Story 1: Padmavathy's story

The Stories of Vikram and Betal, a retelling from memory and references.

O great king Vikramaaditya!!, your burden is great and the distance to travel is long. To make the jourmey less tiring for you and interesting for me, I shall tell you a story. At the end of the story will be a riddle. If you refuse to answer, you no longer will live, for I shall curse you that your head shall shatter in to a thousand pieces like the puzzle that haunts your mind. The king nodded his head without knowing that the betal (a being that is similar to the vampires today, for it is said that the betal does not die and sleeps upside down or a ghost) that he had brought down with valor from the tree top would escape back to its place, if he opens his mouth and talk.

Thus starts the stories of king Vikram and the Betal.

Long long ago there lived a valiant king named Vikramaaditya, the ruler of Ujjain, and there are many many stories of his valor, intelligence and noble gestures. The most interesting of these are the stories of Vikram and betal, which are glimpses into the mindset of people that existed in those days and also of the dharma's which a king was expected to follow. The 'manu' dharma (Generally known in English as the Laws of Manu, or Dharmic discourse to vedic Rishis, on 'how to lead the life' or 'way of living' by various classes of society), being a very important one at that.

The king once promises a 'muni' (a tantric or sorcerer) that he will capture the betal to sacrifice for his yagna (a prayer performed with a pyre to invoke the blessings of god or devil) and goes in search of the betal and locates him in the top most branch of a moringa (drumstick) tree. After much difficulty the king succeeds in getting the betal down and on to his back. That is when the betal starts off with the king on the stories. And without knowing the real intention of the betal, the king nods his head for the stories. So we move on to the first story in a series of 25 stories, as narrated by the betal to King Vikramaaditya

I have made no efforts to change the names of places and persons in this rendering of mine, my sincere apologies if some of the names are difficult to read and pronounce.

Story 1: Padmavathy's story

The city of Devapuram was ruled by king Pratapavudhanan and he had a son named Vajjiramakutan. One fine day the prince and his friend Mandirikumaran went on a hunt into the nearby forest and on their return they rested alongside a pond in the middle of the forest. The prince was surprised that there was a very beautiful girl taking her bath in the pond. And was instantly attracted to the girl, for such was her beauty. Without thinking who was next to him and what was happening around him, the prince kept staring at the beautful girl. He had lost all pretext of time and place, for such was the feeling of instant attraction that he had towards her. The girl on noticing this was instantly attracted to the prince as well.

The girl picked up a lotus flower from the pond and placed it on both her eyelids with revernce, bit on to the flower and then laid it on her leg. She went on to pluck another flower, this she held on to her bosom and then wore the same on her head. The prince was sure that all these gestures were towards him but could not understand the meaning of the gestures.

He called on to his friend and explained the gestures to him. The friend explained thus,

'Oh prince, by placing the flower on her eyes (kann in tamizh) she has indiacated that she lives in the nearby city of Kannapuram. The gesture of biting reflects that her name is Padmavathy. By placing the flower on her legs she had indicated that her fathers name is Kaalingaraayar. He is the king of Kannapuram. By hodling the flower to her bosom she has indicated her love for you and that if you come to meet her she will hug you the same way and by placing the same in her head, she urges you to keep this a secret.'

The prince now wanted to meet Padmavathy for sure and so in the disguise of pesants, both the prince and his friend visit Kannapuram. In the city they convince and stay with an old lady who delivers flowers to the palace of the king. They inform the old lady of their intention to meet the princess Padmavathy and ask her to inform the same to Padmavathy at an opportune time. They promise the old lady gold coins in return for the favor and she gladly accepts.

The old lady finds an opportune time and informs the princess of the waiting prince and his friend. The princess on hearing this, fakes anger and slaps the old lady on both her cheeks after dipping her fingers in sandalwood paste. The old lady returns to the prince and his friend and explains her plight.

The prince exclaims 'Why should the princess gesture us to come and then behave like this?'.

The clever friend replies 'Oh Prince, why would the princess, if she was really angry, dip her fingers in sandalwood paste and slap the old lady. She is indicating that it is not right to meet the next days and for the old lady to come back after 10 days'.

The prince and his friend shower more gold to the old lady and convince her to try after 10 days. The old lady does the same. She visits the princess after 10 days. This time the princess dips her three fingers in kumkum (a red powder worn on the foreheard by women and men) and imprints them on the old lady's bosom and shows the lady out of the palace through a secret path. The confused old lady narrates the happening to the prince and his friend. The friend explains that the princess has indicated that currently it his her monthly menstural cycle for 3 days and that for you to visit her after 3 days following the secret path that the old lady is aware of now.

