Top 3 Tenali Raman Stories in English (Long & Short)

tenali raman stories in english

Tenali Rama and the Goddess Kali – Childhood Story Of Tenali Raman

Ramakrishna was born in a village in Andhra Pradesh during the early part of the sixteenth century. When he was very young, his father passed away and he grew up to be a very carefree child who was found always in the company of naughty boys of the village.

When he was wandering aimlessly through the streets of the village one day, he met a sage who advised him to pray to Goddess Kali. Listening to his advice, Ramakrishna went and prayed to Goddess Kali sincerely by chanting mantras. After repeating it eleven crore and eleven times, Mother Kali appeared. She looked terrifying with thousand faces. Soon

after he saw her, he took her blessings by touching her feet and immediately burst in to peals of laughter. Seeing him laugh uncontrollably, Goddess Kali asked him to tell her the reason for his laughter.

Still laughing, he replied,” Divine Mother! It is really hard for us to wipe our single nose with two hands. I was wondering how you would manage to wipe your thousand noses with two hands if you caught cold.”

Ramakrishna again fell at her feet and asked her to forgive him for laughing at her.The smile and the sense of humor of the boy pleased the Goddess. She blessed him and offered him two glasses, one with milk and one with curd.

Asking him to choose one among them, she told him that he would be blessed with knowledge if he chose milk and he would be rich if he chose curd. Ramakrishna thought for a second and told the Goddess that he would be able to choose, only if he had a closer look at both the glasses.

Trusting him, the Goddess handed over the glasses to Ramakrishna. In a split of a second, the clever Ramakrishna drank both. Mother Kali Devi was very annoyed with him and wanted to curse him.

He immediately bowed before the mother and explained that life would be complete and comfortable only if one had both fame and money.

Pleased by his presence of mind and outwitting quality, The Goddess blessed him to attain fame, money and also the ability to make people laugh. He soon mastered all learning’s and became famous as the great humorist, the comic poet Ramakrishna. Because of his great wit and humor, he soon gained popularity as ‘Vikatakavi’.

Message – Achieving a comfortable life we should have to drank  both glass in our life.

The Old Woman and The Money Box – First Case Of Tenali Raman

One day Ramanna went to the capital city of the kingdom. Ramanna was observing the strangers in the city. He saw four people, who were thieves, going into an inn.

They gave a bundle of money to the keeper of the inn. The inn-keeper was an old lady who was recently been widowed after the death of her husband. While Ramanna was looking at them, one of them said, “Madam, we will stay here for two or three days.

You please preserve this box with you. You should give this box only if all of us come together and claim for it. But do not give it to any one of us if we come alone.” She agreed for it and the four men went away.

After wandering around for some time in the city, the men again reached back to the inn. But before they entered the inn, they had some serious discussion amongst themselves.

As they required some money, they sent one of them to bring the box from the keeper of the Inn. The thief went inside and asked her for the money box. She said, ”Look, as you came alone to claim the box, I can not give it.

As I promised before, I will give the box only if all the four of you come together.” “My friends are waiting outside. They sent me to get the box. If you don’t believe, please come out and ask them. They are waiting out side”, requested the thief.

She came out and asked the rest of the thieves whether she could give the box to him. They nodded their heads in agreement. So she went inside, got the box and handed it over to him. The thief took the box and quietly escaped from the back door.

After some time, the remaining thieves got a doubt and went inside the inn. They could not find their friend anywhere. Hence, they went to the innkeeper and asked her for the money box.

She said that she had given it to their friend as they suggested earlier. Immediately the three men got angry and scolded the old woman. The poor old woman kept quiet. Finally they said to her, “We don’t want to listen your explanation.

We told you to give the box when all of us come and claim for it. But you gave it to only one person. That box contains thousand rupees. You have to pay that money.

Otherwise we will complain to the authorities. She replied politely, “I don’t know anything. I asked all of you before giving it to him. With your permission only I handed over the box to the fourth one of your group. I am just a poor inn – keeper.

I don’t have that much amount of money with me. How could I give it to you? You please understand my position”. The thieves did not care for her words.

They held her shoulder and dragged her on to the street. They asked her to come to the king’s court. She kept crying. At last they took her to the judge.

