There are many legends about king Vikramaditya, of which the two most popular works are the Vetala Panchavimsatika (25 tales of the vampire) and the Simhasana Dvatrimiska (32 tales of the throne). The former has been translated into English many times beginning with the rendition by Sir Richard Burton in the 19^th century. The latter has received comparatively less attention.

The Simhasana Dvatrimiska opens up a colourful world, full of adventures and miracles. At its centre is the Royal Throne or Simhasana of Vikramaditya supported by dvatrimsat or thirty-two statues of celestial nymphs. It is believed these statues narrate the stories of Vikramaditya’s accession to throne, his adventures, last battle and death after which throne was hidden as there was no one worthy of occupying it. Years later the throne was believed to have been discovered by King Bhoja of Dhara. But every time he attempted to ascend it, the statues brought forth a tale of Vikramaditya’s valour, throwing King Bhoja into a state of doubt and indecision over his eligibility to the throne.

One one such occasion, one of the statuettes spoke about how Vikramaditya was an upholder of the king’s dharma. She said: Once upon a time a foreigner came to see the king.   “O Deva Datta” asked the King “Where do you stay?” And the man replied, “I am a foreigner. I stay nowhere in particular, I travel all the time”.

What are the new things he had seen in course of his travels, the king asked. And upon being probed thus, the man opened up about a marvel that he had not been able to forget. “On the mountain where the sun rises, there is a great temple to Aditya, the sun god. The holy river Ganga flows there, a pillar of gold emerges from her midst and upon it sits a throne studded with nine gems. This golden column appears above ground level at sunrise and grows to reach the sun’s orb at noon. Then as the sun begins to set, it descends by itself and sinks in Ganga’s stream. This is the great marvel which I saw and it happens every day”.

The account stoked Vikrama’s adventurous spirit. And he reached the town that held the marvel, it was called Kanakaprabha. He prayed to the sun god, Aditya and then stayed the night at the temple. At dawn, soon after he had complete all his daily rituals and prayers, he witnessed the golden pillar rising from the waters. And with a quick leap, he jumped atop the pillar. As it neared the sun, the king’s body was scorched and soon he began to resemble a lump of the meat. Still it is said that the king did not, even for a moment, halt his prayers to the sun god, but that was until he fainted.  Pleased, the sun god restored him to consciousness and offered the king a boon, anything he desired. The king was however ecstatic at having met the god and said that his desires had all been fulfilled at his sight. The sun god gave him his earrings, studded with nine gems saying “Take this pair of earrings. From the radiance of their rubies comes the light of my dawn. They will yield a shower of bright gold every day”.

As the sun god made his way out, the column began sinking back into the earth. But Vikramaditya was not done yet; he wanted to discover what lay at the root of the pillar. But this was the nether world and upon reaching there he met the goddess Prabha, beloved of the sun god and mother of the world. Seeing him there and pleased with his efforts, the goddess gifted him a divine jewel that could produce precious ornaments at will.

Finally the king made his way back to the earth, but on the way back to his kingdom he saw a poor Brahmin beggar and his wife. Moved by his plight, the king handed over the earrings that he had got from the sun god and the divine jewel from the goddess Prabha. Without a moment’s hesitation the king had handed over all that he had received from the gods, and so said the statuette, King Bhoja, if you have such daring, generosity and fortitude, then you may mount upon this throne. Bhoja stepped back, his hesitation getting the better of him and the statuettes waiting silently for his next attempt and their next story.

Story collected by: Shweta Joshi Dixit

Source: Sanskrit to English translation of Simhasana Dvatrimsika by A N D Haksar

This is a story about Holika, an Asura and how her end was plotted with the help of the gods.

Holika’s death is celebrated as Holi. Her image is burnt to symbolise the end of her existence all over the country even today. In the same way in the southern State of Tamilnadu, they burn an image of Cupid or Kama. It is called the Kaman Pandigai or Kamavilas or Kama dahanam. An image of Kama and his consort Rati is painted and worshipped. The image of Kama is then burnt on the same day and hour as that of Holika.

That Sita sat under an Ashoka tree (a- shoka : without sorrow) in the Ashoka grove during her stay in Lanka is commonly known episode of the Ramayana. Not so well known however, is an interesting myth from the Bhavishya Purana that adds a precursor to that tale. As it is seen with other Purana stories, it is plausible that this tale too was an attempt at acculturation and social synthesis.

Years before the abduction of Sita by Ravana, there lived a cannibal among the Bhil tribe named Sashoka. He roamed the forests of central India and lived by killing passers-by and consuming them as food.

Recently a friend of mine, while trudging through Mumbai traffic, remarked that the only way he can navigate through the city’s clogged arteries is to remind himself about the Buddhist story of the still mind.

“Tell me the story, so I can use it too.” I said and this is what he told me.

Buddha was travelling with a small entourage of disciples preaching the tenets of Buddhism. As they were passing by a small pond, Buddha looked at one of his followers and said, “Get me some water from the pond. I am thirsty”.

