The King's New Portrait
Tenali Raman Stories · 1 min read
As King Krishnadevaraya grew older, every court painter commissioned to capture his portrait made him look impossibly young and flawless, terrified of offending him by painting his true, aging features honestly. The king, no fool, grew increasingly frustrated by portraits that clearly did not resemble him at all, yet punished no one for fear of seeming vain.
He finally asked Tenali Raman, known for never flattering anyone unnecessarily, to paint an honest portrait — one that showed him exactly as he truly was, wrinkles, one weaker eye, and all, without a single exaggeration in either direction.
Tenali Raman painted the king with complete accuracy — but posed him kneeling on one knee, aiming an arrow with his weaker eye closed and his stronger eye sighting perfectly down the shaft, exactly as any skilled archer naturally would. The portrait showed every true feature honestly, yet framed them so naturally within the pose that no flaw looked like a flaw at all — it simply looked like strength, aimed with purpose.
The king, delighted by a portrait both completely honest and completely flattering, declared it the finest ever painted of him, and Tenali Raman had proven that honesty, presented with wisdom, need not choose between truth and kindness at all.
Moral of the story
Honesty and kindness are not opposites — a wise presentation can hold both at once.