Vikramaditya has weapons to resurrect dead soldiers and to invoke eagles to fight serpents. He can bring clay toys to life and get serpents to fight for him.

This potter’s son has the blessings of the snakes. When he learns of a young man called Shalivahan who is destined to kill him, he challenges the boy to a duel. He enjoys his royal life, entertaining himself with music and dance, only after having done his daily duties in the court, in the battlefield, and in the temple. He is even willing to fight the stars and planets when astrologers tell him the alignment of celestial bodies does not favour his kingdom. He is motivated not by personal glory but the happiness of his subjects. For him kingship is not about glory for himself it is about helping people. He appreciates talented people and rewards them handsomely, thus ensuring all talented people come to his court, and contribute to the prosperity of his kingdom. He loves to delegate and so spends half the year as king and the rest of the year, talking to hermits and travelling through strange lands, going on adventures, expecting his courtiers to do a good job in his absence. He travels as a commoner as he has no need the symbols of kingship to get the respect of people. He does many of his good deeds without taking credit, secretly. Feeling sorry for him, Vikramaditya offers to immolate himself, earning the admiration of the witches and the jealous king.īut the king does not seek glory. A king is so jealous of Vikramaditya that to match his generosity he immolates himself every day to secure gold from witches. Vikramaditya outwits the sorcerer by getting the vampire to work for him, but then forgives the sorcerer ultimately. A sorcerer once asks him to fetch a vampire from the crematorium with the intention of turning the vampire against Vikramaditya himself.

He does not look down upon wastrel sons, jealous kings, rivals, unfaithful wives, cruel demons, foolish merchants, manipulative sorcerers or greedy brahmins. He is motivated by his desire to help people and by his curiosity. He is eager to meet sages atop steep mountains, enter dark caves infested with all manner of beasts, travel to the scorching land of the sun, and the darkest of subterranean regions. He is willing to jump in a pot of boiling oil to help a young man marry the cruel princess he loves. He fights demons to save cursed unchaste women. He is ready to offer his head to a goddess in order to help hermits, architects struggling to fill a lake, and even broken statues. The next important quality is bravery – the ability to face any situation without fear.

Hoarding has no purpose unless it is a contingency fund for use during calamity, we learn in one story. He is able to give these away as he is not attached to his wealth or his success, and feels wealth needs to flow. He gives them away to poor brahmins, clumsy courtiers, impoverished merchants, failed kings, compulsive gamblers lost travellers even enemies and strangers He is able to give these gamblers, lost travellers, even enemies and strangers. He gives away fabulous treasures gifted to him by gods, hermits and goblins that can give gold, food, youth-even cure all ailments. Of the 32 stories, 18 stories refer to the king’s ability to give away fabulous gifts without hesitation. It seems the most important character of a king is generosity. Whether if he has the qualities of Vikramaditya, who was given the throne by the gods. In the narrative, king Bhoja finds the throne of legendary king Vikramaditya but every time he tries to sit on it, the throne asks if he is worthy. Published on 28th May, 2021, in Economic Times.Ībout a thousand years ago, a collection of Sanskrit tales, known as ’32 tales of the throne’, came into being to draw attention to the qualities of a good king.

Vikramaditya hindi serial