Read Book Online : http://www.archive.org/stream/vikramvampireort00burtuoft#page/n9/mode/2up

Dowload pdf book : http://ia600306.us.archive.org/7/items/vikramvampireort00burtuoft/vikramvampireort00burtuoft.pdf

Vikram and The Vampire is a great book to read...Sir Burton has done a great job:)

lol @ 'tales of hindu devilry'! firstly, a betal is definitely not a vampire - any person even half-knowledgeable abt demonology could tell you that. nor is there any concept of the devil in 'hinduism'. demons, yes. devil - absolutely not. one could believe from the title that burton has missed out on the fact that the vetal/vikram paradigm is not so much abt devilry or occult, but much more a narrative device to pose moral questions through each tale, thus involving the reader in the thought process of decision-making that makes one reflect on one's values in the context of unusual and hypothetical situations. its not just entertainment - its an urging to reflect upon the dilemma. to call these tales of devilry is to have missed the central point - such a sensationalist title can be pardoned only for marketing purposes and one can give the benefit of doubt to burton for this sole reason. i guess there was money to be made by marketing 'occult' books from the exotic oriental, if one packaged them correctly - banking on the utter ignorance of the occidentals on such subjects.

Mr Sapkal ~ I think that I agree with what you are saying above ... Yes, the phraseology deployed here may well be Euro-centric, for that was the 'market' ( a rather small market in numerical terms) at which the book was aimed... and the 'market-profile' of this group, in 1883, would have been 'high Victorian' and almost universally, devoutly Christian ~ at the peak of the Imperial era, Europeans were used to dealing with the rest of the world in and on their own terms.... Burton deserves some credit, at least, for regarding the religions and belief systems of the East as being of some importance/ interest and for endeavouring to bring aspects of other cultures to a wider audience.... you must allow for a degree of inexactitude in the language and a certain confusion over terminologies.

Long back I read Vikram/Vetal stories in Comic "Chandamam". In 2006 it was bought by Disney. http://www.chandamama.com/story/2/6/17/1984/the_immortal_epic_of_anand/stories.htm Nobody knows the original author of Vikram/Vetal. As Pankaj pointed there is vast difference but main objective was to raise moral questions and give an indirect message to society. Sir Richard Burton was in Army posted in India during 1842-1849. He was well versed with indian mythology and culture.

@JC - definitely. not just some credit, but a huge amount of credit goes to burton for the service he has done. and, i might say, the same credit should be extended to the british empire, as well, for its cultural inclination towards methodical documentation (with any errors of translation that are bound to creep in) - most of such work has been conducted with an astounding degree of diligence and effort. whatever its other flaws, the british culture definitely has my unreserved applause for this admirable feature of its activities.

Pravin Yadav: very correct. and thanks for the link! my childhood collection of chandamamas, unfortunately, got sold in raddi in my absence at the parental home. i would love to rebuild the collection, with its quaint illustrations and enchanting tales. i think, chandamama and amar chitra kathas (promoted by the great uncle pai) have done a great service to indic culture through disseminating such beautiful culturally embedded tales that helped spread indic values among millions of growing indian children. 3 cheers for chandamama and ACKs!