Today’s politicians have convinced themselves and their vote bank that they exist to defend Hindu civilisation, which is under threat. This is not a new idea.
Around the 18th century, through Bhavishya Purana (chronicle of the future), three kings were projected as defenders of the dharmic way of being. This late, and much altered document, states that at the start of Kali Yuga, Shiva sent Vikramaditya to earth, gave him a throne with 32 wise yoginis to advise him, and a ghost called Vetala to coach him.
Vikramaditya hosted a gathering of sages to reaffirm Vedic values. He marked the four corners of India: the river Sindhu in the West, the mountains of Badri in the North, the city of Kapila (Kapilavastu) in the East, and Sethubandha (Tamil Nadu) in the South. He married local princesses and established 18 great kingdoms. He uprooted Buddhism in defence of Vedic faith. His grandson, Shalivahan, fended off the invading Shakas. The Purana then foretells that Bhoja of Ujjain, who will establish dharma, will face a demon called Mahamada (great intoxication) who will rise in the deserts west of the Indus river, and whose followers wield clubs (musala) to purify lands, instead of kusha grass, as Hindus do.
No rewards for guessing who the text refers to. And clearly this ‘prophecy’ was manufactured post-facto.
But the stories of Vikramaditya, Shalivahan, and Bhoja at one time served a larger purpose: it was a tool to educate young princes on governance. And what better way than storytelling. Although the name Vikramaditya was the title of many Gupta kings (4th century CE), the stories emerged a few centuries later, around the 8th or 9th century.
This is how the collection of stories known as Singhasan Battisi (32 tales of the throne) begins.
In the middle of a field stood a mound. The farmer who owned the field would be generous every time he climbed the mound but stingy and quarrelsome every time he came down. This caught the attention of a king called Bhoja who ordered the mound to be dug up. Within, he found a throne. When he tried sitting on it, the throne threatened to kill him unless he displayed the 32 qualities of kingship, revealed through 32 stories. For this was the throne of the legendary Vikramaditya.
In the course of these stories, Bhoja learned how Vikramaditya was a great king, brave, curious, lucky, and generous, who could answer 25 riddles posed by a vetala (ghost), which form the folklore collection known as Vetala Pachisi. He also learnt how Vikramaditya could not escape death and was eventually killed by a potter-boy called Shalivahan.
The stories were so popular that they travelled overseas to Arabia and influenced folklore of the wise Solomon (Sulaiman), his magical throne and his army of djinns.
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