Śivadāsa was the author of one of the best-known versions of stories from the Vetālapañćavinśati or "Vetāla Tales"; a series of nīti-śāstras (tales of

political ethics Political ethics (also known as political morality or public ethics) is the practice of making moral judgments about political action and political agents. It covers two areas: the ethics of process (or the ethics of office), which covers public off ...

) involving the semi-legendary Indian king Vikramāditya.

The author

Nothing is known about him for certain. The name is probably a

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

. Based on what may be inferred from his writing, he was a very well-educated

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

whose audience consisted of young men in the lower nobility with plenty of leisure time and a fondness for amusing stories involving warriors and

courtesans A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

. He may also have been an orator/actor who developed his stories through performance and only later wrote them down. He is believed to have lived somewhere between the twelfth to fourteenth centuries AD.

The tales

Though often attributed to

Bhavabhuti Bhavabhūti (born Śrīkaṇṭha Nīlakaṇṭha; Devanagari: भवभूति; -) was a classical Sanskrit scholar, poet, and playwright of eighth-century India. He is considered a key successor to Kalidasa and is often regarded as matching ...

, the true origin of these tales is lost in antiquity. They appear to have been part of a large corpus of Kathā (narrative tales) about Vikramāditya that were first written down in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

during the eleventh century. Several versions exist, the best-known being those by Śivadāsa and Jambhaladatta.''Jambhaladatta’s Version of the Vetālapañcavinśati''; a critical Sanskrit text in transliteration, with an introduction, and English translation, by

Murray Barnson Emeneau Murray Barnson Emeneau (February 28, 1904 – August 29, 2005) was the founder of the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Early life and education Emeneau was born in Lunenburg, a fishing town on the east coast ...

. New Haven, Conn. American Oriental Society, 1934. In Śivadāsa's version, King Vikramāditya's kingdom is endangered by the machinations of a powerful

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events and discover hidden knowledge. ...

. While planning what to do, he encounters a Vetala (a form of

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that inhabits and animates corpses). He asks for the Vetala's help. He is then told twenty-five stories, each of which end with a riddle he must solve to prove his wisdom and knowledge. After solving all the riddles, the genie helps him to vanquish his enemy. The story is told in the

Champu Champu or Chapu-Kavya (Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A ''champu-kavya'' consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kav ...

literary style, (a mixture of prose and verse), which suggests the possibility of Jain influence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivadasa Sanskrit writers Ancient Indian writers Panchatantra