Hindi Cartoon Vikram Betal

Vikram Aur Betal is an Indian mythology television series that originally was aired on DD National in 1985. Later, it gained a lot of popularity and was aired on ZeeQ. The running time of the show is around half an hour. The concept of the program was based on Baital Pachisi, also known as Vikram-Betaal (a collection of 25 tales which are narrated by Betal to Vikram). It is about the legendary king Vikramaditya and the ghost Betal.

Vikramaditya was a great king. He ruled over a prosperous kingdom. Its capital was situated in Ujjain. He had immense love for learning and for adventure as well. He was brave, fearless and with a strong-willed person. Many visitors used to pay a visit to the king and gift him something. The King used to accept all the gifts with the same courtesy. Among such visitors was a beggar, who presented the king with fruit on his every visit. King Vikramaditya used to hand over the fruit gifted to him to the royal storekeeper. One day while dealing with one of the fruit, it broke and from it, popped out a ruby. The King was surprised to see this. He demanded his guards to check all the fruits, and from all fruits came out a fine ruby. The King decided to meet the beggar. However, the beggar had a condition that the King must meet him under a Banyan tree in the center of the crematorial ground beyond the city, at night, on the 14th day of the dark half of that month. The King decided to meet him as decided.

The beggar assigns him a task which only King Vikramaditya can perform. He had to visit the northern-most corner of this ground where he would find a very ancient tree. There he would see a corpse hanging from one of its branches. He would have to fetch it for him, as the sage was trying to seek certain magical powers, which he would get only if a king brought this particular corpse to him. Then he would practice certain rituals by sitting on it. According to the story, the King in order to fulfill his vow was required to remove the corpse of Betaal from the treetop and carry it on his shoulder to another place in silence. 

On the route, the spirit of Betaal (in the corpse) used to narrate a story to the king. After completing the story, Betaal would pose a condition in front of the king. If the king knew the answer,  he was bound to respond otherwise, his head will be broken into a thousand pieces. But if he does speak out, he would break the vow of silence and Betaal would fly back to the treetop of the banyan tree. The king would have to again go after the spirit and start all over again.

Looking at the determination of the king Vikramaditya, Betaal finally disclosed the true motive of the sage. The sage's plan was to practice rites by sitting on Betaal's corpse and he would kill the King also in the process, to get all powers of the world. This created suspicion in his mind. However, he still went to the mendicant, but he was prepared for the worst. Betaal proved himself to be right as the sage tried to kill the king. However, Vikramaditya outplayed the sage and killed him. A perfect to relieve your tension after a hectic day with your family. It helps to inculcate moral values among our younger generation.