As a child, Betal for me meant the pale scary ghost hosted on the back of King Vikramaditya in the programme ‘Vikram and Betal’.

One day we cousins gathered around our Ajja for a story. His stories weren’t about Gods or morals. They were more about occurrences in his life. Sitting next to my Ajja was his beedi friend – Goinda (Govinda). Govinda was the caretaker of the neighboring property. The owners had been under dispute for a long time and Govinda lived on the vast property alone away from his family making extra money by selling the coconuts to add to his meagre income. He was extremely dark-skinned – almost invisible in the night, with dark red eyes and was usually dressed in a faded dhoti wrapped up around his waist with a sickle tied in a knot.

Ajja started off with the story. I forget the details but it was about some person who had died young. He had ventured into the jungle against his family’s wishes. And he had seen Nagdo Betal and fainted. When he was found he had a high fever and passed away in a state of shock. As Govinda smiled showing off his pale yellow teeth, it added to the eeriness of the story and left me sleepless for many nights, feeling even scared to close the windows at night, just in case someone grabs my hand! No one explained to me what Nagdo Betal meant but I assumed it must be someone scary going around naked!

The next time, Ajja told us a story of a Betal who rides on a horse through the night making the jingling sound ‘zail zail’, and anyone who sees him dies. I don’t know if this is a superstition or a story weaved to scare kids so that they don’t venture out in the night!

Another incident changed my emotions towards that name – from fear to amusement. My little cousin brother was throwing a massive tantrum running around naked and my Ajji said ‘ Dhavto pale nagdo betaal so!’ (Look at him running around like a naked Betal).

The consistent storyline across all the tales, customs and practices of this demigod is his stature as the protector of the local people who both revere and fear him.

There are a couple of lines associated with the Betal each in a different context.

Nagdo Betalo, Shettham Vethalo,
Shethkarank Udak divn gara vethalo‖

<The naked Betal will go to the fields and return back home after giving water to the farmers>

“Nagdo Betalo, Shenoycha bainth nathalo,
Potbhor soro piyevn ghara vethalo”

< The naked Betal will take a bath in the well of the Shenoys and return home after drinking liquor to his stomach’s content>

No one knows for certain the evolution of this character popular along the Konkan region. With his ferocious, naked form he doesn’t meet description of any of our Puranic Gods. But over the centuries, he has been worshipped by the locals as a demigod, the gramdevata who protects the villages. The depiction of Betal in statues depends on the era and the predominant architecture of those times. The very ancient ones are roughly carved wooden statues, in some cases like the one in Loliem his statue is more architecturally evolved while in some, his statue is covered with a metal cast to veil the naked form. In general, he is depicted as a ferocious, physically strong, naked mendicant wielding a weapon in his hand with a wide eyed haunting gaze.

Betal is typically offered blood sacrifice and liquor to appease him and make sure he bestows his protection on the surroundings.It is believed he patrols the local area at night so he is also offered chappals and swords. In the Canacona region of Goa, it is believed that if Betal is worshipped on Sunday or Wednesday he bestows blessings on the devotee. There is a very interesting story around how this Betal was tricked into staying back at Canacona. The Betal arrived in the region after conquering twelve territories and was about to conquer the thirteenth one, by killing all the inhabitants who would confront him. The villagers recognised that it would be good for the Betal to stay as protector. A wise elder called Nagizan, requested Betal to reside in the village as the guardian in return for being offered a two-legged animal, four-legged animal, a ten-legged animal as well as a foetus as an offering. Betal agreed and offered him a fowl, buffalo, crab, and a tender areca nut sprout (as a symbol for foetus). Nagizan thus tricked Betal to stay in the village as the protector.

Around the 12th century, Betal worship was included in mainstream Hinduism. Most GSB temples in Goa have a separate area outside the main garbha as a panchaytan (affiliated deity) where Betal is installed for his worship. He is not worshipped by women or brahmins. His devotees and priests try to avoid the sight of a woman or the sound of a woman’s bangles when they offer prayers to Betal. The worship is done by the non-brahmins (guravs, ghadi, jalmi or ravals ) and not the brahmins. However, at some places, the brahmins including the GSBs pay him their respects. To add decency, he is covered in white dhoti and scarf and the animal sacrifice is replaced with liquor and bread. But the GSBs do not take the prasad home and if they do it is kept in the cowshed or handed over to people from the lower caste.

An update – 2022: I recently read ‘Swapna Saraswat’ by GopalKrishna Pai where Nagdo Betal has been referred to as a sage and guide both revered and feared by the local families. They look upto him for guidance on the welfare and protection of the community. His character is distinct with his inoffensive nakedness toddy and betel leaves.

If you want to know more please check out these resources:

Conversation with Dr. Rohit R. Phalgaonkar by VishwaKonkani (It is in Konkani)

Research Paper ‘A cultural history of the canacona taluka of Goa‘ by Pratima Kamat

Section on ‘Vetal Sculptures of Goa’ in Socio Cultural History of Goa by V.R Mitragotri (Chapter 4). Access here

Rajan Parrikar’s blog with well captured pictures of different temples of Betal in Goa – https://blog.parrikar.com/tag/vetal/