Vikram and Betaal - The Journey Begins
Vikramaditya – the Journey Begins
Betaal Pachisi wrote a set of
beautiful stories 2500 years ago in Sanskrit. These stories cover a whole lot
of issues and are famously known as the Vikram and Betaal stories. The hero of
the stories as the name indicates is King Vikramaditya also known as Vikram.
Let us start with the first story of how Vikram meets Betaal. Betaal means a
ghost.
Once upon a time there was a strong
and powerful king called Vikramaditya. He ruled over a province near the river
Godavari. He was a fair and intelligent king. Once a sage visited the king and
gave him a fruit and asked him to keep it safely. The king in turn gave it to
his finance minister who kept it in the treasury with the gold and silver.
After that regularly the sage came to the court and kept giving the king
fruits. All these fruits were in turn kept in the treasury. This went on for
some time.
One day, the king gave the fruit
to a monkey sitting on the wall. The monkey smashed it and inside the fruit was
a beautiful gem. The king was surprised. He asked his people to bring the other
fruits given by the sage from the treasury and they broke the fruits and found
beautiful gems.
The next day, the sage came with
another fruit. The king said “Guruji, we found precious gems in the fruits that
you gave us. I cannot accept something from you without paying you back. Please
tell me how can I be of service.”
The sage smiled and replied “I
am in need of the services of a brave and strong king. Come to the cremation
ground alone on the Amavasya day (New moon day).” As instructed the king disguised
and went to the cremation ground. The sage was waiting for him.
The sage said “Oh king. To the
south of this forest, on a tamarind tree, you will find a dead body hanging
upside down. Please bring the body to me.” Without questioning the king set
off. After some time, he saw the pale dead body hanging from the tree.
He climbed the tree and took
down the body and put it on his shoulder and started walking. The dead man
started laughing and flew back to the tree. Vikramaditya realised that this was
not a corpse but a ghost. Unafraid, he again climbed the tree and took down the
body put it on his shoulders and started walking.
The ghost started talking. “Oh
king. I am betaal. Where are you taking me?” The king replied that he was obeying
the sage who had asked him to bring him the betaal. The betaal laughed and said
“You are doing as per the instructions of the sage. The sage wants to control
me so that he can become powerful. Let me go.”
Vikramaditya did not reply. He
continued walking. The betaal chuckled and said “I can see you are a stubborn
person. I will come with you on one condition. I will tell you a story. You should
not say a single word till we reach our destination. If you do, I will fly
away. Do you agree?”
Vikramaditya replied “Betaal, I
have nothing against you. I am obeying the words of a great sage. Yes. You can
tell your story. I shall not speak till I reach the destination. If I speak,
you can fly back to your tree.”
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