The story of Vikramadiyta s throne is the story of how the marvelous throne belong

ing to Raja Vikramaditya was destined to be discovered centuries later by Raja B

hoja; and how Raja Bhoja was instrumental in releasing from a curse the 32 apsar
as turned statues that supported the throne, by listening patiently to each of t
he 32 stories on the life and adventures of the magnanimous Vikramaditya that th
ey narrated.
The frame
ries told
original
y and the

story of the 32 stories narrated by each of the statues and the 25 sto
by the vettala to Vikramaditya in one of his adventures are all in the
Sanskrit work Vikrama Charitra, written some where between 11th centur
13th century.

Raja Bhoja placed the throne in a shrine inlaid with bright gold and the nine pr
ecious gems.Upon it he placed the images of Shiva and Parvati and worshipped bot
h,the throne and the deities.Then mounting the throne he ruled wisely and well t
ill the end of his days.
Indra the king of the gods, had pleased Lord Shiva ,as a reward the Lord gave him
an exquisite throne.Indra treasured the throne.
Meanwhile shiva s wife, Parvati had for her close companions,32 apsaras from Indra s
court.One day as they saw Lord Shiva they were perplexed with Shiva s looks as we
ll as Shiva was admiring the 32 apsaras beauty,Parvathy saw Shiva s admiring looks
and was full of anger.She curse that each of the apsaras become a life less sta
tues and adorn in the throne of Indra.For there they will get all the admiration
that they crave for.
The apsaras were aghast.They pleaded Parvathy to have mercy with them.Parvathy r
elented.Then she showed the thrown of Vikramaditya and said that the throne will
reach earth and later be found by Raja Bhoja.When he tries to mount it they hav
e to tell him the stories from the life of King Vikramaditya.If he is magnanimou
s enough to hear all of them , then the curse will be lifted.
Meanwhile on earth, in the city of Ujjaini, there reigned a king called Bhartrih
ari, who loved his wife Anangasena,dearly.So blind was his love that he took a v
ow that he will not outlive his wife.
In the same city there lived a learned but poor Brahman , a devotee of Parvati.S
he was pleased with the Brahman that she granted him a boon .He asked for everla
sting youth and immortality.The goddess gave him a fruit .Full of joy,the Brahma
n took the fruit but did not eat it.He felt that immortality would be wasted on
him as he was a pauper, the king would benefit more than him! He gave the fruit
to Bhartrihari and told him of its greatness.The king then gave the fruit to his
beloved wife.But his wife loved another,a stable boy.She sent for the youth and
gave the fruit to him.The fruit than switch hand from there to his lover , the
maid.The maid gave it to her lover a cowherd.The cowherd gave it to the girl who
carried the cow-dung , his love.She was overjoyed and decided to have it after
her bathe.She threw the fruit on her basket of dung and walked merrily down the
road.Just then Bhartrihari, out on a hunt ,passed that way. He saw the fruit and
took the fruit from her.After confirming that it was the same fruit , he sent f
or his queen,Anangasena. When Bhartrihari learnt the truth he was utterly disgus
ted with the world.He felt that there is no greater enemy than attachment and no
greater happiness than renunciation. He became an ascetic and gave Vikramaditya
,his brother the throne.
Vikramaditya became King,he ruled his kingdom well,pleasing his subjects and att
ending to every small request of theirs.One night, a sorcerer came to him and as
ked him to assist him in the cemetery as he was planning some sacrifice.He was a
sked to catch a betaal/vettala .The episode follows on how the king tries to cap
ture the vettala 24 times and how the vettala narrates 24 stories to him and esc

