Tenali Raman - A Lesson to the Greedy

King Krishnadevaraya’s mother was a very orthodox woman. She had visited many holy places and had performed religious rites, she had given much in charity. Once she wanted to give fruit in charity and informed so to her son. The king who had great respect for his mother immediately got delicious mangoes from Ratnagiri. But on the auspicious day when she was to present those fruits to Brahmins, the king’s mother died.

                                               image source: google images

The religious rites connected with her death went on for several days. Meanwhile the king called a few Brahmins and said, “My mother’s last wish was to offer mangoes to Brahmins. But she died before the wish could be fulfilled. What should I do now that she might earn the merit for giving away the fruits?”

The greedy Brahmins replied, “You Majesty, only if you offer mangoes made of gold to Brahmins, your mother’s soul will rest in peace.”

Tenali Raman came to know about this. The next day Tenali Raman went to the houses of those Brahmins, and asked them to come to his house to perform his mother’s ceremony. The Brahmins came to Tenali Ramans house after receiving the gold mangoes from the king. Ramans servants closed all the doors of the house. They brought red-hot iron bars and stood before the Brahmins. They were shocked to see this.

Then Tenali Raman told them that his mother had knee pains and as remedy wanted Tenali Raman to burn her with red-hot iron bars. But she died before he could do it. So he now wanted to execute her wish. Then the Brahmins said it was unjust toward them. Tenali Raman said, “There’s nothing unjust toward them, because they had just taken golden mangoes from the king.” Then the Brahmins understood their folly and left the golden mangoes at Raman’s house .

Later when the King asked Tenali Raman why he had behaved like that with the Brahmins, Raman said the palace treasury should not be exploited by these selfish people. It is not there to feed lazy people, it’s there to serve the people of the Kingdom.

The End

Tenali Raman and the Three Dolls

The great king Krishna Deva Raya had a lot of wise ministers in his court. The wisest of them was Tenali Raman. One day, a merchant came to the king’s court from a foreign kingdom. He saluted the king and the said, “Your Majesty, I have heard from many people that you have very wise minister in your court. But with your permission, I would like to test the wisdom of your ministers.” This aroused the king’s interest and he gave the merchant his permission.

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The merchant gave the king three dolls that looked identical. He said, “Though these dolls look similar, they are different in some way. If your ministers can find out the difference, I will bow to their wisdom. But if they can’t, I will assume that there are no wise ministers in your court. I will be back in thirty days for the answer.” The king asked all of his ministers except Tenali Raman to assemble.

He gave them the three dolls and told them to find the difference in them in three days time. But at the end of three days, none of the ministers could figure out the difference. The king got worried and called Tenali Raman. HE said to him, “Tenali, I did not summon you before because I thought that this problem will be too simple. But since no one has been able to find the solution, it is up to you now.

Find the difference between these dolls. “Tenali took the three dolls and went away. The problem proved difficult for Tenali too, but at last, after a lot of effort, he figured out the difference. He went to the court with the three dolls on the day that the merchant had to return. Then, he announced in front of the whole court that he had found the difference between the dolls. He said, “These three dolls are different because one of them is good, one medium and one bad.”

“When everyone asked Tenali that which doll was which, he showed them a tiny hole that was present in the ears of each of the dolls. Then, he took a very thin wire and put it in the hole of the first doll’s ear. The wire came out from the doll’s mouth. HE did the same with second doll and the wire came out from the doll’s other ear. In the third doll, the wire went to the heart and did not come out.

Tenali Raman explained, “In the first doll, the wire went in through the ear and came out through the mouth. So, this doll is bad as it represents people who cannot keep a secret. In the second doll, the wire came out of the other ear. So, it is medium and represents harmless people who do not understand what is said to them. The third doll in which the wire went to the heart and did not come out, represents good people who will preserve the secret that you tell them.

“The king, the merchant and all the courtiers were very impressed with Tenali’s wise answer. Then Tenali said, “But there can be another explanation too. The first doll represents people who gain knowledge and spread it among others, so it is good. The second doll represents people who do not understand what they are taught, so it is medium. The third doll represents people who have knowledge but keep it all to themselves.

They do not teach anyone anything and so they are bad people. The king was even more impressed. He asked, “Can there be any other explanation?” Can you think of a third explanation to answer the king?

The End.

Tenali Raman and His Horse

Once, king Krishna Deva Raya wanted to expan his army. So he needed more hoses. He decided to give one horse to be brought up by each person in his kingdom. He also gave everyone a good supply of straw to feed the horses. Everyone except Tenali Rama was happy with this plan. He shut his horse in one room and everyday at exactly 9’O clock he gave the horse very little straw through the window.

