The Origin: The Monk's Secret Ruby & The Midnight Oath

In the ancient golden city of Ujjayini ruled Emperor Vikramaditya—celebrated across the three worlds for his unyielding truth, valor, and righteous justice.

Every morning, a mysterious saffron-clad ascetic named Bhikshu Shantisheel entered the royal court, silently presented a single fresh fruit to the King, and departed without uttering a single request.

Assuming the fruit to be an ordinary offering from a wandering monk, King Vikramaditya routinely handed it to his treasurer Malavya, who stored it in the royal cellars.

Days turned into seasons, and years flowed by. For ten uninterrupted years (3,650 days), the ascetic arrived each morning without missing a single day, offering his mysterious fruit!

One morning, as King Vikram stood on the open palace balcony receiving the daily fruit, a guard's playful pet monkey broke loose and bounded onto the parapet.

In a swift leap, the monkey snatched the ripe fruit straight from the Emperor's hand and scrambled atop the carved balustrade to bite it open!

As the rind cracked, a priceless, fiery celestial ruby burst forth, illuminating the entire marble terrace with blinding crimson radiance!

The royal lapidary inspected the ruby and bowed in awe: 'Sire! This celestial gem is so priceless that all the treasuries of earth cannot match its value!'

Turning to the treasurer, Vikram inquired urgently: 'Malavya! Where are all the fruits presented by this monk over the last ten years?'

Bearing blazing torches, the Emperor and his treasurer descended the stone stairway into the deepest subterranean chambers beneath the palace.

Opening the iron doors, they stood stunned! The organic flesh of 3,650 fruits had decayed away, leaving behind a glittering, mountain-sized hoard of thousands of flawless rubies!

Deeply moved by the treasurer's uncorrupted honesty, Emperor Vikramaditya magnanimously bestowed the entire mountain of rubies upon the faithful treasurer!

The next morning, as the monk offered another fruit, Vikram caught his wrist: 'I shall not touch this fruit until you reveal why an ascetic showers imperial fortunes upon a King!'

Leading the Emperor into a secluded corridor, the monk knelt with humble reverence: 'Sire! I am the tantric practitioner Shantisheel. I seek the supreme siddhi of the Vidyadharas.'

'On the coming Amavasya midnight, I am conducting a supreme tantric rite in the Mahashmashana. To guard the ritual circle against dark spirits, I require the fearless protection of earth's greatest Chakravartin warrior!'

Bound by the sacred duty of a Kshatriya never to refuse a petitioner, Emperor Vikramaditya pledged his solemn royal word to assist the monk on the fateful midnight!

The terrifying night of Amavasya arrived. Thunder cracked through an ink-black sky, rain poured in torrents, and eerie blue cremation fires cast jagged shadows amidst howling jackals.

Clad in dark warrior silks and gripping his drawn steel talwar, Emperor Vikramaditya walked fearlessly and alone into the haunted realm of ghouls.

In the heart of the graveyard, Shantisheel sat within a glowing vermilion mandala surrounded by human skulls, chanting dark mantras beside a pit of black flames.

The sorcerer pointed south into the impenetrable darkness: 'Two leagues south stands an ancient Shinshapa tree where a dead corpse hangs suspended upside down. Go, cut it down, and carry it to my sacrificial altar!'

Without a heartbeat of hesitation, Vikram strode through thorn-choked thickets, eerie apparitions, and spectral shrieks toward the southern forest.

Before him loomed the towering, twisted Shinshapa tree. Hanging upside down from a rugged bough was a withered corpse—inhabited by the cunning supernatural spirit Betal!

Vikram scaled the rugged trunk and severed the hanging cord with a swift stroke of his sword. The corpse crashed to the earth and began to groan.

As Vikram reached down to lift it, the corpse burst into a shrill, mocking cackle and vanished upward in a flash, hanging from the bough once more!

Undaunted by the mockery, Vikram climbed the tree a second time, seized the spirit firmly by its hair, and dragged it down to the earth.

Strapping the corpse firmly across his broad back with his sash, Emperor Vikramaditya set off in unbroken silence toward Shantisheel's altar.

From his back, Betal whispered his chilling ultimatum: 'O King! The road is long. If you speak a single word, I shall fly back to my bough; but if you know the answer to my riddle and remain silent, your skull will burst into a thousand pieces!'

Alone under the ink-black sky of the moonless night, Emperor Vikramaditya turned back into the haunted forest, fearless and determined to capture the spirit once more.