Adventures Of The King Vikramarka😃
That night, as usual, Sahasra came onto my bed and asked, "Grandpa, tell me a story." I asked her which story she wanted to hear.
She said, "Tell me the story of Harry Potter."
Laughing at her words, I thought to myself that there are many more great stories in our literature than the Harry Potter story. For example, there are many stories in Ramayana, Bharata, Bhagavata, and Ashtadasa Puranas. Apart from that, many stories that provide knowledge and wisdom to children, and increase their intelligence are falling into oblivion without reaching the present generations. There are Pedaraasi Peddamma Stories, Jataka Stories, Kashi Majili Stories, Kambhoja Raju Stories, Bhatti, Vikramarka Stories, Panchatantra Stories, Haluni Gathasaptasati, Funniest Maryadaramanna, Tenali Ramakrishna, Paramanandayya Shishyas Stories, Sahasra Shirachcheda Apoorva Chintamani, Bala Nagamma, and many more countless stories in our literature.
I came into this world with the words of my granddaughter, who was shaking me for a story from her grandfather. So, to satisfy her, I said, "Okay, then I will tell you the very exciting stories of Bhatti and Vikramarka."
If someone tells something to Sahasra, they should have the patience to answer her questions. "Who are these Bhatti and Vikramarkas? Who wrote this story? Who told you this?" she asked immediately without waiting even for a minute.
I told her, "I read this story in my school library books in my childhood." And then I started telling the story of Bhatti and Vikramarka.
"There was a poet named Bilhana in the kingdom of Kashmira. He loved Yamini Poorna Tilaka, the daughter of Madanabhirama, the king of that country. But the king did not like this and put him in prison. Bilhana wrote poetry in jail in the name of 'Chaurapanchashikha.' The jailer informed the king that this prisoner had written poetry, and the king read it. After reading the poetry, the king said to the jailer, 'Release Bilhana and let him go; such a great man should not be kept in prison like this.' Later, Bilhana left the kingdom of Kashmira in shame. He traveled around many countries for many days and finally joined the Chalukya king Vikramaditya. The king came to know about Bilhana's erudition and made him the head of a university. It was at that time he wrote the History of Vikramarkadeva in Sanskrit language, which was later translated into many languages. Jakkana Mahakavi translated it into Telugu and wrote it as Vikramarka Charitramu in poems."
Sahasra intervened and said, "Grandpa, what are you telling? I am not understanding."
I wondered how this little child would understand all this. So I said, "Okay" to her with a laugh, and started telling her the exciting, strange stories of Bhatti and Vikramarka.
There was a king whose kingdom was Malava. The capital city was Dhara. The king's name was Bhoja. He was a great and good person who loved people very much and provided them with the best facilities. There was no crime in that kingdom, and everyone was happy with dairy and crops. However, there was a lot of forest back in those days, which meant Naturally, there were more animals in the forest. Sometimes, the animal population increased and they invaded the nearby villages, destroying crops, killing and eating cattle and people. Once, the wild animals attacked the villages, and unable to bear any more trouble caused by them, the people of the villages near the forest shouted to the king to save them from the danger of these animals.
The king had a responsibility to hunt and kill wild animals to protect the people. Later, Bhoja Raja, accompanied by his retinue, ministers and some army, went hunting and killed tigers, lions, and other wild animals for a few days. After the hunting was completed, he encouraged and motivated the people living near the forest and returned to his capital.
However, the hunt took longer than expected, and the food that was taken ran out. Bhojaraja's entourage was looking forward to seeing if someone would give them food on the way. There was still more than a day's journey, and everyone was hungry.
From his bed, he saw the crowd walking around the farm, and he thought, "Alas, everyone is so hungry, they are struggling even to walk." Then he said to the royal entourage, "Aww, you all look so hungry. Satisfy your hunger with this crop of mine." So, all those who went hunting happily cut the sorghum and roasted it in a hot fire and separated the tender sorghum from them and ate it comfortably. Before this, Rama Sharma got down from the bed and came near them, saying that he would provide water for them to drink.
When he came near them, he grabbed what they were eating with extreme anger and said, "You people destroyed the fields just by the side of the road. How could the Maharaja allow you all to commit such a mistake when he was near?" All astonished by that, the army started leaving the crop as per Bhojaraja's order.
Surprised by the farmer's behavior, Rama Sharma got on the bed again. When Rama Sharma got on the bed, he saw the royal entourage leaving the sorghum crop. Then he said to them loudly, "Aye, why are you going hungry without eating anything? Eat comfortably without hesitation." He said, "I will give you good water," and got down on the bed again.
As soon as he got down, he started shouting again, saying, "Why are you ruining my farm like this?" Seeing this, the king and his men were amazed and thought he had gone mad. "It is better for us to leave before our time is up," they thought, and they started coming out of the farm.
Thinking that they were going away, Rama Sharma got back on the bed and said, "Hey all, how will you go hungry without eating and blame me? Eat comfortably and rest for a while," he said again. Bhoja Raja got extremely angry and said, "Are you playing? Arrest him and put him in jail."
Rama Sharma, afraid of the king's orders, said from the bed, "It is my duty to feed you, Maharaja." He started crying and asked, "How will you punish me when I am doing righteous deeds?"
Then Varahamihira, the guru who was following King Bhoja, said, "This does not seem to be his fault. He's being kind when he's in bed and selfish when He's off. There seems to be something miraculous on that bed or in the ground beneath it. To know what that strange thing is, we have to take possession of this land and check why this is happening."
Bhojaraja was also surprised. Wanting to see what the strange thing was, the king called Rama Sharma and told him that they wanted that land, determined a good price, gave the money accordingly, and took possession of the crop land.
Then the bed was examined, but it did not make any difference. The bed was removed and put into the soil.
They decided to see if there was anything beneath the land. The king ordered the place to be dug.
Before this, some people prepared food with sorghum. After taking all the food, they started digging under the bed.
In the evening, a blinding light came from the earth that was dug under the bed. Everyone removed the mud and with great difficulty brought up the strange object.
It was a golden throne with thirty-two steps. There was a golden statue on each step called salabhanjika. On the first step, there was a statue on the right-hand side, and on the second step, there was another statue on the left-hand side. So, there were sixteen salabhanjikas on the right and sixteen on the left.
Maharaja was puzzled. The throne was carefully brought to the city of Dhara.
Bhojaraja tried hard to find out what it was and who owned the throne but failed. The king found that after it came, some miraculous incidents happened without any effort. Bhojaraja felt very calm. The enemy kings themselves sent messages of peace. The whole kingdom was full of joy.
The king observed these changes and thought that all of this was the glory of that throne. Thinking that it would be even better to sit on it and rule the kingdom, the king ordered to change the throne he used to sit on every day and installed this golden throne in its place. Puja was done to the throne and the salabhanjikas on it, and it was beautifully decorated.
At the pre-determined moment, while the Brahmins were reciting Veda mantras and the beautiful young girls were scattering flowers, Bhojaraja went to the throne and placed his right foot on the first step with the sounds of the auspicious instruments. No, no, he thought, that he had kept his right foot.
Then something strange happened. The throne seemed to have fallen back, but it had not moved. It was still in the same place. The king tried again, and it happened again. Along with that, the thirty-two Salabhanjikas on the steps of the throne suddenly started laughing.
"How strange," they said. "The king is trying to own this throne." They started laughing again. The entire Maharaja Sabha echoed with laughter, and all the people in the assembly remained stunned. Bhojaraja and the ministers were also stupefied.
There is more to the story, and it will be continued next week.
Curtesy: Moukthika & Kousthubh (Corrected the language & presentation)
