Chapter 2 Start Of A Journey Beyond Silence and The First Story

Yogi replied, "O King! One should never go to the house of king, guru, astrologer, physician and daughter empty handed."

The monk asks him to walk in a secluded place.

The king took him in private. Going there the Yogi said, "O King , the thing is that I am proving a mantra in cremation groung on the banks of river Godavari. Once it is accomplished, my wish will be fulfilled. If you can help me with one task, the mantra will be proved. On the moonless night, pack your arms and come to me alone."

The king Vikram thought about it and then agreed to yogi.

After this the Yogi told the day and time and went to his monastery.

When that day came, Under the veiled canopy of the moonless night, King Vikram stood alone at the cremation ground, awaiting the yogi's instructions. Yogi Shantishil, sitting in deep meditation, acknowledged Vikram's presence with a nod. Breaking the silence, Vikram questioned, "What is your task, Yogi?"

"King," said the Yogi, "there is a dead body hanging on a banyan tree in cremation ground, at a distance of two miles to the south from here. Bring him to me, till then I will worship here."

Hearing this, the king moved away. Undeterred by the ominous night, Vikram ventured into the darkness, rain cascading from the heavens. The eerie atmosphere, filled with ghostly echoes, did little to deter the determined king. As he reached the cremation ground, Vikram's courage remained unshaken.

When he reached cremation ground , the king walked fearlessly and reached near the banyan tree. Ascending the tree, Vikram identified the corpse, confirming it as the very being the celestial guard had forewarned about—Vetal.

The moment Vikram cut the rope, Betal fell, crying out loud.

The king came down and asked, "Who are you?"

In response, Vetal burst into laughter, an unsettling sound that reverberated through the night. The ghost, enigmatic and unpredictable, returned to its perch on the tree. Vikram, determined to unveil the truth, climbed again, cutting the rope, and then pressed the dead body to his side and came down. Said, "Tell me, who are you?"

The dead man remained silent.

Then the king tied him in a sheet . On the way, the dead man said, "I am Vetal. Who are you and where are you taking me?"

The king said, "My name is Vikram . I am taking you to Yogi."

Betal said, "I will go on one condition."

If you speak on the way, I will return and hang myself on the tree."

The king agreed whatsoever was said by him. Then Betal said, "The wise, the clever and the intelligent, their days are spent in good things, whereas the days of fools are spent in discord and sleep. It would be good if our journey is spent discussing good things. I am telling you a story , listen."

"But remember after finishing the narration of the story, i will ask a question , if you don't answer even after knowing the answer, I will break your head and kill you."

The agreement set the stage for Betal's first story, a tale that unfolded in the ancient city of Kashi. Betal began, "Listen carefully, Vikram."

"A king named Pratapmukut used to rule over Kashi. He had a son named Vajramukut. One day the prince took the Minister 's son along with him to the forest for hunting.

While roaming around he found a pond. Lotus were blooming in its water and swans were quacking. There were dense trees on the banks, on which birds were chirping.

Both the friends stopped there and after washing their hands and face in the water of the pond, they went up to the temple of Shiva. They tied the horses outside the temple.

When the price came out after visiting the temple, he saw that a girl had come to the pond with her friends to take bath. The minister's son remained sitting there under a tree, but the prince could not stop himself. He went ahead. When the girl looked at him, he became fascinated by her. The girl also kept on looking at him. Then what she did was that she took out a lotus flower from the bun, put it to her ear(karn), bit it with her teeth(dant), pressed it under her foot(pad) and then hugged it to her chest and went away with her friends.

After her departure, the prince was disappointed and came to his friend and after narrating the whole situation, said, "I cannot live without this girl. But I neither know her name nor her whereabouts. How will she be found?"

The minister's son said, "Prince, don't be so nervous. She has told you everything with her actions "

The prince asked, "How?"

He said, "When she took the lotus flower off her head and put it on her ears (karan) , she told you that she was from Karnataka. When she gnawed her teeth (dant) , it meant that she was the daughter of Dantabaat King. By pressing the lotus with her foot (pad) it meant that my name is Padmavati and by pressing the lotus to her chest she gave the clue that you have settled in her heart."

Had to hear this the prince was jubilant with joy. Said, "Now take me to the country of Karnataka."

Both friends moved on. Wandering around, both of them reached there after several days. When they went near the king's palace, they found an old woman sitting at her door spinning a spinning wheel.