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He gave the rest of the straw to his cows who became fat and healthy. At the end of a year, the king wanted to see all the horses. All the people who had been given horses to grow up, brought their horses for inspection. But Tenali Rama did not bring his horse. On being questioned, he answered that his horse had become so strong that he could not bring it to the court. The king was surprised on hearing this.

He said, “Alright, I will send my chief inspector to your house tomorrow morning at 9 to inspect the horse there.” Tenali agreed. The next morning, the chief inspector went to Tenali’s house. He had a long beard. Tenali took him to the room where the horse was kept and asked him to look through the window. When the inspector peeped through the window, naturally his beard went in through the window first.

Seeing the beard, the horse thought that it must be straw that was being given to him at the fixed time. It caught hold of the beard in his teeth and pulled. The inspector shouted in pain and tried to pull his beard back. But the horse knew that this was the only food he would get all day and pulled with all his might till the inspector los his beard. The inspector went running to the king. He reported that indeed Tenali Rama’s horse was the strongest of them all.

This is how sometimes even wise people can be deceived by clever people.

The End.

Tenali Raman and the Cat

A long time ago, Krishna Deva Raya had a very wise minister in his court – Tenali Raman. Once, the kingdom faced a major problem of rates. Rats had multiplied to a very large number and were creating a lot of destruction. They were nibbling through important papers, clothes, grains in food stores, etc. There were not many cats in the kingdom to catch all the rats. So, the king asked all the houses in the kingdom to keep one cat each. But cats feed on milk and not every house owned a cow to get the milk. So, the king also gave cows to every house. The people were happy and brought up the cows and the cats. They used to give a lot of milk to their cats.

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But Tenali Raman was a lazy fellow and he was also very fond of drinking milk. He wanted to keep the milk from the cow for himself. So he thought of a clever trick. He boiled the milk and poured it in a pan. Then, he put this pan in front of the cat. As soon as the cat touched the boiling hot milk with its tongue, its tongue got burned and it ran away at once.

Tenali repeated the same thing the next day and again the day after that. After a few days like that, the cat refused to touch the milk that was offered to it for fear of getting its mouth burned. In this way, Tenali got to drink all the milk himself.

One day, the king ordered for all the cats to be brought before him for inspection. While everyone else’s cats were fat and healthy, Tenali’s cat looked thin and weak. The king was a very angry with Tenali for not taking proper care of the cat. But Tenali pleaded, “Your Majesty, I cannot help it. My cat does not drink any milk at all.” The king said, “Nonsense, I will put you in prison for telling a lie.” Tenali requested the king to give him a chance to prove it and the king agreed.

So, Tenali brought his cat and the pan of milk in front of the king. He offered milk to the cat. But on seeing the pan of milk, the cat ran away, frightened. The king was surprised at this but he let Tenali go. Tenali lived happily, enjoying lots of milk by himself.

The End

Tenali Raman Attempts to Turn a Dog into Cow

One early morning, King Krishna Deva Raya woke up, walk out of the rooms and called out to the gaurds. When a guard appeared, the king ordered him to fetch the barber immediately. The guard left to carry out his orders and the king returned to his room. He sat down comfortable in an easy chair and in no time he was deep asleep again. When the Barber came to the king’s room, he found the king sleeping in the chair.

He did not want to wake the king up. So, very quietly, he trimmed the king’s hair and shaved his beard. The king was still sleeping soundly when the barber completed his job and left. A little while later, the king woke up. As he did not see the barber whom he had summoned, he got angry. He shouted for his attendant and told him to bring the barber to him that very instant.

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Just then, the king put his hand on his chin. To his surprise, his chin felt smooth and shaved. So the king went to take a look at himself in the mirror. He saw that his hair had been trimmed neatly and his beard was properly shaved. The king was impressed with the barber’s work. When the attendant brought the barber along, the king said to the barber, “You have done good work today. Iam impressed with you. Ask for a boon and I shall grant it.”

The barber was very happy to hear this. He replied, “Your majesty, you have been so kind that my family and I have no dearth of anything. But, since long I have had just one wish – that is to become a Brahmin if you Highness can bestow this boon upon me.”

The king was astonished on hearing the barber’s wish but he said, “If that is what you desire, it shall be fulfilled tomorrow.”

“The barber was overjoyed and he left the room, praising the king”.

Then, the king summoned some Brahmins and instructed them, “I have promised to transform the barber to a Brahmin. You have to make sure that you carry out the transformation with all your knowledge. I will reward all of you suitably.” Lured by the mention of the reward, the Brahmins agreed at once to transform the barber to a Brahmin.

