Once upon a time there lived a washerman named Dhavala. He once spotted a very beautiful lady at pond, who happened to be the daughter of another washerman. He instantly fell in love with her and pleaded with his parents to ask her parents for her hand in marriage. His parents did accordingly and the girl, Madanasundari, got married to him with her parents consent. She then went with Dhavala to live with him.
Once the brother of Madanasundari, came to Dhavala to invite his sister and brother-in-law to their place for festival season. Dhavala agreed and the three of them were returning to Madanasundari's home. On the way they happened to pass by the temple of Durga Devi, the all powerful goddess of power. Her brother wanted to pay a visit to the goddess, and went to the temple. But as soon as he came near the goddess, he wanted to make a massive sacrifice to the goddess. So saying he cut his head off for the goddess. Madanasundari was worried and she then sent her husband to see what the matter was. On seeing the state of his brother-in-law, the husband was also moved deeply and he decided to offer his own head too to the goddess and cut his own head with his scitmar. Madanasundari, after a long wait came and saw both her brother and husband lying on the ground and then decided to take her own life but asked the goddesss to get the same brother and husband in the next life. The goddess was pleased and stopped her from dying and asked her to join their heads and bodies and then she granted them life. In a hurry, Madanasundari, exchanged the heads of her brother and husband and was perplexed.
Betaal stops and asks King Vikram asks this question: Who among the two is the husband of Madanasundari? Vikram replies with a lot of thought, "The body that carries her husband's head is is her husband. The head is the most important part of the human body, and the rest of the body is identified by the head."
As soon as Vikram had finished his answer, Betaal disappeared back to the tree.

The Exchanged Head

True Story

Once upon a time there lived a washerman named Dhavala. He once spotted a very beautiful lady at pond, who happened to be the daughter of another washerman. He instantly fell in love with her and pleaded with his parents to ask her parents for her hand in marriage. His parents did accordingly and the girl, Madanasundari, got married to him with her parents consent. She then went with Dhavala to live with him.
Once the brother of Madanasundari, came to Dhavala to invite his sister and brother-in-law to their place for festival season. Dhavala agreed and the three of them were returning to Madanasundari's home. On the way they happened to pass by the temple of Durga Devi, the all powerful goddess of power. Her brother wanted to pay a visit to the goddess, and went to the temple. But as soon as he came near the goddess, he wanted to make a massive sacrifice to the goddess. So saying he cut his head off for the goddess. Madanasundari was worried and she then sent her husband to see what the matter was. On seeing the state of his brother-in-law, the husband was also moved deeply and he decided to offer his own head too to the goddess and cut his own head with his scitmar. Madanasundari, after a long wait came and saw both her brother and husband lying on the ground and then decided to take her own life but asked the goddesss to get the same brother and husband in the next life. The goddess was pleased and stopped her from dying and asked her to join their heads and bodies and then she granted them life. In a hurry, Madanasundari, exchanged the heads of her brother and husband and was perplexed.
Betaal stops and asks King Vikram asks this question: Who among the two is the husband of Madanasundari? Vikram replies with a lot of thought, "The body that carries her husband's head is is her husband. The head is the most important part of the human body, and the rest of the body is identified by the head."
As soon as Vikram had finished his answer, Betaal disappeared back to the tree.

Meeting with Vikram and Betaal

Story

Vikram was the name of a king. He ruled over a city on the banks of Godavari River. He was very famous for his bravery and courage. People loved him because he always rendered justice.
One day a sage came to the court of Vikram and gifted him a fruit. The king handed it over to his treasurer. Thereafter, the sage kept coming to the court daily to gift a fruit to the king. The king could not understand the reason behind this behaviour. But still he did not try to find out the sage's intentions.
However, one morning, Vikram noticed a monkey sitting on the palace wall and gave the fruit to it. The monkey had started eating the fruit when suddenly a dazzling gem fell out of it. The King was very surprised. He immediately ordered his treasurer to get him all the fruits kept in the storage. The fruits had gone bad but when the king had them crushed, each one of them yielded a precious gem. The generous King donated all these gems to the poor and waited for the sage’s visit to the court.
The next day, the sage visited the court of Vikram with yet another fruit.
Vikram welcomed the sage and asked him "Your Holiness! Can you please tell me why you have been giving me such precious gifts? Without good reason, I cannot accept any gifts from you."
The sage replied, "I need the help of a brave man for a spiritual goal. Will you help me?" Vikram readily agreed to this. So the sage said, "O King, please come to the burial ground on the next moonless night. It is at a distance of 20 miles from here. I will wait for you under a banyan tree." Vikram agreed to follow the instructions.
On the said night, Vikram covered his head and body with a black cloth and unnoticed, reached the appointed spot in the forest. The sage was waiting for him and told him, "King Vikram! To the south of this forest is an old tamarind tree on which hangs a corpse upside down. Please bring it to me." The king immediately followed the sage’s orders and reached the tamarind tree. On finding a corpse there, he cut it loose. As soon as the corpse fell to the ground, it laughed loudly with a cackling sound. The king realized that it was a ghost. But the courageous king carried the body over his shoulders and started towards his capital. A short distance later, the ghost left Vikram’s shoulders and escaped to its original spot. The king climbed up the tree, brought down the ghost and placing it on his shoulders started walking again. "Who are you?" he asked the ghost. "I am Betaal" replied the ghost and in turn asked Vikram, "Why and where are you taking me away?"
"A sage has requested me to bring you to him," replied Vikram.
Betaal did not have any objection to going with Vikram but he laid down a condition. "We have to cover a long distance and to relieve the tedious walk, I will tell you a story. But you should not utter even one word till we reach the destination. If by chance you utter anything, I will fly back to the tamarind tree. Do you agree to this?" asked Betaal. Vikram agreed to this and silently listened to Betaal’s story.