The prince, now overjoyed, visits the princess on teh 4th day using the secret path that the old lady shares with them. The princes and the princess spend 10 long days in each others company and the prince forgets the whole world including his dear friend. After 10 days, the prince realises the same and feels ashamed of himself that he had even forgotten his dear friend for the company of a woman. The princess learns of his feelings. She schemes to kill the friend so that she can enjoy the company of the prince forever, without anyones knowledge. She pretends to care and asks the prince to take some food to the friend and make him have it as a gesture of goodwill from her. And that the prince and his friend return together to the palace using the same secret path. The prince, believing her, carries the food, which infact is poisoned to kill the friend.

The prince presents the food to his friend and apologises for spending all these days with the princess. The clever friend smells something rotten in the princess's intention and places some food in front of a stray dog. The dog eats the food, but then dies in a few minutes. The prince and his friend decide to teach the princess a lesson for her actions.

The clever friend suggests thus – 'Oh prince, return to the palace using the secret path and inform the princess that you have given me the food that she wanted me to have. Then spend the day with her without indicating to her that we are aware of her cruel intentions. During the night, remove a valuable necklace that she usually wears and scratch her bosom with three fingernails so that it is clearly visible and leave the palace via the secret path. I will explain the next part of our plan once you are back'.

The prince follows his friends instructions and snatches a ruby necklace that the princess is wearing when she is deep in her sleep and scracthes her bosom with 3 of his finger nails. He then returns to the old ladys house to meet his friend.

The next day the friend and the prince disguise as a munivar (saint) and his sishya (disciple) and go to the nearby graveyard.

'Now take the ruby necklace to the city and ask around if anyone is interested to buy the same. No one would be able to pay up enough cash for this priceless necklace and would direct you to the king. Go to the king's palace and present the necklace to him. He would be interested in knowing how you came by the necklace as it his daughters. Inform the king that you are unware of the origin of the necklace and that only your guru(master), myself, would know of the origin', says the friend, in the disguise of a munivar.

The disciple prince now goes to the city and is directed to the king as expected and the king questions the origin of the necklace. The disciple prince informs the king that he is not aware and that only his guru, the friend disguised as a munivar, would be aware of the origin of the necklace.

The king by now curious how the pricessless necklace came in to the possession of a munivar, instructs his guards to request the munivar to join him in the court and the guards leave to get the munivar to the court.

'oh king, I have been in penance in the graveyard for a very long time and the day before I noticed a beautiful young girl visit the graveyard in the middle of the night and pull out half burned dead bodies and feast on them. I was shocked to see that and at the same time interested to understand why the girl was doing that. However, before I could go any closer, she vanished. I stayed up last night to see if she appears again. And she did. While she was busy eating the cadavers, I jumped on her. I planted by sulam (a three pointed spear) on her bosom and enquired as to who she was. I told her that if she does not tell me the truth I would kill her with the sulam planted on her bosom. The girl then handed over the necklace to me and told me that her name was Padmavathy and that her hunger never subsides if she does not eat a cadaver and for that reason she visits the graveyard often. She also asked me to keep the necklace as a payment for my silence. Saying this, the girl ran toward the palace', explained the munivar when the king enquired on the origin of the necklace.

The king was shocked to hear this story and went to his daughters quarters and asked to see her. When the princess Padmavathy presented herself, the kingshowed her the necklace and asked her if it was hers. The princess, under the impression that the prince has showed up in the kings court, bowed her head in shy and told the king that the necklace was hers. The king now shocked, asked her panippengal (attendees) to check her bosom and see if there are markings of a sulam there. The attendees upon request of the king, checked on the princess's bosom and find the impression of 3 finger nails left by the prince and take that to be that of a sulam and confirm to the king that there is indeed marking of a sulam on the princess's bosom.

The king on understanding that his daughter was a corpse eating creature was depressed beyond relief and called upon his mandihri (minister) and enquired what needs to be done. The minister told the king that as per the rules of the land, any such person has to be chased away to the forest.

The king extradites his daugher to the forest.

The princess unaware of the real reason reaches the forest and there meets the prince and his friend and understands the real reason. She is ashamed and repents for her cruel intention and actions. The prince and his friend also apologies to Padmavathy and take her back to their country.

Meanwhile the king under severe depression that he had to send away his own daughter to the forest passes away after a few months. And the queen, unconsolable, at the loss of her husband and daugther, passes away too.

'Now oh king of kings, riddle me this, who should be implicated with the sin (paavam/paap)of the deaths of the king and the queen.? The prince or his friend?' questions the betal

King Vikramaaditya, undaunted, responded thus; “O Betal!!, Neither, the prince just followed the instructions given to him by his friend. However, upon hearing all the accusations, when he king pondered what needs to be done and went to his minister, the minister, should be held a detailed enquiry before suggesting the verdict. Which clearly was not the case. And hence, the karma of the death of the king and the queen will fall on the minister’s head.”

Upon Vikram opening his mouth and speaking and that being true, the betal detached itself from the king and went up the tree to hand upside down and taunt the king. Now Vikram had to undergo the arduous task of climbing the tree and wrestling with the betal and to bind it on his back for the long trek back. And another story awaits.