RAMA of Tenali visits the court of Krishnadevaraya of Vijaynagara to seek a job. The king, however, is surrounded by flatterers, due to which, citizens do not have access to him. There are many like Rama who are waiting there since the previous morning to see the king.A gentle tap from behind on the shoulder wakes up Rama. "The king will see you now, you have only five minutes," the guard says to him. As Rama enters the main hall, the yesmen of the court size him up visually, but that does not scare him. "What brings you here?" says a minister. "I need a job, Sir. I am Rama of Tenali." says the aspirant.

"What can you do?" says another minister. "Sir, I can be Vijaynagara’s court mathematician," says Tenalirama. "Court mathematician! Ha! Ha! Ha! What is that?" says a courtier. "I know what he is — a big zero," says another one. "Irrational," says the third person and everyone, including the king, breaks into a wild laugh.

A minister says, "Mr mathematician, as you see, there are two pitchers on this table here, a 3-gallon one and a 5-gallon one. Bring us a gallon of juice out of that barrel there, using these two pitchers only. You will carry juice for us for the rest of your life if you fail." As the courtiers do not want any other man to be close to the king, they give every job aspirant this test, because no one has been able to clear it so far. However, they have made a mistake this time — Tenalirama.

Tenalirama fills the 3-gallon pitcher and pours the juice in it into the 5-gallon pitcher. After this, he fills the 3-gallon pitcher again and fills the 5-gallon pitcher to capacity. What remains in the 3-gallon pitcher is one gallon of juice. Rest, they say, is history. Krishnadevaraya is so impressed by Tenalirama that he not only appoints him his court mathematician, but also his chief adviser.

The other courtiers are now jealous of Tenalirama and always try to prove him wrong in the court. The commander-in-chief of the Vijaynagara army is corrupt, but no one wants to report this to the king because they are afraid of the army chief. Some of the citizens approach Tenalirama with this grievance. Tenalirama pulls out a plan from the idea factory of his mind — he would prove to the king that the army chief was fat and, thus, unfit to continue in his position. Tenalirama and the army chief are in the court when the subject of weight comes up during the discussion.

The army chief says that he has more "mass" than he wants. He is so important that no one can ask him to stand on a weighing machine, not even the king. However, the overconfident army chief tells the courtiers a riddle, which he says can reveal his weight. "I weigh 147 pounds plus half of my weight," he says.

Tenalirama gets up and says to the king, "Sir, if the army chief weighs 147 pounds plus half of his body weight, the 147 pounds represent the other half of that weight, so, he weighs 294 pounds."

"That is too fat for an army chief of Vijaynagara. I’ll have to ask you to quit, Sir," the king says to the army chief who does not know what hit him.

Krishnadevaraya is showing courtiers his poultry farm. He knows that 20 of his hens, housed in 3 coops, will hatch 30 eggs in 18 days. However, before he decides to increase the number of the poultry, he wants to know how long will it take 30 hens, housed in 4 coops, to hatch the same number of eggs. "28," says a courtier, while the other says, "30." All the courtiers have different answers, but no one has the explanation. Everyone just wants to please the king.

Tenalirama says to all, "We can’t shorten the process of egg-hatching by increasing the number of chickens. Therefore, 30 hens will also need 18 days to hatch their eggs." Courtiers realise how foolish they have been and apologise to the king.

The king says, "Tenalirama, I have noticed that you have a horseshoe hanging on the door of your house. This surprises me because you are a mathematician. Do you believe that it will bring you luck?" "No, I don’t believe in superstitions, but I have been told that it works even if you don’t believe in it," says Tenalirama. The king is amused and says, "That’s funny Rama, I didn’t know that you had a quick wit when you were being quizzed by my ministers the day we first met," Tenalirama calmly replies, "Sir, I never have battle of wits with unarmed men."

— Aditya Rishi