Tenāli Raman was born in a Telugu speaking Niyogi Hindu Brahmin family[3] as Garlapati Ramakrishna, in a village called Thumuluru or Tenali (currently a part of Tenali Maṇḍalam) during the late part of the sixteenth century, while it is widely believed that he was born in Tenali. His father was Garlapati Ramayya, who served as a priest in the Ramalingesvara Swami temple in Santharavuru.