King Vikramaditya has one of the most famous rulers of India. A number of folklores about his 'divine' persona are now an inseparable part of most read or heard Indian stories. Two of the most famous collections of King Vikramaditya stories are:
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- Betaal Pachisi, on which the popular serial for kids 'Vikram Vetaal' was based, and
- Sinhansan Battissi, on which another TV serial by the same name was aired on Doordarshan long ago.
Sihansan Battisi was the enchanted throne of Raja Vikramaditya, which was made of pure gold and precious gems. It was extraordinarily beautiful and seemed illuminated because of its divine powers, which it got as a result of being occupied by devata-like King Vikramaditya.
It had 32 puppets attached to it, which came to life when Raja Bhoj got hold of the throne and tried to ascend it. Each puppet told a story of King Vikramaditya's greatness to Raja Bhoj and said that he can only sit on the throne if he thinks he is worthy of it.
In the end, Raja Bhoj decides to depose the throne where he had found it - buried underground.
You can read all the stories in Hindi at the website of Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts.
It is believed that a saint called Kshebhendra was the original author of these wonderful stories around 12th century. He penned them in Sanskrit. Another person called Varruchi translated to stories in Bengal.
In South India, these stories are quite popular and have been passed off from generation to generation.
Whether it is Panchantra, Jataka Tales, Betaal Pachisi or Sinhansan Battisi - India is a land of storytellers. Has your kid read these Indian fairytales yet?
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