The disciple walked towards the pond, but as he was about to fill up the vessel, a bullock cart came through the pond. As a result the waters of the pond turned turbid. “How can I give this muddy water to my master”, thought the disciple. He came back and reported, “Master, the water is very muddy and not fit to drink.”

We know that demon do not swallow the sun during eclipse but, there is no dearth of excitement and curiosity around this natural occurrence. The spectacular cosmic opera that unfolds before us during total solar eclipse still enthrals us and the fact that we now know more about the cosmos mechanic does not make it any less exciting.  From holiday companies selling solar eclipse packages to eclipse chasers to drift through the clouds in cosy comfort of an airplane to get an up close and personal view of this cosmic drama, to cottage industry of safe solar goggles sellers all make brisk business over a short span capitalising on curiosity of people, kept alive since the beginning of time. If modern man still finds it captivating and is compelled to experience this wondrous cosmic drama, pause, and think about the hunter gatherer societies….what they made of  this sudden disappearance of sun, black night engulfing the earth in middle of a day. It is quite natural that in their simplistic way they assumed someone has eaten the sun!!
To modern man it’s the Moon coming between the sun and earth but to the ancient man across most civilisations it was a call of doom and gloom. Every civilisation from India to Mesopotamia to China to Egypt viewed this temporary disruption of natural rhythm as an ominous sign…some sinister events to unfold in future.
As far as eclipse myth goes there’s a common theme that runs across all myths – that of a demon devouring the Sun. In some cultures the demon takes the form of a giant turtle as it is in Vietnam, while in Romania it takes the form of werewolf , or a dragon in Asia, a jaguar in Latin America, a serpent in Egypt so on and so forth. Not having the scientific knowledge and tools, ancient man was unable to understand that eclipse is very much part and parcel of the natural rhythm of the cosmos. They sought to explain, in their own way, this disruption of natural order, spun stories of doom and gloom, which expressed their fear and insecurities but most importantly their limited understanding of the physical world.

The Aasana tree is a common Indian deciduous tree. The spines on its bark tell the story of a time dating back to the Mahabharata. The story of Bhishma, before he became Bhishma.

Prince Devavrata, the handsome son of King Shantanu of Hastinapura, rides out of the palace gates one morning upon his chariot. Young and restless, perhaps even a tad reckless, Devavrata is not still the wise old Bhishma, who will live on in the collective memory of Indians for centuries.

The golden glow of the morning sun lights up the capital city. Citizens bow before the prince, making way for his speeding chariot as it rides out of the city limits. Charismatic successor of the kingdom, Devavrata rides into the forest with a young vigour and confident flair.

This folktale is found in multiple collections all over the world. It has a Somalian version, a popular Greek version (King Midas), a Korean one and several others. Within India, it is found in almost every language. This author heard it from her father who located it in Tamil Nadu and the story has been accordingly adapted to suit local tastes and conditions.
Once upon a time, there lived a king. He was a fine king who ruled well and made his subjects happy. Yet, he was unhappy because he had a curious problem… he had the ears of an ass! He was very ashamed of his secret and kept the ears hidden inside his turban.

The only one who knew about it was his barber and he had been sworn into secrecy. The barber knew better than to disobey the king’s orders and so he never spoke about this to anyone but as the years went by, the secret ate away at him. It grew inside his tummy and soon, the barber’s stomach grew so big that it threatened to burst under the weight of the secret.

Like Trees, Birds too have a strong association with Mythology in India. This endearing story of Bhima and the Blue-Throat, a beautiful little brown bird with a brilliant blue-coloured throat, describes how the bird got its unique blue patch.

Bhima lay down on the forest floor after a tiring day and a hearty meal. The joyous season of spring was breaking through the cold of the winter. Flowers bloomed. Birds chirped. Brooks babbled.

This story is taken from a collection, a set of devotional offerings to Shiva by his worshippers. Now, the kings who ruled Tamilagam (modern day Tamil Nadu) set great store by the virtue of fairness in the administration of justice. The people even believed that the success or failure of the annual monsoon depended on the efficacy of a king’s justice administration. The legend of Ellalan, taken from Periya Puranam, a hagiographic compilation of stories about 63 special devotees of Shiva, exemplifies this virtue of the Tamil kings.  Ellalan was a third century BCE Chola king, who later came to be known as Manu Neethi Cholan.

As his name suggests, this is the story of how the king upheld the laws of Manu while dispensing justice to his subjects, which included all living creatures in his kingdom. It was said that there hung a bell outside his palace gates and anybody seeking justice could ring it any time to bring their case to the notice of the king.

In Mahabharata there are numerous didactic tales advising Kings on the rules of engagement in a political scenario. The tale of Lomasha and Palita from the Shanti Parvan (138) explains why a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.

Deep inside a thick forest there stood a huge banyan tree. It was home to various species of wild animals and snakes. Inside a hole near the roots of this huge banyan tree lived a rat by name Palita and on one of its branches lived a cat by the name Lomasha. Lomasha subsisted entirely on the birds that would visit the tree. However, Palita always lived in fear of being killed by Lomasha and hardly ventured out his hole.