Vikram aur betaal stories are a favourite with children, but their use as an alternative ethical text is novel, in a way. Though the ghost, or betaal, in the stories regularly poses ethical and moral challenges to King Vikram with his stories, Vasanthi Srinivasan of Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, argues that the stories can show how people react to moral challenges. The stories are not part of text on which moral teachings are based, yet they reveal that even ordinary individuals went out of their way to respond to challenging situations.

Title: CASI Working Paper Series No. 09-03, November 2009;

Source: Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania