Vikram Aur Betaal

Vikram Aur Betaal' is based on 'Betaal Pachisi', written in the 11th century by Kashmiri poet Somdev Bhatt. Vikramaditya was a great king who ruled over a prosperous kingdom from his capital at Ujjain. He had immense love for learning as well as for adventure. He was brave, fearless and with a strong will. Everyday many visitors used to visit the king and gift him something. The King used to accept all the gifts with the same courtesy. Among such visitors was a mendicant who presented the king with a fruit on every visit. King Vikramaditya used to hand over the fruit to the royal storekeeper. One day while handling the fruit, it broke and from the pop came out a handy ball of ruby. The King was surprised. He ordered to check all the fruits, and from all fruits came out a fine ruby. The King decided to meet the mendicant. However, the mendicant had set a condition that the King must meet him under a Banyan tree in the center of the cremation ground beyond the city, at night, on the 14th day of the dark half of the month. King met him as decided. The King asked the mendicant why he was doing this. The mendicant tells that there is a task that only a King like Vikrmaditya can perform. King Vikramaditya had to visit the northern-most corner of this ground where he would find a very ancient tree. There would be a corpse hanging from one of its branches. He would have to fetch it for the mendicant, as the mendicant was seeking certain occult powers which he would get only if a king brought this particular corpse to him and if he would practice certain rites sitting on it. According to the legend the King Vikramaditya, in order to fulfil a vow, was required to remove a corpse of Betaal from a treetop and carry it on his shoulder to another place in silence. En route, the spirit of Betaal (in the corpse) used to narrate a story to the king and after completing the story Betaal would pose a query that if he (The king) knew the answer, was bound to respond lest he will break his head into thousand pieces. But if he does speak out, he would break the vow of silence and Betaal would fly back to the treetop, leaving the king inches short of his destination! The king would go after the vampire and start all over again. And so on and on. As the name 'Betaal Pachisi' suggests the Betaal told King 25 stories. ('Pachisi' (Hindi) is derived from word 'Pachis' in Hindi which means twenty five) . However, looking at the determination of the king Vikramaditya, Betaal finally disclosed the true motive of the mendicant. The mendicant's plan was to practice certain rites sitting on Betaal but he would kill the King also to get all powers of world and rule the world. This created suspicion in Vikramaditya's mind. However, he still went to the mendicant, but he was prepared for surprise. Betaal proved to be right and the mendicant tried to kill Vikramaditya. However, Vikramaditya outwitted the mendicant and killed him.