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Author: Shrikant Vishwakarma
SWA- 21084
Copyright: shrikantvishwakarmaa@gmail.com
AMAZON PUBLISHED ASIN: B0FMK85N76
Little Bal Betal was a mischievous boy of about 12–14 years who lived in the forest, raised
by the bat queen Neema and her mate Kalim. But Betal’s real mother, Suvela, was
an apsara maiden who had fallen in love with the Gandharva King. When the king
feared that Lord Indra might discover their affair and take away his throne, he
abandoned her. The Gandharva King was cruel and debauched, but Suvela loved him
sincerely. He pressured her to destroy the unborn child in her womb, but Suvela
firmly refused. At that time, little Betal was still inside his mother — but
being a child born from both an apsara and a gandharva, he could already see
and hear everything happening to his mother, even within the womb. After being
rejected by the pleasure-seeking Gandharva King, Suvela’s troubles grew worse.
Yet she wanted to give birth to her child at any cost. To hide the fact that
she was carrying a child without marriage — a shameful matter in the realm of
apsaras — Suvela’s mother, Darshana, took her to the earthly realm.
Darshana, however, already knew what she had to do.
At the time of birth, she made Suvela unconscious, took the living newborn
away, and threw him into an ancient dry well. Then she returned to her daughter
and told her she had given birth to a stillborn.
Later, it was revealed that the Gandharva King
himself was behind this plot. He had forced Darshana to do it, after which he
returned to his realm to rule in comfort once more. Neither Darshana nor the
Gandharva King knew that the old well was actually the home of Neema, queen of
the bats, and her mate Kalim.
The human child fell directly into Neema’s lap. Pity
stirred in her heart, and she decided to raise the child right there in the
well. Slowly, Neema grew attached to the boy. She would carry him on her broad
back, sometimes flying across the skies, sometimes hanging from fruit-laden
trees so he could eat to his heart’s content. Kalim, too, would carry the child
through the forest on his wings.
Soon, all of Vantara Forest knew that Neema and
Kalim had adopted a human child. But one day, the cruel Gandharva King
discovered the truth. He had Neema and Kalim killed. Before he could kill the
boy, however, Betal hid himself in the secret lair — the great well — and never
emerged again. The Gandharva King never found him.
Twelve years later, a dust-covered boy with wild
hair and a strange appearance finally emerged from the well. The village
children surrounded him — for Betal, it was the first time seeing humans. They
asked him his name, but he could not reply; he didn’t know any language. They
told him to jump and play, but he did not understand. Then one boy laughed,
“You have no sur (tune) and no taal (rhythm) — should we call you
Betal?”
The name struck in the boy’s mind. He muttered it to
himself: “Betal… Betal…” The children assumed it was indeed his name.
When Betal took a step forward, he suddenly began to
fly here and there. He managed to hang from a tree branch — but then couldn’t
figure out how to get down. Seeing him hanging upside down like a bat, the
children ran away.
Betal did not know that his blood carried three
lineages — apsara, gandharva, and bat. That was why he could fly. From then on,
he began living in that tree.
Over time, mystics would come to sit beneath it,
sometimes a tantric performing rituals, sometimes a sage in meditation. Betal
observed them carefully and imitated their actions at night on the tree.
Gradually, he acquired mystical powers. Friendly spirits, ghosts, and witches
of Vantara taught him even more. Through his hard work and persistence, the boy
became Betal, the King of Ghosts.
When Betal grows up — how he takes revenge on his
father, the Gandharva King, and how he receives the curse of his mother Suvela
— is the story of the second part, told in detail.