The judge listened to their versions and gave his judgement. He ordered the old woman to pay thousand rupees to the three men. But where could she get thousand rupees? In addition to this there was no mistake from her side.

So, she cursed the judge for miscarriage of justice. Ramanna saw her in pain and was aware of the whole incidence. He yelled, “The king is going to lose his throne. He is not looking into the problems of the people. He is a fool to appoint such judges. It is his duty

to see that justice prevails, but he is ignorant. Such a king will have a quick downfall.” The royal soldiers who were passing by the way heard the caustic words of Ramanna against the king and took him to the palace. They informed the king, “Your majesty, this man is blaming and cursing you. That is why we have arrested him and brought here.”

The king asked Ramanna,” Who are you? What brings you here to this city?” Ramanna replied,” Sir, I live in a village which is just five miles away from here.

My name is Ramanna. Everyone calls me as Maryada Ramanna”. The king said, “Oh, so you are Maryada Ramanna. I have heard about your wisdom. Please, tell me now, what is my mistake and why are you blaming me ?”. . . Ramanna replied politely,”

Sir, if your judge makes a mistake it will be attributed to you. You should be responsible.” The king agreed with a smile, “Yes, you are right Ramanna. Come on, please tell me the mistake made by the judge. I will try my best to rectify it.”

Then Ramanna narrated the entire incidence of the poor old woman and the fraudsters. He finally said, “Sir, The judge passed his verdict without checking thoroughly. It is said that ten culprits can walk away free but it is a grave sin to punish an innocent person. The old woman is innocent and she was punished for no mistake of her by this judge.”

Ramanna was very polite to the king and his speech impressed the king. The king said, “You are absolutely correct Ramanna. I have heard that you are a just man and you are always fair.

Now I need your help in solving this problem. What will be your verdict in this case, please do let me know?” Ramanna asked that the old woman and the three men be bought into the court. Lot of people gathered to see Ramanna’s first case in the king’s court.

Ramanna asked both parties to narrate their side of the story. He heard both the versions intently and thought for some time. He finally spoke, “It is beyond doubt that the old woman agreed to give to safeguard the money box.

It is also agreed that per the terms and conditions she can give the box only when all the four of you come together. So now the three of you go home and come back with your fourth friend to get the box back.

Till then the old woman has no obligation to return the box to only the three of you.” The faces of the three fraudsters went flat, they were beaten at their game by Ramanna.

The poor old woman blessed Ramanna and the entire court bursted into cheers and claps on this judgement. “Long live Ramanna!” chants erupted all over. The king was overwhelmed and said, “Ramanna, You are really a genius. Your judgments should not confine to one village.

You should stay in this court. I would like to appoint you to be our new judge. Please accept my request. Please tackle all the complaints that come to our court fairly and give your valuable judgments. Then no one can blame me and curse me and everybody will be happy.” The people cheered again and Ramanna accepted to be the judge and his entire family shifted to the capital city.

The Horse Painting

One day, Krishnadevaraya displayed his portrait in the court. An the courtiers appreciated the painting and the artist. Surprisingly, Tenali Rama remained silent. The Emperor was surprised at this.

“Rama, don’t you have anything to say?” “My lord, I don’t find anything great about this painting. In fact, it is incomplete. It shows only one side of your face.

The artist doesn’t deserve any credit!”, remarked Rama. “Rama, you don’t know how to judge a good painting. A painting need not be complete. One has to imagine a lot to judge the merit of a painting. It is very easy to criticize. Tell me, can you draw anything like this?

I doubt whether you can even hold the brush, leave alone paint any object. Well, you draw something and bring it to me.” Rama was not seen in the court for some days. One day, he entered with two bodyguards holding a painting.

Everyone was confused to see only the rear portion of a horse in the painting. “What is this Rama? I can see only the tail of a horse,” commented the Emperor.

“My lord, its body is outside the canvas. Didn’t you say, one has to imagine a lot to judge the merit of a good painting?” said Rama with a smirk. Krishnadevaraya laughed loudly. “Rama, no one can outwit you”, said the Emperor, as he reached for a purse to reward Rama..

Leave a Reply