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Psyche narrates the second tale from Baital Paschisi, where a beautiful woman dies from a snake bite and three suitors each take different paths of devotion, leading to her eventual resurrection and a riddle about rightful ownership.
Baital Pachchisi Tales/// initiate_layer
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Browse era →This episode presents the second story from the Baital Paschisi collection, told through the voice of the vetala (sprite) to King Vikram. The tale centers on Madamvati, a beautiful Brahman's daughter whose beauty leads to complications when her father, mother, and brother each promise her to different suitors while apart from each other. When all three equally worthy suitors arrive to claim her, she dies from a snake bite before the dilemma can be resolved. The three suitors respond to her death in different ways: one preserves her bones and becomes a wandering ascetic, another builds a hut on her cremation spot and guards her ashes, and the third becomes a traveling devotee who eventually steals a book of life restoration magic. When they reunite, they use the combined elements - bones, ashes, and resurrection magic - to bring Madamvati back to life, only to immediately argue over who has the rightful claim to her as wife. The vetala poses this as a riddle to King Vikram, who answers that she belongs to the one who built the hut and stayed with her ashes, reasoning that this man acted as her devoted husband while the others acted as son and father figures respectively.
A retelling of the third tale from Baital Paichisi, where King Rupson tests warrior Burbar's loyalty, leading to a profound test of devotion and virtue.
The first tale from Baital Paichisi, where Prince Baj Rau falls in love with Princess Padmavati through silent gestures at a lotus pond, leading to a story of coded communication and the wisdom of King Vikram.
Psyche tells the seventh tale from the Baital Pachisi, where King Vikram must solve a riddle about which of four suitors should marry a beautiful princess who demands beauty, strength, and knowledge.
Explore the ideas at the heart of this episode
