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.”

The betaal began narrating the first story. Let us wait for these interesting and beautiful stories with wisdom in the coming editions. Till then, let Vikram and Betaal continue their journey in the forest.

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