151 Stories of Tenali Raman

Once the king got very annoyed with a bandit and warned his police chief to catch him at the earliest. Later when Raman was passing by, the police caught him taking him for the bandit and buried him in sand neck-deep. From here the real bandit passed by at night and was instantly recognized by […]

One day, king Krishnadeva Raya displayed a portrait of his in the court, made by some artist. Everyone appreciated both the artist and the portrait; only Raman remained silent. On this the king asked him if he had anything to say. Raman replied that the artist didn’t deserve credit since he painted only one side

When a great sage came to the village, all villagers were excited. He showed different miracles and, hence, all villagers started collecting at the temple every dawn and dusk for him. They also started bringing food and other items of appreciation for the sage. On hearing about this, Raman knew something was fishy. So he

Once a foreign horse trader came to visit king Krishnadeva Raya in his court and told about the horses he had for sale. They sounded so good that the king offered buying them. On hearing this, the trader took 5,000 gold coins as the advance money and said he would return with his horses in

There once lived a priest called Rama, in a village in Devgarh. He had earned a great name for himself. But he was very arrogant. Tenali heard of his arrogance and wanted to teach the priest a lesson. Just then a servant of the priest came with a message, “The son of an army officer

The king used to give food and money every day to two beggars. On receiving the alms one of them, used to say, “God provides.” The other beggar, would say, “Our king provides.” This annoyed the king who thought, ‘It is I who am feeding him and he keeps saying,–God provides, God provides.’ The next

Once king asked Tenali to bring four fools. Tenali said, “OK”, and asked some time to find them. He saw a man carrying a gift packet. Tenali asked him, “to whom you are carrying this gift?” The man replied, “My wife has remarried. Now they have a child, so I am taking this gift for

One day, one man wanted to punish a man named Krishna. He accused him of stealing his necklace. The case was brought in the Judge’s court. The man said, “Your Honour, I have seen him stealing the necklace.” Krishna said, “I am innocent, Your Honour.” The man then said, “Let him prove his innocence. Let

A weaver was busy making a blanket outside his hut. A Jogi with long, matted hair came and stood to watch. “What can I do for you, Babaji?” asked the weaver. “I want to see how a blanket is made.” When weaver was not looking, the Jogi pulled out several tufts of his long hair

One day, Tenali happened to pass a harmless comment on Krishnadeva’s sense of humour. But Krishnadeva was no fool. He got very angry and ordered him leave not only the court, but also his capital. Tenali was terribly hurt but could not do anything about it. So Tenali left. But the king could not do

One day, Krishnadeva stumbled on a  rock in his garden while taking a stroll. He was not in a good mood already, and then he had this fall. He got very angry and ordered for the gardener’s arrest and execution. The next day, at the time of execution, the gardener was asked what his last

A businessman had two sons. While he showered the younger son with affection and gifts, he neglected the elder son shamelessly. When the boys grew up, they were asked to manage the father’s business. From morning till late in the evening the elder son was trying to figure out how the business ran. While the

One day, when Krishnadeva saw Raman coming on foot, he promised him to give a horse. Accordingly, he instructed his stable man to give a horse to Raman. Now, it so happened that the stable man selected a very weak and sick horse from the stable and sent it to Raman’s house. The horse was

One day the king asked Tenali, “Tenali, is it possible to be both ‘noblest’ and ‘lowest’ together?” Tenali said, “Yes, Sir” “Then bring me such a person.” Tenali went and returned next day with a beggar. Presenting him to the king he said, “This is the lowest among all of your subjects, Sir.” Krishnadeva asked,

One day, it so happened that Tenali Raman displeased king Krishnadeva Raya, so the king asked one of his men to slay him and bring him his head. Tenali was very upset with this. He went to his wife and asked him how to save himself. His wife said, “It is a difficult situation but