The oldest revised edition of these tales appears in the 12th book of the Kathasaritsagara ( कथासरित्सागर, or Ocean of the Streams of Stories), a Sanskrit work compiled in the 11th century by Somadeva that was based on (आधारित पर/aadhaarit par) older materials no longer available.
बेताल पच्चीसी, which means “The Twenty-Five Tales of Baital,” is a collection of stories within a frame (or overarching) narrative about a king (राजा/raajaa) and his quest to capture a “baital” (often rendered as “vampire” in English although the reality, as you’ll see, is more complicated) in order to receive a boon (वरदान/vardaan) from a powerful tantric sorcerer ( वामाचारी/vaamaachaari=literally means “practitioner of left-handed doctrine” because it is opposed to orthodox or normative Hindu practice). Image by Illustrations by Ernest Griset on Wikimedia Commons, public domain. One of Ernest Griset’s illustrations from Burton’s retelling of the tale, Vikram and the Vampire. Its legacy lives on today in popular culture (लोक संस्कृति/lok sanskriti), although its historical roots (ऐतिहासिक जड़ें/aitihaasik jaren) and literary saga (साहित्यिक कथा/saahityik kathaa) are perhaps more fascinating. Although originally in Sanskrit, this collection of tales has been translated into a variety of Indian vernaculars, such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi, and has had a long life in terms of its many translations and retellings (including in English) and its numerous adaptations for the screen in the form of serials (TV shows). When I was a teenager, I came across a collection of tales (कथाएँ/kathaaen or कहानियाँ/kahaaniyaan) called Baital Pachisi ( बेताल पच्चीसी) or, in Sanskrit, Vetala Panchavimshati ( वेतालपञ्चविंशति) that thoroughly captivated me. As Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (मनपसंद त्योहार/manpasand tyohaar), and I’ve been fascinated with ghost stories since I was a child, I thought I would share an Indian “ghost story,” if you will, in honor of the upcoming (आनेवाला/aanevaalaa) holiday.
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