Vikram and Vaitaal Stories-2
- Introduction-3 (Keral
Version)
"Captain
Sir Richard R Burton's Vikram and the Vampire: classic Hindu tales of
adventure, magic and romance" / edited by his wife Isabel Burton. [etext
Conversion Project, Nalanda Digital Library, NIT Calicut, Kerala State,
India]
The
first edition of this
book was published in 1870. This book lists 11 stories including the
last story which puzzled the King Vikramaaditya. He has given a good
introduction to the stories of Vikram and Vaitaal. A short description of
that introduction is given here --
1.
Who was King Vikramaaditya
2.
Bharatrahari's Rule
3.
Vikramaaditya Returns
4.
Vikramaaditya Meets Vaitaal
Vikramaaditya
Returns to His Kingdom
As
Bharatrahari left the kingdom, the throne of Vikram was empty. When Indra Dev heard this, he sent
Prithveepaal, a fierce giant, to guard Ujjayinee till its real master
reappears, so he guarded the city day and night.
In
less than a year, Vikram got tired of wandering half dressed. Besides he
heard that his brother Bharatrahari abdicated the throne, so he and his
son returned to their capital. It was midnight when they arrived at the
main gate of the city. They were about to enter the city, that a Dev, a monstrous
figure, (Notes 29) rose to his feet and asked him - "Who are you, and where are
you going?"
Vikram
said angrily - "I am the King Vikramaaditya and I am going to my own
city. How do you dare to stop me?" Prithveepaal said - "The gods
have sent me to guard Ujjayinee Nagaree. If you are really King Vikram,
then first fight with me, then you can enter your city." He
challenged him in an empty space beyond the gate. His fists were as large
as watermelons. The king barely reached to his stomach. They both started
fighting. At last the King's good luck prevailed. The giant's left foot
slipped, and Vikram held his right foot. His son also helped him, so the
efforts of both brought him down. His son sat on the giant's stomach,
while the father pressed his neck with hands and eyes with his both thumbs
and threatened him to make him blind.
The
giant said - "OK, You have defeated me, now I grant you your
life." Vikram said half angrily half smilingly - "Surely, You
must be mad. To whom you are granting life? If I wanted, I could have
killed you." The giant said - "Do not be so proud, O King of
Ujjayinee. I have come to save you from near death. I tell you a tale, you
listen to it, and decide yourself. By this you will be able to rule the
earth without any obstacle and will die peacefully. The king got down from his body
and listened to his tale.
The Giant
Tells the Story
The
giant said - "In
short, three men were born in the same lunar mansion, in the same division
of the great circle described upon the ecliptic and in the same period of
time. You, the first one, were born in a king's house. The second one was born
in an oilman's house, and he was slain by the third one, a Yogee who kills all
he can to please Durgaa Devee. The Yogee, after killing the oilman's son, has
hung him upside down in a cemetery from a Mimosa tree; and now he is plotting for
your destruction. He has murdered his own child too."
Vikram
asked - "But how did he come to have a child being a Yogee?" The
giant said - "That is what I am going to tell you now. In the good
days of your father's, Gandharvsen, rule, once the king and his courtiers
were enjoying in a forest that they saw a head protruding from the ground.
The white ants have surrounded his body and all kinds of insects and worms
were crawling up his face, scorpions were in his matted hair locks, still
that Saadhu was not feeling them at all. He was inhaling only the smoke
from a thorny bush.
The
king was so much impressed with that Saadhu that he continually praised
him. This praise was so much that he proclaimed in the city that whoever
will bring him to his court, he will receive 100 gold coins.
Now
there lived a prostitute named Vasantsenaa. She also heard this
announcement. She was
famous for her wits and beauty. She appeared in the court and offered to
bring him with a baby on his shoulder in exchange for merely a golden
bangle. The king got astonished to hear this, and he gave her a betel leaf
to accept her promise.
Vasantsenaa
directly went to the forest where she found the Yogee, faint with thirst,
and half dead with heat and cold. Carefully she lit the fire, cooked some
sweets and touched it with his lips which he licked with great relish.
Slowly he felt something on his mouth and opened his eyes. He saw a
beautiful woman near him. He asked - "Who are you and why are you
here?"
Vasantsenaa
immediately replied - "I am a daughter of a Devtaa. I lived in Dev
Lok, and now I have come to live in this forest." The Yogee asked her
about her hut and went with her to live with her. She showed him her house
and said - "I have
got all this because of my vows." The Yogee had started living there
like an ordinary man. Later he married her by Gandharv marriage system,
and after due course of time they had their first child, a son.
After
a few months, Vasantsenaa asked him to go on a pilgrimage to wash her all
sins which he readily agreed for. He followed Vasantsenaa wherever she
went - to the King's court. People recognized her immediately. They asked
her all kinds of questions. The Yogee also heard that conversation. He
knew that they had done this to him to take away the fruits of his Tap. So
cursing them all, taking the child with him, he ran away from there. He
slaughtered the child and began his tap to take the revenge of this.
His
prayers were heard, so in the first place, he deprived you from your father;
secondly, he developed enmity between you and your brother; thirdly, now
he is plotting to kill you. His plan is to offer a king and his son to
Durgaa, by virtue of which he will attain the sovereignty of the whole
world. But I have taken vow to save you. Therefore listen to me - never
trust anybody who lives in forests and kill him whoever wants to kill
you." Suddenly Prithveepaal got quiet and disappeared. Vikram and his
son entered the city.
Page-1
| Page-2 | Page-3 | Page-4
|
