The tale of Prince Dikpaal

The tale of Prince Dikpaal is one of the few authentically Nepali folktales. Also one of the stories my mother told me over and over again every night. I think we even had a book of Nepali folktales that had the story in it. It's pretty scary, it's a long tale, but in the end the hero comes out victorious. Still, a disney prince he is not.

The tale of Prince Dikpal coincides an astounding amount with the betaal the possessed body from betaal pachisi or Vikram aur vetal series in contemporary entertainment. It's a collection of 25 tales, an anthology, wrapped in a narrative of a King who finds himself in strange circumstances, forming what could be called a bond with a possessed one. At the end of the anthology, the storyteller tells him one last story, his own, and how he ended up there in a cemetery, dead and at the service of an (spoiler alert!!!) evil sorcerer.

They're both princes whose parents had failed to conceive children. Had to take guidance of a holy man who promised them children in exchange for the discipleship of one of them. The holy man takes the young men in charge, discovers the smart, brave man, and makes him his permanent helper. The boy is forbidden to open this particular room. Now the sorcerer is either really stupid or perhaps this is his entire game plan, because the boy being the smart and clever person that he is, opens the door and discovers heads of dozens of dead princes. All crying and begging him for help. In the end, he kills the evil man, brings them all back to life, and returns home. He has other adventures on the way, and generally there's many other adventures happening but that's the gist of it. Betal's story is very similar, except he does not make it, he is one of the dead Princes. He advises King Vikram to kill the sorcerer, so the Dikpaal of our story is actually a fusion of the two monarchs -- the dead one, and the living one who eventually defeats the evil sorcerer.

One can't help wonder the implication of the story and the context behind the characters. Why the evil sorcerer, for one. What are his beliefs like? Is he a tantrik or a mantrik? Who are his deities? What languages does he speak, what is his end goal after the death of the prince or the King? What's HIS origin story...surely such a witty evil powerful person did not arise in a vacuum. Does he work alone or does he have accomplices?

These are the nonsensical questions we must ask about our beloved folk tales so we may safely modify and adapt them to make the context more understandable, to make it truly ours.