Growing up in Kolkata I was familiar with our motley crew of ghosts – petnis and shankchunnis cackling from the neem tree behind our house,...
Growing up in Kolkata I was familiar with our motley crew of ghosts – petnis and shankchunnis cackling from the neem tree behind our house, the brohomdoityo perched on the bel tree and the fish-eating mechhobhoot. But until I picked up Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India I had no idea about ghosts and monsters in every nook and cranny of India from Lakshwadeep to Mizoram. In fact, Mizoram seems a particular hotbed – from the unfortunate Chhongchhongpipa, the ghost of a man who died a virgin to the Hmuichukchuriduninu, a gorier version of the witch of Hansel and Gretel, to the rather fetishistic Zunhindawt who sleepwalks and drinks from puddles of urine.
‘Necro diversity’
Rakesh Khanna, co-founder of Blaft Publications, famous for its translations of Tamil pulp fiction, has put this book together along with his friend J Furciver Bhairav. After chasing ghosts and monsters across the length and breadth of India’s folklore, he said he has seen some clear “necro diversity hotspots”.
Like Kumaon and the Konkan coast. “Also the North-East for sure – it parallels the biodiversity and the linguistic diversity,” said Khanna. Different languages mean different folklore traditions. More folklore traditions mean more monsters and ghosts and they hop from one tradition to another. Sometimes they...
