Editing Vetala (section)

==Literature==
The [[Vetala Panchavimshati]] is a collection of twenty-five stories, featuring a vetala as one of the two central characters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dowson |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leH7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 |title=A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature |date=2013-11-05 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-39029-6 |pages=355 |language=en}}</ref> It is a part of the [[Kathasaritsagara]], a work that was compiled no later than the 11th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iM_QAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=On Hinduism |date=March 2014 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-936007-9 |pages=45 |language=en}}</ref> It features a frame story of a sorcerer who asks King [[Vikramaditya]] to capture a corpse hanging on a tree that stands in the middle of a cremation ground.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poo |first=Mu-chou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hw2wCQAAQBAJ&dq=vet%C4%81la+spirits&pg=PA17 |title=Rethinking Ghosts in World Religions |date=2009-06-24 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2484-0 |pages=18 |language=en}}</ref> The corpse is possessed by a vetala, who proposes to tell the king a story along the journey. After the vetala finishes the story, he would ask the king a question, which he would have to answer. After Vikramaditya answers the question, the vetala would return to the tree, the corpse hanging upon it once more. This event occurs twenty-four times, after which the king is unable to answer the question posed by the vetala. Impressed with the king, the vetala informs him of the evil designs of the sorcerer, and grants him a gift that would allow him to acquire the powers of witchcraft and defeat the sorcerer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winternitz |first=Moriz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql0BmInD1c4C&pg=PA367 |title=A History of Indian Literature |date=1981 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-0056-4 |pages=267 |language=en}}</ref>