Whoever may not have heard of the "Vikram-Betal" stories, the fascinating tales about the great King Vikramaditya and Betal, the vampire? Was he a real king or was he only a legendary, imaginary figure? If anything gets my goat, it is the seamless intertwining of the two, the truth and fiction. Let us take this guy under our microscope. After all, very few human beings are known as creators of eras named after them! We all know about Vikram Samvat.
Somewhere in wikipedia, you find the date of King Vikramaditya as 102 BC to 15 AD, but in the same sentence it is mentioned that he was a legendary emperor of Ujjain , India
However, the Vikram Era that starts from 56 BC is not legend but is historical, and is real even today. That year marks the defeat of the invading Sakas (powerful Central Asian Tribes) by King Vikramaditya when Ujjain Western India . It is a lunar calendar and the year starts with the day after the new moon in Chaitra. While the Government of India has adopted the Saka Calendar (starting 78 AD) for official purposes, the Government of Nepal has been officially following the Vikram Samvat, which they call Bikram Samvat. One must remember that the Saka Era (starting 78 AD) is a misnomer in a sense since really speaking it also celebrates the defeat of Sakas, at the hands of the Satavahana King Shalivahana in the year 78 AD. The Saka era is also called Shalivahana era.
The Saka people (also called Scythians) of Central Asia did however settle down in North India from 2nd century BC to 4th century AD, and they gave rise to Indo-Scythians. Sakas occupied and ruled Western India too and the rulers were called Western Satraps. Large sections of the Rajasthanis (kshatriyas) are descendants of the Sakas. There is an amazing combination of foreign blood in the Hindus. Similarly, sections of Rajasthanis and Gujaratis are also considered the descendants of the fierce, formidable and cruel Huna tribe (also called the Huns) of Central Asia which over-ran and ruled North India, under their leader Toramana and later his son Mihirakula in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. The two father and son Hun rulers were cruel to the subjects and particularly destroyed Buddhist cities, monuments etc. Mihirakula became a Hindu towards the end of his life.
KATHA-SARIT-SAGARA:
Coming back to the ancient King Vikramaditya, we find accounts about him in “Katha-Sarit-Sagara” (meaning Ocean of Tales) written in Sanskrit by a Kashmiri Pundit called Soma Deva Bhatta in the middle of the 12th century AD. Soma Deva wrote it for the entertainment of Queen Suryamati, wife of King Anantdeva of Kashmir . It is said that it consisted of 350 stories in 18 books, 124 chapters, 21000 verses and prose too! This is the biggest compilation of Indian tales ever.
Accounts and stories about King Vikramaditya that are found in the Katha-Sarit-Sagara were written 1200 years after his time, and the problem will be one of what is history and truth and what is fiction and legend. There sure must be some admixture of both! The 25 stories of Vikram-Betal form part of the work, as also accounts of Vikramaditya’s life.
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HIS LIFE:
As per Katha-Sarit-Sagara, Vikramaditya was the son of King Mahendraditya of the Paramara Dynasty. However, the Paramara (also known as Pawar) Dynasty came into being around 800 AD only, founded by Upendra. The most significant Paramara Ruler was Bhoja I and the capital city was Dharanagara (present Dhar). Thus, the Ocean seems to be off the mark. However, the Betal story in the Katha-Sarit-Sagara does go with the original Vikramaditya of the first century BC!
BHAVISHYA PURANA:
“Bhavishya Purana” in verse form has a lot to say about the life of Vikramaditya. It is one of the major 18 Puranas and is said to have been written by Vyasa several centuries before Christ. The work literally means “History of the Future”. The Purana starts with the greatness of Shiva, Vishnu, Surya etc. It has uncannily predicted, believe it or not, the following – Jesus Christ, Muhammad, fall of Sanskrit, Chandragupta, Ashoka, Chaitanya, Akbar, Jaichandra, British Rule, Hitler etc. The events are written as having already taken place.
The following account owes itself to the "Bhavishya Purana" as for Vikramaditya, whom we may call Vikram here for brevity. Vikram’s father was Gandharvasena, son of Lord Indra. Are we not into myths here? Once, while Apsara Mohini was on her way to meet Siva on Mount Kailasa
I will not go into any aspect of the twenty five Vikram-Betal stories known as “Vetala Panchavimshati” which are fascinating to say the least. Some years ago, Doordarshan telecast the stories in a serial. I shall try to attempt a separate blog about the stories. There are also 32 stories relating to Vikramaditya Simhasan (throne) and they are called “Simhasana Dwatrimshika”. King Shalivahana of Paithan after whom Saka era is named, is said to be Vikram’s grandson.
KAABA AND KING VIKRAM:
Of late, an excitement has been aroused among the people with the alleged discovery of King Vikram’s inscription inside the Kaaba at Mecca Arabia came under the vast extent of King Vikram’s empire. Prophet Mohammad, it is said, took the crescent moon emblem for Islam from Shiva’s adornment. There are quite a few articles in the Net on this subject. However, the Net is hardly the place where you get to really read scientific or highly scholarly papers. I am personally unable to judge the authenticity of all the claims about Kaaba. The readers may throw light on this giving links.
OTHER VIKRAMADITYAS:
The title “Vikramaditya” was adopted by some well-known kings of India Delhi
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