d a prayer carpet, sat on it for
about 15 minutes and then rose and went away. After he had left the court,
Vikram thought, "Maybe this was the man that giant was talking
about." and thinking this he did not eat the fruit and gave it to the
master of the household to keep it safely. The young merchant continued to
come daily to the court and give similar fruit to the King.
One
day he went to see his stables. At the same time, the same young merchant
also came there and presented a similar fruit to him. Vikram just started it
tossing in a playful mood. By chance the fruit fell down and a monkey took
it and tore it to pieces. A ruby came out of that fruit. The King got
astonished to see that gem and asked him - "Why did you give so much
wealth to us?"
Maal
Dev said - "Sir, It is written in the scriptures that one should not
go empty handed to see the following persons - a king, spiritual teachers,
judges, young maidens, old women whose daughter we may marry. But why do
you speak only about one ruby, I have given you so many fruits, and in
fact all of them contain similar gem in them."
Hearing
this the king asked the master of the household to bring all those fruits
to him. As he brought them to the King and the King split them, he found a
similar ruby in each and every fruit. He was very happy to see such treasure. He
immediately called a jeweler and asked him to evaluate each of them.
He evaluated each of them as 10 trillion gold pieces worth.
Hearing this, he led the merchant to his court and said to him -
"My kingdom is not worth for even one of these rubies, tell me why
you who buy and sell things, have given me such treasure?"
Maal
Dev said - "These things cannot be talked in public - prayers,
spells, drugs, good qualities, household affairs, the eating of forbidden
fruit, and the evil we may have heard of our neighbor. I can tell you
everything in private." So the King took him to a private place and
asked him - "You have given me so many rubies, and you have not eaten
food with me even for one day, tell me what do you want?"
He
said - "O King, I am not Maal Dev, I am Shaantaa-Shil, a devotee. I
am about to perform some spells, incantations, and magical rites in a
large cemetery on the banks of Godaavaree, after which I will attain all
the eight Siddhi. I am asking you this in alms that you and your son
Dharmdhwaj should stay with me for one night. By this my worship will be
complete." Vikram got startled hearing the name of cemetery, but gathered
himself and asked him when he had to be there. The devotee said -
"You will come to me armed but without followers, on the Monday
evening - the 14th of the dark fortnight of Bhaadrapad
month." The king agreed and the devotee went away.
The
d-day arrived and Vikram, along with his son went to the cemetery armed
with his shiny sword. As they arrived there, he saw many bad omens in that
cemetery. Wild animals were crying and disputing on their preys, Subtle
bodies of people were wandering there, skeletons were scattered around,
witches were crawling on the earth, and in the midst of these Shaantaa-Shil was sitting near fire.
When
Vikram came nearer to the devotee, he saw that he was playing with a skull
and two bones. Although he was scared of all these but he was ready to remove
this curse from his family for ever. Although he could kill that man in an
instant but he preferred to keep his word, otherwise also the time for
action was yet to come. Vikram asked him - "Tell me what can I do for
you?" The devotee said - "Just bring a corpse which is hanging
from a Mimosa tree about two Kos far from here in southern
direction."
Vikramaaditya
Meets Vaitaal
Vikram
held the hand of his son, as he did not want to leave his son in such a
bad company and proceeded towards the said direction. Now he was sure that
this man was the same man who wanted his destruction. Rain had started,
darkness was increasing as the time was passing by and it was almost impossible to walk through the
forest.
At
last he had arrived at the place where he saw a tree whose every branch
and leaf was on fire. As he neared the tree, he heard voices shouting,
"Catch them, kill them, don't let them go" and he felt that the
fire was burning them. He took some rest under that tree. He saw that the
eyes of the corpse were wide open and not even a twinkling in his eyes.
The king touched him, he was icy cold. From this he knew that he was a
Vaitaal - a vampire. He imagined him as the oilman's son as the giant told
him.
Fearlessly
the King climbed up the tree and felled the body with only one blow. The
body cried in pain. Vikram got very happy to hear its voice, he thought
"so this devil is alive". He held him in his hand and asked -
"Who are you?" The body slipped through his hands, made a loud
laughter and hung with another branch. He instructed his son to catch him
instantly as he fell him from there again. He climbed again and felled him
again, the son promptly held him, but as the king came down, he slipped
again and hung on some other branch.
Vikram
got very angry at him on slipping twice from his hands. "Who are
you?" Vaitaal again laughed loudly. Vikram did this five times, but
seventh time Vaitaal let him seize himself. Then he asked Vikram -
"Who are you?" "I am the King Vikram, the king of Ujjayinee,
and I am taking you to a man who is playing with a skull and two
bones."
Vaitaal
said - "I am ready to go with you The way to the place where you want
me to take is one hour far from here. I would like to distract my
attention by telling you some stories. Sages and wise men spend their time
telling stories, whereas fools spend their time sleeping and in idleness.
I will ask you several questions concerning the story as convenient to me.
Whenever you will answer them either by fate, or entrapped by my
cunningness, I will leave you and return to my place; and if you will
remain silent, confused or at a loss to reply, either because of humility
or confessing your ignorance, then I will allow you, at my own will, to
place me before that Yogee."
Vikram
being a king was not used to such words, so he looked here and there and
was happy to see that his son was not near. Then Vikram made a convenient
way to carry that Vaitaal from his waistcloth, lifted him, put him on his
shoulder and set off to the cemetery.
Rain
had stopped, weather had become nice, as told by Vaitaal, he
had started talking something about wind, rain , mud etc, but Vikram didn't reply. Vaitaal
felt uncomfortable. Then he said - "Vikram, Now I tell you a true story,
listen to it carefully.
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