Raja Vikramaditya was moving towards the spot where Tantrik sat waiting for him to arrive with Betal. Betal spoke, “Raja I am very pleased with your cleverness, wisdom, patience, skill, bravery and the sense of justice. I promise if you open your mouth I won’t fly back to the tree branch. You can talk to me without any misgiving.”
“Thank you, Betal,” said Vikramaditya and fell silent.
“Raja!” Betal spoke because for some reason the silence appeared intolerable to the corpse ghost.”I know you are a very valiant and good king. The people love you and you take good care of them. For that reason I want to reveal a secret to you.”
“What secret?” Vikramaditya asked.
“The Tantrik for whose cause you carry me to the holy fire under the impression of his being a noble spiritualist is infact an impostor. He is an evil man and a hoax player. Very diabolic and sinister are his intentions. To gain some supernatural powers he wishes to sacrifice others,” Betal revealed.
“On what basis do you say that?” Vikramaditya asked. “To who this Tantrik wants to offer as his sacrifice to gain supernatural powers? Some animal he wants to kill? I will stop him from doing so. No good fire ritual requires any sacrifice.”
“Raja, hold you breath. You may not easily believe what I am going to tell you. It is you, my dear Raja Vikramaditya, who this evil Tantrik wants to offer as sacrifice to his dark deity to earn occult powers as its blessings,” Betal said grimly. It added, “I am not joking.”
“Me??” the revelation made the jaw of Vikramaditya drop. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“But what wrong have I done to this Tantrik that he wants to sacrifice me?” he asked incredulously.
Betal explained, “Raja! Tantriks are no motivated by friendship or enmity, good or bad and right or wrong considerations. The greed for dark powers, that is the guiding force of all they do. Tantrik is performing ‘Ashtasiddhi Hom’, an occult practice that requires sacrifice of a qualified Tantrik or a King who is an icon of justice, kindness and nobility just like you are. No Tantrik would fall in his trap because he himself knows about the practice. His only chance was to trick a kind, helpful and trusting Raja Vikramaditya. And you did fall in his trap. Haven’t you?”
“But Betal, how would he sacrifice me because I am a warrior king. I can defend muself. As soon as he tries to sacrifice me I will retaliate,” Raja said.
Betal laughed.
“He must have thought of that. Very crafty he is. Most probably he would ask you to bend before the dark goddess idol to make obeisance. As you do that he would swiftly behead you with a sword kept handily disguised. That is the only way as I can see.”
“Oh!” Raja Vikramaditya realised that it would not be difficult to sacrifice an unsuspecting person like him. He felt furious about it and cursed the evil Tantrik. He asked, “Betal! Have you any suggestion about what I should do? How can I deal with this situation?”
“I do have a suggestion. Very good idea.”
“Do tell me, my good Betal.”
“Alright listen, when you take me to him he would ask you to put me down aside. Then he may ask you to bow before the godess idol to make obeisance. Be careful there. He would be mentally preparing himself to behead you as soon as you bow your head hoping you to be unsuspicious of his intentions.”
“So what do I do?”
“I will whisper it in your ears. You will like the idea,” said Betal and whispered his plan into the ears of Raja. Vikramaditya listened with rapt attention, widening eyes and brightening up face. He now clearly admired Betal.
Suddenly Raja asked, “Dear Betal! There is now only one thing that needs explanation. What is your role in this Tantrik plot?”
Betal giggled. “Dear Vikramaditya! I am just a ploy of Tantrik to keep you confused and here in the cremation ground near the ritual fire. He wanted you engaged in some activity so that you don’t get suspicious about his whole ritual business. You did get fooled. Didn’t you?”
“Sure I did,” Vikramaditya admitted and exclaimed, “How stupid of me!”
The arrival of Vikramaditya with Betal on his shoulders pleased Tantrik. His eyes troubled mysteriously. As expected he asked Raja to put Betal down on ground aside. Then he pointed to a small black goddess idol installed behind the fire pit and spoke, “Well done Raja Vikramaditya! God and may my goddess bless you! My good Raja, now will you please make obeisance to the goddess by bowing your head low in true devotional spirit in front of the holy fire?”
The plot was truly unfolding according to the script exactly as Betal had revealed. Vikramaditya acted as he was tutored by the corpse ghost.
Raja said, “Holy sir! You know that I am a king and I have never bowed my head before anyone. I don’t know how to do it. You must show me how it is done. I will follow your example.”
Tantrik was still under the impression that Raja Vikramaditya had no idea about his hidden agenda. He said, “Raja! Watch how I do it. You may then do the same.” Tantrik stood before the holy fire and then bowed low almost doubling up hoping Raja to do the same and make his task of beheading easy.
As Tantrik bent low Raja Vikramaditya raised his sword in a flash and brought it down on the neck of Tantrik. With a “Kisch!” sound the severed head of Tantrik fell in the holy fire. The flames engulfed the head.
And with that the corpre ghost, Betal transformed into a divine person. Raja Vikramaditya looked at the person greatly surprised. Ex-Betal revealed that he was a divine being in real but was condemned to the Betal life as he had defaulted on some important matter to incur the wrath of superior divinity.
He spoke, “Raja Vikramaditya! As you have offered the sacrifice of qualified Tantrik to the holy fire of the occult ritual all the spiritual proceeds of this exercise go into your credit. That means you are the one who has become the Master of eight fold supernatural powers through this ritual. I would have liked to grant you some boon for delivering me from the Betal state with the same sacrificial ritual. But now you have yourself become a master of powers. You need nothing more except my heartiest congratulations. I hope you will use those powers judiciously only for the benefit of others, justice and righteousness. God bless you. Anyway, have you any wish?”
Raja Vikramaditya spoke, ” Divine sir! I do not want anyone to suffer because of me. I believe in the principle of live and let live. This tragic incident of sacrifice of Tantrik rankles in my mind. However deceitful the Tantrik may have been I would have forgiven him. These powers I am supposed to have gained will always remind me that I took some one’s life for them. I will never be able to exercise those powers with clear conscience. I want Tantrik revived if that is possible and within your power to do.”
The divine one admired the generosity and the kindness of Raja Vikramaditya. He raised his hand and Tantrik got brought back to life with a new regenerated head. Tantrik went away from there without speaking a word to anyone.
“Anything else you wish for?”
“Thank you for reviving the Tantrik. I hope he won’t again try to harm anyone. Holy one, I feel so attached to you due to our interaction as me Vikramaditya and Betal. I will never forget it. Will you mind responding to my call whenever I invoke you?”
“So, be it,” said the divine one and disappeared.
Raja Vikramaditya returned to his capital after that armed with new powers. He resumed ruling with greater spirit of justice and generosity. Raja was also a patron of fine arts. He had several exponents of dance, music, drama and writing in his court. For these reasons Raja Vikramaditya was respected and admired by people of substance. His glory spread far and wide.
