As King Bhoja set his foot upon the first step, the fourth statuette rang out like a temple bell. "Wait, O King! Do you even know how this throne came into the world? Hear, then, how heaven itself once needed Vikramaditya's wisdom."
And she told this tale. In Indra's court the two greatest dancers of heaven, Rambha and Urvashi, had quarrelled. Each claimed to be the finer dancer, and the gods themselves split into two camps — for how does one measure perfection against perfection? At last Indra said, "There lives on earth a king whose judgement is as pure as Ganga water. Bring Vikramaditya." So the king of Ujjain was carried to the halls of heaven, where the assembled gods bowed to a mortal — for it was his justice they had summoned, not his crown.
Vikramaditya watched both dancers rehearse, and knew that no eye could part them. So before the great contest he presented each apsara with a garland of heavy flowers to wear as she danced — and deep within each garland, unseen, he placed a sleeping scorpion. The music began. Rambha danced like a storm of lightning, leaping and whirling in dazzling bursts — and the scorpion in her garland, jolted awake, stirred and pricked her, so that she cried out and her steps scattered. Then Urvashi rose. Her dance flowed like a river at midnight, every gesture melting into the next, so smooth, so perfectly measured, that the scorpion slept on in its bed of petals till the last note faded.
"Urvashi is the greater," declared Vikramaditya, and he explained the test: "True art is not fury and display; it is such perfect balance that not even a scorpion is disturbed." The gods showered flowers; even Rambha bowed, satisfied. And the delighted Indra gave Vikramaditya a parting gift — a golden throne borne by thirty-two statuettes, each a celestial maiden, the very throne, O Bhoja, that stands before you.
"Heaven itself trusted his judgement," said the statuette. "Are you certain, O King, that yours would not have needed the scorpion's help twice? If you are, ascend." And Bhoja drew back his foot.