This news spread around the town and became a cause of great concern for the Brahmins. They talked among themselves, “What the king is doing not fair. It is something that goes against dharma. You cannot just transform somebody into a Brahmin. This will result in more and more people wanting to become a Brahmin.”But none of them had the courage to voice their objections openly for fear of punishment.

So, they decided to go to Tenali Raman to seek a solution. Tenali Raman listened to the whole story and assured the Brahmins that he will do his best to stop this activity. The next morning, the Brahmins who were ordered by the king, took the barber to the holy river and began the procedure of the transformation by chanting hymns and mantras. The king was also overlooking the proceedings.

The king noticed that, Tenali was standing with a black dog at a distance. Then the king went to Tenali and asked him what he was doing with the dog. Tenali replied that he was trying to transform the black dog into a white cow. The king laughed loudly and said, “Oh Tenali, you are such a fool! How can a dog turn into a cow by giving it a dip in holy water and chanting hymns around him?” Tenali replied, “My Lord, forgive me for being foolish. But, if a barber can be transformed into a Brahmin, why can’t this black dog change to a white cow?”

Then the King realized his mistake. He called the barber and told him that is was not possible to transform him into a Brahmin so he should ask for another wish. The barber replied respectfully that because of the king’s kindness he had plenty of everything and did not need anything.

TheKing appreciated Tenali’s intelligence and rewarded him for opening his eyes and stopped doing things against dharma.

The End.

Tenali Raman and the Two Thieves

One night, when Tenali Raman and his wife were about to sleep, they heard the sound of rustling of leaves coming from outside. There was not even the slightest breeze blowing at that time, so he presumed that there were some thieves hiding in the bushes.

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He also understood that they must be planning to rob his house in the night. So he thought of a plan said loudly to his wife, “My dear, I have heard that some notorious thieves are on loose in our neighbourhood. So let’s hide all the jewellery and money that we have in the well.”

A little later, Tenali Raman and his wife came out of the house carrying a big trunk and dropped it into the well. Then they went back inside the house and pretended to go off to sleep. The thieves waited for a while and then started drawing water from the well. They hoped to empty the well and get the treasure. The thieves kept drawing out water the entire night.

Towards the day break, they managed to pull out the trunk, and when they opened it, they were extremely shocked and disappointed the see only some big stones in it. They understood that it was Tenali Ram’s plan to outsmart them. Just then, Tenali Raman came out of his house and said, “Thank you friends, for watering my plants. I must pay you for your labour.” Hearing this, the thieves fell at Tenali’s feet for forgiveness.

Tenali Raman then let them go when they promised not to steal anyone ever again.

The End.

Mullah Nasuruddin – The Crowded Home

One day, Mulla Nasruddin was talking to his neighbour. The neighbour was looking so miserable that Nasruddin asked him what was bothering him. The man started to complain about the lack of space in his house and said, “It is such a small house, Mulla. And me, my wife, my three children and my mother-in-law–all have to live together in the same little cottage. It is very cramped and there is hardly any space to move around.” He asked Nasruddin for some advice on how to deal with this problem.

Nasruddin said, “Do you keep chickens in the yard?” “Yes, ten of them,” replied the man. 

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“Good. Bring them inside the house and keep them there,” said Nasruddin. “But, Mulla!” the man exclaimed. “My house is already overcrowded.” “Just do as I say,” Nasruddin replied.

The man was really very troubled and wanted to find a solution to his problem. He decided to give the Mulla’s advice a try. So the man went home and brought all the chickens into the house. Next day, he went to meet Nasruddin again. He said, “Mulla, I followed your advice and took the chickens into the house. But it did not solve anything. In fact, it has made matters worse. My house is even more cramped now.

“I see,” said Nasruddin. ” Now take your donkey and keep it inside your house. The man did not think much of this idea but Nasruddin managed to convince him to do it.

The next day, the man came to Nasruddin, looking very distressed, and said,”Now, it’s six humans , ten chickens and a donkey inside my house. It is so crowded that one can hardly move.” Nasruddin replied, “You own a goat too, don’t you?” “Yes, I do,” said the man.

“Great,” Nasruddin said. “Take it inside the house too.” The man objected, “How is that going to solve anything?” but Nasruddin once again convinced him to do as he had said.

The next day, the man walked up to Nasruddin in a state of anger and distress and said, “Your plan has made our lives miserable. The house is now so crowded that we are finding it difficult to even breathe. My family is upset and everyone is complaining about the lack of space.”

“Don’t get so upset, friend,” said Nasruddin. “Go back home and take all the animals back outside.” The man did as he was told.

Next day, when the man came across Nasruddin, he was beaming. He said, “I must thank you, Mulla! Your plan has worked wonders. Now that all the animals are outside, there is enough space in the house for all the family members. Everyone is happy and content with the house now.”

The End.