Tamil Cartoon Vikramaditya

Vikramaditya is a Tamil language TV serial that aired on the channel Chithiram TV, a Kalaignar TV product. Chithiram TV is a kids' television channel that plays shows suitable for kids from the ages of 2 to 14. All Indian kids’ stories have some kind of message in them. This show is one such story of a great King Vikramaditya, who is known for his generosity and courage. The show is created in an animated format to appeal to the kids. This is an adaptation of the all famous stories of Vikram and Vetala written by the Kashmiri poet Somdev Bhatt in the 11th century. Vikramaditya is a great King who ruled a major area of India under his capital, Ujjain.

The King opened the doors of his palace to everyone in the Kingdom, noblemen and peasants alike. Everyday many people visit him and present him a gift, whatever they can. One day, he was visited by a sage (more accurately, a sorcerer). He gifted the King a fruit, and the Kind received it as he would any other valuable gift. The sage visited every day for a few days and gifted the same king of fruit. The King gave the fruit to one of the workers, who saved the fruit in a box. One day, the King went for a walk with the fruit in his hand and dropped it by mistake. A monkey took the fruit and began to eat it. A ruby fell out of the fruit. The King went back to his palace and checked the box filled with fruit. All of them contained a very valuable and very high-quality ruby. When the sage visited the next day, the King asked him why he gave him such a big gift.

The sage answered that he wanted a favour from the King. The sage wanted the King to go to the far corner of a cemetery and bring the corpse of Vetala that will be hanging down from the branch of the Banyan tree so that the sage can acquire occult powers. King Vikramaditya agrees to it and sets out to find the corpse, which turns out to be a talking one. The corpse, Vetala, agrees to go with the King if he agrees to the set of conditions. One, Vetala will tell the King a story, and he must not utter a word, if he does, Vetala will fly back to the tree. Two, at the end of each story, Vetala will ask a question, and if the King doesn’t answer it even if he knows the answer, his head will explode into a thousand pieces. Three, if the King doesn’t know the answer, then Vetala will go with him without complaint. Vetala recites a few stories, and at the end of each one, the King answers the question right.

Vetala will fly back to the tree as the King opened his mouth, and he has to start his journey from the start. This happens twenty-four times. The King doesn’t know the answer to the twenty-fifth story, so Vetala will go along with him to the Sage. But, he warns the King that the Sage wants to kill King Vikramaditya to gain powers. The King goes to the Sage nonetheless to keep his promise, but he is prepared for the worst. When the sage attempts to kill him, he retaliates and kills the sage. The King thanks Vetala, who returns to the Banyan tree.