The Story of Kritákrita

By Francis William Bain (1898)^[1]

Illustration by Ernest Griset for Vikram and the Vampire, Richard F. Burton (1893 edition).
Source: Internet Archive.

There was once a Brahman named Kritákrita,⊕ Kritákrita: Done and not done. who neglected the study of the Wédas, and walked in the black path, abandoning all his duties⊕ abandoning...: Achárabhrashta, an apostate or decasted person.., and associating with gamblers, harlots, and outcasts. And he frequented the cemeteries at night, and became familiar with ghosts and vampires and dead bodies, and impure and unholy rites and incantations.

And one night, amid the flaming of funeral pyres and the reek of burning corpses, a certain Vampire⊕ Vampire…: Wétála, an uncanny being, generally possessing magic powers, given to occupying empty corpses and devouring human flesh. of his acquaintance said to him: I am hungry: bring me fresh meat to devour, or I will tear you in pieces.

Then Kritákrita said: I will bring it, but not for nothing. What will you give me for it?

The Vampire replied: Bring me a newly slain Brahman, and I will teach you a spell for raising the dead.

But Kritákrita said: That is not enough. And they haggled in the cemetery about the price.

At last that abandoned Brahman said: Throw in a pair of dice that will enable me always to win at play, and I will bring you the flesh you require. So the Vampire said: Be it so.

Then Kritákrita went away, and knowing no other resource secretly murdered his own brother, and brought him to the cemetery at midnight. And the Vampire kept his word, giving him the dice, and teaching him the spell.

Then some time afterwards, Kritákrita said to himself: I will try the efficacy of this spell that the Vampire has taught me. So he procured the body of a dead Chandála,⊕ Chandála: The lowest caste, whose very proximity was pollution to a Brahman. and taking it at the dead of night to the cemetery, placed it on the ground, and began to recite the spell.

But when he had got halfway through, he looked at the corpse, and saw its left arm, and leg, and eye moving horribly with life, the other half being still dead. And he was so terrified at the sight, that he utterly forgot the rest of the spell, and leaped up and ran away.

But the corpse jumped up also, and a vampire entered its dead half, and it rushed rapidly after him, shuffling on one leg, and rolling its one eye, and yelling indistinctly: Underdone, overdone, undone!⊕ Underdone, overdone, undone…: This is all one word in the original, únádhikákritamkritam, ‘what has been done is too little, too much, and not done at all.’

But Kritákrita fled at full speed to his house, and getting into bed lay there trembling. And after a while he fell asleep. And then suddenly he awoke, hearing a noise, and he looked and saw the door open, and the corpse of that dead Chándála came in, and shuffled swiftly towards him on its left leg, rolling its left eye, with its dead half hanging down beside it, and crying in a terrible voice: Underdone, overdone, undone!

And Kritákrita sprang out of bed, and ran out by another door, and mounting a horse, fled as fast as he could to another city a great way off.

And there he thought: Here I am safe. So he went day by day to the gambling hall, and playing with his dice, won great sums of money, and lived at his ease, feasting himself and others. But one night, when he was sitting among the gamblers in the gambling hall, throwing the dice, he heard behind him a noise of shuffling. And he looked round, and saw, coming swiftly towards him on one leg, the corpse of that dead Chándála, with its dead half rotting and hanging down, and its left eye rolling in anger, and calling out in a voice of thunder: Underdone, overdone, undone!

And he rose up with a shriek, and leaped over the table, and fled away by an opposite door and left that city, and ran as fast as he could, constantly looking behind him through the forest for many days and nights, never daring to stop even to take breath, till he reached another city a long way off. And there he remained, disguised and concealed, as it were in a hole. But all the gamblers in that gambling saloon died of fear.

And after some time he again accumulated wealth by gambling in that city, and lived in extravagance at his ease. But one night, when he was sitting with an hetæra⊕ hetæra… (Ancient Greek): A highly cultivated hired female companion who would entertain upper-class male clients and might perform sex acts for them. (Wiktionary) [NZ] whom he loved, in the inner room of her house, he heard the noise of shuffling.

And he looked round, and saw once more the corpse of that dead Chándála coming swiftly towards him on one leg, with its dead half, from whose bones the flesh had rotted away, hanging down, and its left eye blazing with flames of rage, calling out with a voice like the scream of Ráwana:⊕ Ráwana…: In the Ramayana, Ravana was the king of Lanka, who kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita. The name means “roaring” or “screamer.” [NZ] Underdone, overdone, undone!

Then that hetæra then and there abandoned the body in her terror. And Kritákrita rose up, and ran out by a door, which led out upon the balcony, while the Chándála hastened after him. And finding no other outlet, Kritákrita flung himself down into the street, and was dashed to pieces, and died.