On being asked to prove it he said he would prove it next morning. Next

Once, Rajguru and Bhanu were having an argument when Bhanu said it was easy to find faults with others but very difficult to improve on them which the former declined. Tenali heard the entire argument. That day, a painter came to the court and gifted the king with a beautiful picture of a lady in

Once, a priest came to the court and said he wanted to free the kingdom of all evil spirits and, hence, would perform a penance for 1,000 coins. For this he would stand in the freezing cold water every day and perform a yajna too. The king agreed and this went on for a few

One day, the king filled the bags of gold coins and gems to distribute among the poor and the Brahmins, and asked Tenali to follow him. He said he should see if anything fell out. On the way the bag tore open and the gems started falling but Tenali didn’t complain, since he was asked

Once a foreigner came to the court and asked everyone what the most valuable thing in the kingdom was. While some said the palace, jewels and the wealth, Tenali said it was freedom. He was asked to prove this. Until then the foreigner was a royal guest. All arrangements were made to make his stay

Once, the king was so happy with Tenali that he gave him an entire town as a gift but forgot about it soon after. So Tenali kept looking for instances to remind the king of his promise. One day, an Arab came to the kingdom with a camel. Since no one had seen a camel

Once, a very old man came to the king’s court for help. He told the king that his son and daughter-in-law had thrown him out of the house and didn’t respect him. Hearing this Tenali promised the king he would solve the problem. After two days the old man came to the court happy saying