Readers in South India will not need any introduction to the tales of Tenali Rama. They would have heard innumerable stories from innumerable sources, they would have heard him quoted and would have quoted him themselves in all kinds of situations – at work, at play, in social gatherings, in family gatherings, in train journeys, in bus rides, in pubs, in places of worship and as much as places of mourning. The best introduction to the tales is in a short scene in the play itself. Two narrators are engaging the audience. They comment: There are more stories of Tenali Raman than all the people gathered out there. You can go on and on the whole day, and still not have them all. He is sometimes known as the Birbal of the South. Considering that the reign of Krishnadevaraya was nearly a hundred years before Emperor Akbar, Birbal should really be called the Tenali Rama of the North.
The play has been published by Vitasta Publishers as part of an anthology titled 'Children's Theatre', which is available on Amazon and Flipkart.