VIKRAM & BETAAL

"Dark was the night and weird the atmosphere. It rained from time to time. Gusts of wind shook the nearby forest. Between thunderclaps and the moaning of jackals could be heard the eerie laughter of spirits. But King Vikramaditya swerved not. He climbed the ancient tree once again and brought the corpse down. However, as soon as he began crossing the desolate cremation ground, with the corpse lying on his shoulder, the vampire that possessed the corpse began narrating yet another story..."

The enchanting stories of Vikram and Betaal written by Mahakavi Somadev Bhatt some 2500 years ago, has an interesting beginning to it. A rustic began giving fruits to King Vikramaditya on a daily basis. The king stored the fruits, only to find one day that all those fruits had disintegrated into pearls and other riches. On questioning the rustic, the mendicant was surprised too. The beggar requested the king's help for doing something and he asked him to come to the cremation ground on the 14th night after the dark moon. Amid howls of jackals and other eerie noises, the rustic asked the king to bring the corpse lying upside down an ancient tree in the forest. The corpse was possessed, and it sprang back upto the tree every time Vikram tried to bring it down. After 7 times, the betaal (vampire) clung itself to the king's back and started narrating a story.

The king had to answer the question posed by the betaal at the end of the story or else his head would be blown into smithereens! The wise king answered correctly, only to realise that the betaal had once again perched itself back on top of the tree. He brought it down, and it narrated another story... and this continued 24 times, and 24 times the betaal went back up the tree! On the 25th time however, the king was unable to answer... the betaal did not blow his head, but warned about the rustic who is waiting for the king to return- for he had plans to kill the king and take over the kingdom with his magic, for which he needs a corpse. The forewarned king escaped the bid on his life and got rid of the rustic.

He wanted the stories narrated by the betaal to get passed on to future generations for the truth and wisdom in them. Hence came the vikram and betaal series!

Vikram-Betaal stories were made hugely popular from the late 40s by a book called CHANDAMAMA. It was founded by Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani, both with great nationalistic feelings during the British Raj. They founded the book in telugu and in tamil (Ambulimama), kindling in young minds of Bharat, feelings of nationalism by telling them stories culled from India's legends, mythology, history and folklore. And the opening lines of every Vikram- Betaal story in Chandamama (many stories are fabricated of course, but still instilling wisdom and showing the right path), begins with "dark was the night and wierd the atmosphere..."

Chandamama has since come out in various languages like English, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi (Chandoba), Malayalam (Ambili Ammavan), Gujarathi, Oriya, Assamese, Hindi, Bengali, Sindhi and even Sanskrit. Now over 60 years old, it is still being published with the same refreshing quality of stories which had made it so popular all those years back.

And still, the betaal manages to give Vikram the slip!