The Monomyth of Vikramaditya

Abstract

The legendary king Vikramaditya, revered in India as an epitome of valour and justice is an enigmatic paradox of historical reality and mythic truth. Despite several textual references, his historical presence, is ambiguous and lacking in epigraphic evidence. The credibility of the Vikramaditya legend has often been disregarded by factual historians sniffing and screening out elements of fantasy in the tales. However, the eternal spirit of Vikramaditya is beyond what eyes can see and beyond what the mind can prove. While from a historical standpoint an accurate account of the King would inevitably remain incomplete,  Vikramaditya, the archetypal hero is absolute and ephemeral. His identity as an archetypal the hero, typically confirms to the archetypal structure of the ‘mono-myth’ and is analogous to  mythic parallels of several cultures. This paper undertakes to examine king Vikramaditya with respect to the archetypal manifestation of his existence, in the mythic perspective.