Vikram and the Vampire

A princess says nothing to the lovesick prince—she only plucks a lotus and puts it through a sequence of curious gestures before riding away. What has Vajramukut been told?

In Sir Richard Francis Burton’s telling of classic Hindu tales, a ruined tank lies deep in the forest, its waters bright with lotuses and watched over by a shrine. There, Prince Vajramukut glimpses a Raja’s daughter and falls into such despair that he vows he cannot live without her. His friend, a young minister’s son, is less moved by passion than by puzzles—and may be the only one who can make sense of the princess’s silent message. Meanwhile, King Vikram’s captive Baital interrupts the tale with irreverent observations of his own. Can a gesture with a lotus lead the prince to the woman he longs for?

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