Résumé
Résumé de Baitâl Pachchîsî : Les vingt-cinq contes d’un esprit
Go deeper: the whole of Baitâl Pachchîsî : Les vingt-cinq contes d’un esprit
About 2 h 40 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy riddles, folk tales and stories within stories will love this collection. It also suits those drawn to royal courts, spirits and old Indian ideas of duty, love and honor.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Would you carry a corpse through a haunted cremation ground at midnight, with rain pouring and snakes coiling round your legs? King Vikram does, and the corpse will not stay quiet. Each time Vikram carries it away, it tells him a story, and each story ends in a question. If Vikram knows the answer and keeps silent, the sprite warns, he will be cast into hell.
This is the Baital Pachchisi, the twenty-five tales of a sprite, retold by Lallu Lal and Mazhar Ali Khan Vila from an old Sanskrit tradition. A baital is a spirit that haunts places where bodies burn.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A fruit of immortality passes through many handsFree
- 2A holy man brings rubies and asks for one night
- 3A corpse that talks sets the first riddle
- 4Who owns a woman that three men claim
- 5Loyalty is measured by what a person gives up
- 6Cunning, desire and the thief who sees clearly
- 7Learning without wisdom, and strange, small puzzles
- 8How the frame, the refrain and the king work
Point clé 1 sur 8
A fruit of immortality passes through many hands
The story that holds all the others begins in the city of Dharanagar. Vikram kills his elder brother Shank, who took the throne, and rules so well that he becomes king of all India. Later he hands the throne to his brother Bharthari and wanders as a devotee.
A Brahman receives a fruit of immortality from a deity. His wife weeps, because an immortal beggar would beg forever, so he sells it to the king. Bharthari gives the fruit to the queen he loves best. She passes it to the kotwal, the city police chief, who is her lover. He gives it to a courtesan, and she carries it back to the king, thinking it a fitting gift. Bharthari asks the queen what she did with it. She says she ate it. He shows her the fruit, and she stands speechless.
The king gives up his throne and walks alone into the jungle.
Vikram hurries home. At midnight a demon guarding the empty city stops him at the gate. They fight, and Vikram sits on its chest. The demon warns him that an ascetic plans to kill him.
Hold what you value with open eyes, because gifts and crowns move from hand to hand.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Questions about Baitâl Pachchîsî : Les vingt-cinq contes d’un esprit
What is the Baital Pachchisi about?
It tells of King Vikram, who must carry a corpse possessed by a sprite through a cremation ground at night. On the way, the sprite tells twenty-five tales, each ending with a question about guilt, virtue, relationships or another puzzle for the king.
What does the word baital mean?
A baital, or sprite, is a spirit said to haunt cremation grounds and animate dead bodies. In the book it lives in a corpse hanging from a siris tree and is the storyteller who tests the king.
Who is King Vikram in the story?
Vikram is a king of Dharanagar who takes the throne by force, rules well, and is known for his courage and justice. He keeps his promises, fights a demon, and gives reasoned answers until the final riddle leaves him silent.
Is the Baital Pachchisi easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that each tale is short and stands alone, with a clear plot and a question at the end. You can read one at a time and still follow the larger story.
What is the main message of the tales?
The tales hold that wisdom lies in weighing motive, duty and cost. They show that loyalty, courage and honesty matter, and that learning without judgment can be dangerous.
Cite this edition
Lallu Lal, and Mazhar Ali Khan Vila. The Baital Pachchisi: The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-baital-pachchisi-the-twenty-five-tales-of-a-sprite.
Lallu Lal, & Vila, M. A. K. (2026). The Baital pachchisi: The twenty-five tales of a sprite. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-baital-pachchisi-the-twenty-five-tales-of-a-sprite
Lallu Lal, and Mazhar Ali Khan Vila. The Baital Pachchisi: The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-baital-pachchisi-the-twenty-five-tales-of-a-sprite.
@book{lallulal2026baital,
author = {Lallu Lal and Vila, Mazhar Ali Khan},
title = {The Baital Pachchisi: The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-baital-pachchisi-the-twenty-five-tales-of-a-sprite}
}
