A PROMISE NOT

KEPT
King Vikram was adamant on taking
Betaal to the sage because he
wanted to keep his promise to him.
So, he again went back to the forest
and fetched the ghost from the tree.
When he started walking back
towards the cremation ground, Betaal
started to tell him one of the
interesting stories he knew.
The ruler of Kishanagar had an
extremely beautiful daughter, named
Sona. As she was the only child, she
enjoyed a lot of freedom. She was
intelligent, well read and skilled in the
use of weapons. When she reached
a marriageable age, the king started

looking for a suitable partner for her.

The princess coveted to marry a man
more skilled than her in every
respect. So, she asked her father to
make an announcement that she
would marry only the person who
would be able to defeat her in a fight.
The king was very proud to hear his
daughters views and made
announcements in every state,
inviting princes to his kingdom.
Thinking that it would be very easy to
defeat a young woman, many fighters
and princes from all over the country
came to take the challenge, but none
could succeed. As the princess was
taking on the suitors one after
another, among them was Uday
Varma, the prince of Ayodhyapuri. He

watched the fight every day, by

joining the crowd. He carefully
observed her way of fighting. Within a
few days, Uday Varma learnt all her
strategies, and was fully prepared to
fight her and as anticipated it did not
take him long to defeat the princess.
Uday Varma proudly told the king and
the queen that he was able to defeat
the princess by closely observing her
fighting strategies. On hearing this,
the princess suddenly said, Dear
prince, I know that you have defeated
me, but I cannot marry you.
The king was surprised by his
daughters decision and asked her
the reason for the refusal. The
princess turned towards Uday Varma

and asked whether he knew the

reason or not. Uday Varma thought
for a while and said, Yes you are
right! We cannot get married. Saying
so, he walked away from there.
The king and queen were surprised
to see Uday Varma accepting Sonas
decision without any argument. They
were unable to understand the whole
situation.
Betaal thus concluded the story and
asked King Vikramaditya,Why did
Uday Varma quietly accept the
decision of the princess? Tell me
Vikram, if you do not speak even if
you know the answer, your head will
split into pieces.

Vikram replied Uday Varma had

learnt the art of warfare from Sona,
just as a student learns it from his
teacher. Both of them agreed not to
marry each other because they
understood that in Bhartiya sanskriti,
it is immoral for a teacher to marry
his or her student.
Vikram had rightly answered Betaals
question. Since he had spoken again,
Betaal flew back to the tree. Vikram
with his sword in his hand, went after
the Betaal once again.