Sivadasa - Listen, O King!: Five-and-Twenty Tales of Vikram and the Vetal

We know little about King Vikramaditya. Vikramaditya is a title, rather than a name. It means: someone whose valour is like that of the sun. There are emperors who have assumed the title of VikramadityaChandragupta II being an example. But there was also a legendary King Vikramaditya, and scholars do not agree about identifying this legendary King Vikramaditya with any one of the known historical King Vikramadityas.

If you ever visit Ujjain, this illustrious ruler is present everywhere, irrespective of which historical Vikramaditya he is identified with. You will be shown temples built by King Vikramaditya. You will be shown the hill where Vikramadityas throne was buried until King Bhoja discovered it in the eleventh century. Thereby hangs a tale.

Whoever ascended that hill was suffused with immeasurable wisdom. This trait manifested itself in some young cowherds. When this was reported to King Bhoja, he had the hill excavated, and a magnificent throne was discovered; it had thirty-two statuettes. When King Bhoja wished to be seated on the throne, the statuettes restrained him. He was told, This is King Vikramadityas throne. He was a phenomenally wise and great king. To be seated on the throne, you must be as wise as him. Then, one by one, the thirty-two statuettes (each of which was a cursed apsara) told a story about King Vikramadityas wisdom. These stories are collectively known as the Simhasana Dvatrimsika, or Singhasan Battisi. The earliest versions of this text go back to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries.

The use of the word version is important. There was no printing at the time, and written rendering came much later. Stories were passed down by word of mouth, preserved through oral transmission. Consequently, even though there may have been a common origin, there were regional versions and variations. This is true of the Simhasana Dvatrimsika, as well as of another text associated with the legendary King Vikramadityathat is the one wonderfully adapted in this book.

This text is known as the Vetala Panchavimshati, or Baital Pacchisi. A vetal is a demon or spirit, almost always male. But it isnt any arbitrary demon or spirit. Specifically, it is a demon that possesses a dead body with an ulterior motive. This text, thus, has twenty-five stories about the vetal, more accurately, stories about the vetal and King Vikramaditya. Each story has a puzzle, and King Vikramaditya has to solve the puzzle. And it is not as if the solutions are easy.

While in the Simhasana Dvatrimsika, King Vikramaditya is depicted as a historical figure, whom King Bhoja hears about from the statuettes, the Vetala Panchavimshati has King Vikramaditya as the primary protagonist. As a text, the Vetala Panchavimshati is also older than the Simhasana Dvatrimsika. The note on the text gives a very good introduction to its antecedents. Indeed, the roots probably go back further still.

There was a text known as the Brihatkatha, dated around the sixth century and attributed to Gunadhya. It was not written in Sanskrit, but in a language known as Paishachi. Evidently, there is no one around who can speak, understand or read Paishachi any longer. The Brihatkatha can loosely be translated as a large collection of stories.

The Brihatkatha didnt survive, but its derivatives didthose stories were passed down through the ages, and featured King Vikramaditya. They were retold in Sanskrit by Kshemendra and Somadeva. There is a version in Nepal, in Sanskrit, a version in old Maharashtrian prose, another in old Tamil verse. All these derivative stories are based on King Vikramaditya, and not on the Vetala Panchavimshati alone. At one point, Kashmir had a rich heritage of works in Sanskrit. And following from this tradition, there are two Sanskrit versions that specifically narrate the Vetala Panchavimshati. These were written by Sivadasa and Jambhaladatta. Both these texts have been translated into English. As the note on the text later mentions, this adaptation is based on Chandra Rajans translation of the Sivadasa rendering. There are twenty-eight stories, not twenty-five, but the note at the end explains why.

I hope you will read the Simhasana Dvatrimsika some day, too. For some reasonperhaps because of the vetal or because there are engaging riddlesyoung people love the Vetala Panchavimshati much more. Actually, everyone seems to like the Vetala Panchavimshati more. Therefore, despite it having been translated in the past, whats wrong with another adaptation, especially one directed at the young? Enjoy the stories, they are wonderful! By the way, the sinsipa tree (the Indian rosewood) also figures in the Buddhas discourses. Once you grow up and have the time and the inclination, I hope you read them in the original Sanskrit too.

July 2016

Bibek Debroy