Its existence (and its mention of Vikramaditya) is confirmed only by adaptations in surviving works dating to the sixth century and later and testimonials by contemporary poets.

[8]The earliest uncontested mentions of Vikramaditya appear in sixth-century works: the biography of Vasubandhu by Paramartha (499–569) and Vasavadatta by Subandhu.

[9] According to this legend, the king gave 300,000 gold coins to the Samkhya scholar Vindhyavasa for defeating Vasubandhu's Buddhist teacher (Buddhamitra) in a philosophical debate.

Shortly after Vikramaditya's death, Vasubandhu asked his successor, Baladitya, to organise another debate to avenge his mentor's humiliation.

Mourning the loss of her lover, the courtesan turned to charity; known for her gifts of gold, she soon surpassed Narasimha in fame.

It is a collection of 25 stories in which the king tries to capture and hold a vetala who tells a puzzling tale which ends with a question.

[16] Book 18 (Vishamashila) contains another legend told by Naravahanadatta to an assembly of hermits in the ashram of a sage, Kashyapa.

Shiva then ordered his attendant, Malyavat, to be born in Ujjain as the prince of the Avanti kingdom and kill the mlechchhas.

[17][18] The Brihatkathamanjari contains similar legends, with some variations; Vikramaditya's general Vikramashakti defeated a number of mlechchhas, including Kambojas, Yavanas, Hunas, Barbaras, Tusharas and Persians.

[21] According to Ananta's 12th-century heroic poem, Vira-Charitra (or Viracharita), Shalivahana (or Satavahana) defeated and killed Vikramaditya and ruled from Pratishthana.

In this collection of frame stories, the Paramara king Bhoja discovers the ancient throne of Vikramaditya after several centuries.

The throne has 32 statues, who are actually apsaras (a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture) who were turned into stone by a curse.

[31] The Bhavishya Purana, an ancient Hindu text which has been edited till as late as 19th century,[32] connects Vikramaditya to the Paramaras.

[26] According to the Bhavishya Purana, when the world was degraded by non-Vedic faiths, Shiva sent Vikramaditya to earth and established a throne decorated with 32 designs for him (a reference to Simhasana Dvatrimsika).

[39] Other Jain texts contain variations of a legend about Vikramaditya's defeat at the hands of the king of Pratishthana, known as Satavahana or Shalivahana.

According to the legend, Satavahana was the child of the Nāga (serpent) chief Shesha and a Brahmin widow who lived in the home of a potter.

A Brahmin in need of Alchemic quicksilver tells him that it can be obtained if the emperor offers his head to the goddess Kamakshi of Kanchipuram.

The Gupta emperor Skandagupta, who compared himself to Rama and was also known as Vikramaditya, moved his capital to Saketa and renamed it Ayodhya after the legendary city in the Ramayana.

[44] The Vikramaditya mentioned in Paramartha's fourth–fifth century CE biography of Vasubandhu is generally identified with a Gupta king, such as Skandagupta[45] or Purugupta.

[20] There is no mention of such Navaratnas in earlier literature, and D. C. Sircar calls Jyotirvidabharana "absolutely worthless for historical purposes".

Proponents of this theory say that Vikramaditya is mentioned in works dating to before the Gupta era, including Brihathkatha and Gatha Saptashati.

[19] The early Jain works do not mention Vikramaditya and the navaratnas have no historical basis as the nine scholars do not appear to have been contemporary figures.

Although the Puranas contain genealogies of significant Indian kings, they do not mention a Vikramaditya ruling from Ujjain or Pataliputra before the Gupta era.

[53] Some scholars, including D. R. Bhandarkar, V. V. Mirashi and D. C. Sircar, believe that Vikramaditya is probably based on the Gupta king Chandragupta II.

[20][54] The Khambat and Sangli plates of the Rashtrakuta king Govinda IV use the epithet "Sahasanka", which has also been applied to Vikramaditya, for Chandragupta II.

[49] According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Chandragupta's victory against the Shakas was transposed to a fictional character who is credited with establishing the Vikrama Samvat era.

Kahaniya Vikram aur Betaal Ki, a remake of the Doordarshan television show, aired on Colors TV in 2009.

[63] Currently a series Vikram Betaal Ki Rahasya Gatha is running on &TV where popular actor Aham Sharma is playing the role of Vikramaditya.

When Persian scholar Al-Biruni (973–1048) visited India, he learned that the Indians used five eras: Sri Harsha, Vikramaditya (57 BCE), Shaka (78 CE), Vallabha and Gupta.

[68][47] Scholars such as D. C. Sircar and D. R. Bhandarkar believe that the name of the era changed to Vikrama Samvat during the reign of Chandragupta II, who had adopted the title of "Vikramaditya" (see below).