apes.When the 25th story was told Vikramaditya did not know the answer and thus
the vettala was captured.The vettala then warned him of the sorcerer and how he
intends to kill the king.The king followed as per the vettala s advice and slain t
he sorcerer.As soon as the sorcerer was slain the vettala became a Brahman and m
ade offering .The Brahman granted the king a boon.The king wished for the sorcer
er s life back and the Brahman must promise to come to the king when in time of ne
ed. The Brahman agreed. Soon the kings fame spread far and wide and his subjects
loved and respected him.
In heaven ,Indra was worried because the austerities of Sage Vishwamitra was bec
oming intense.He sent for Rambha and Urvashi,two of the best apsara and dances o
f the court.He told them that he wanted to choose one of them to disturb the sag
e s penance.Both of them argued as who should go.Then it was decided that they dan
ce at the assembly of gods and let them judge who is suitable for the task.But a
fter the dance wven the gods couldn t decide then finally Indra sent Matali his ch
arioteer to King Vikramaditya.Indra decided that Vikramaditya would decide on hi
s behalf.
Vikramaditya , a lover of the arts ,naturally accepted the invitation and return
ed with Matali.He then choosed Urvashi and explained his reason which pleased In
dra. He felt that Vikramaditya was fit to occupant Shiva s throne.Indra the gave p
resents to Vikramaditya,among them was the shiva s throne.
Taking leave of Indra, Vikramaditya returned to Ujjani with all his gifts.There
he set up the throne and on an auspicious day and mounted it.From the day he mou
nted the throne,his rule was glorious in every way.He was the overlord of all th
e Kings on earth.He vanquished all evil men.Poverty was unknown ,famine and grie
f unheard of Savants and scholars prospered under his patronage.
Then , suddenly, day after day ,a number of evil omens struck Ujjani.Vikramadity
a sent for the court astrologers.he was informed that his life is in danger and
creates ill.Only then did Vikramaditya remember an incident which had occurred y
ears ago.He had pleased Shiva with his penance that The lord had granted him a b
oon.The boon the king asked was his death be at the hands of none but the son of
a two and a half year old girl.He told the astrologer about it.He said that he
thought his life would be immortal since its impossible that a two and a half ye
ar old girl could ever bear a son.
The king thought whose help he could seek .Then he remembered the vettala and su
mmoned him .He asked the vettala to locate such a son around the world.The vetal
a did as he was told.At last he came to Pratishthana to the house of a potter.Th
ere he saw a girl with a boy .He came to know is was her son,Shalivahana..Th ast
ounded vetala swiftly returned to Vikramaditya.Vikramaditya then set out to the
potter s place and took his sword out.As soon as he reached there, Shalivahana hit
the king with his toy staff .The pain was so great that Vikramaditya fled from
Pratishthana to Ujjani.A few hours later,unable to bear the pain,he died.As the
people felt there was no king worth enough to sit on the shiva s throne,it was bur
ied deep down the earth.
Hundreds of years passed and the throne was completely forgotten,even in legends
.
The city of Dhara replaced Ujjani as the capital city,it was ruled by Raja Bhoja
,a just, capable and beloved king.Very near Dhara was a field,which belonged to
a Brahman. One day, Raja Bhoja ,out on a hunting expedition,passed by the field.
He thought how juicy the canes must be .And told this to his friends.The Brahman
who was watching them from the platform heard them.He invited them to taste his
sugarcane to quench their thirst.
Then he came down from his platform to level ground, then suddenly he started to

accuse that the king is wicked.How can he destroy a poor Brahman s crops he accus
ed! The king and his retinue ,puzzled by his strange behavior ,began to leave th
e field.By then the Brahman had mounted the platform again.And suddenly his mann
er changed to a king man .He asked the king why the king is refusing his hospita
lity. Raja Bhoja was convinced that there was something unusual about the platfo
rm.He felt that the Brahman was kind when he was on the platform and he becomes
mean when he is down from the platform.Thus the King climb the platform. Suddenl
y he felt noble,charitable and good thoughts in his mind.He came down from the p
latform and told of his wish of wanting to buy the Brahman s field. Raja Bhoja gav
e the Brahman money,grains and other riches and sent him away happy.
He summoned his man to dig the place where the platform was.There they found Vik
ramaditya s throne.But when they tried to move it, they could not shift the throne
.Raja Bhoja under his ministers advice performed scared rituals and offerings to
have good luck.The throne was then shifted with ease.
Raja Bhoja had it carried to Dhara where it was placed in a specially built hall
.On an auspicious day when he was ready to ascend it, a voice(from one of the 32
statues) summoned him.It said that only the one possessing all the magnanimity
and the rare virtues of the owner(Vikramaditya) of the throne may mount it.Raja
Bhoja felt that he had all the virtues needed to ascend the throne.The voice the
n said that an upright man does not boost about his own virtues,His vanity disqu
alifies him.Raja Bhoja was astonished and ashamed.Then he ask the voice to tell
him more about the owner of the throne.In this manner Raja Bhoja made thirty-two
attempts to mount the throne.Each time a statue told him a story describing the
magnanimity of Raja Vikramaditya.He had to honestly admit to himself that he wa
s nowhere near the Great Vikramaditya as far as kingly virtues went.
At last after the thirty second statue had told its story about the king Vikrama
ditya s greatness and Raja Bhoja had patiently heard, the statue than said that th
e king(Raja Bhoja) is also a great ,glorious ,generous King.As he had heard pati
ently all their stories.He also had magnanimity which finally had released them
from a curse.They told them all about Parvati s curse and how she had relented.Fin
ally they gave Raja Bhoja a wish.For that the King asked that the adventures of
Vikramaditya become immortal upon earth.And those who hear of the stories be saf
e from danger.After granting the wishes the apsaras vanished.