Vikram and Vaitaal Stories-Introduction

Vaitaal Stories are a part of our religious literature - that is Bhavishya Puraan. They are given in Bhavishya Puraan's third part - "Prati Sarg". Whatever stories are given in Bhavishya Puraan, published by Gita Press, Gorakhpur, UP; may be read here, though this book gives only nine stories and apart from that they are different in names and contexts also. That is why it seems that many stories have been added to these stories also, like Akbar and Birbal stories, and thus it is difficult to identify the original stories. It as been tried to include only original stories here, but if there is any story which is not original, please write about it on the address given at the bottom of the page.

"These stories were written by Mahaakavi Som Dev Bhatt about 2,500 years ago. The first Mugal king Muhammad Shaah asked a poet Saurath, in Savaaee Jayasinh's court, to translate them in Brij language. Later Bangaal's Governor General Marikwis Welsley, with the cooperation of Dr Gilchrist, asked poet Lalloo Laal to translate them into Khadee Bolee (a language spoken in Meerut, Bulandshahar, Aligarh, Aagaraa etc regions of western UP). Captain Mart asked Bangaal's Taarineecharan Mishraa to write them in much easier language and started teaching them in Bangaal's primary schools."
(From the back of the cover of "Vetaal Kathaayen: Vikram aur Vetaal" / published by Sadhana Pocket Books)

These stories continued to become popular because of being educational and full of wisdom. Today they can be read in many languages of the world. These stories are equally liked by children, young, adult and the old. Altogether there are 25 stories, that is why it is called "Vaitaal Pachcheesee" also.

The stories given here, in Vaitaal-1, have been adapted from the book entitled, "Vetaal Kathaayen: Vikram Aur Vetaal" (Sadhna Pocket Books, 2001). The stories taken from Richard Burton's book are given in the section Vaitaal-2. Some stories have been taken from other sources, they are given in section Vaitaal-3. Since they are Bhavishya Puraan's part, Gita Press published Bhavishya Puraan gives only nine stories which can be read in Bhavishya Puraan, and they should be considered as genuine Vaitaal stories.

They are a part of "Kathaa Sarit Saagar" also - a famous 11th century collection of fairy and folk tales by Som Dev Bhatt. It contains 18 books, divided in 124 chapters. They contain ore than 21,000 verses in addition to its prose sections. The principal tale is the narrative of the adventures of Naravaahan Datt, son of the legendary King Udayan. A large number of tales are built into this central story to make it a largest collection of Indian tales.

It claims to be based on Gunaadhyaaya's "Brihat Kathaa" written in Paishaachee dialect from the south of India. There are two versions of Brihat Kathaa, available in Kaashmeer, in addition to "Brihat Kathaa Shlok Sangraha" of Buddha Swaamee of Nepaal, but Som Dev Bhatt's material is different from the Paishaachee language version.

But it is for sure, that there are many more other stories also popular under the name of Vikram and Vaitaal stories. Besides, there exist different versions also of the same story. It is difficult to decide that which version of which story is a genuine one.

Historically Vikram's whereabouts and timings have not been established yet. In this regard, there is another explanation, I found in a Nepaal's astrological magazine. It is given here just for information.

Read Sinhaasan Batteessee stories which are also related to Vikramaaditya.