#bengali folklore

[briefbestiary]

Single-minded spirits, their hunger for fish being the only thing in their current existence.

[bongdesigirl]

Ghosts of Bengal

Bangali culture and literature are really something else! It’s really amazing! I guess people here are all either great thinkers or have too much free time, or a bit of both.

 Let me present to you Exibit A, types of Bangali bhoot (ghosts). How in the world did there come to be so many types of ghosts in Bengali culture!?

 They’re categorised based on their eating habits (Mecho bhoot which steals and eats fish), their living arrangements (Gechho bhoot which lives in trees), the type of death they had (Begho bhoot which is the ghost of a person eaten or killed by a tiger, Skondhokata which is the ghost of a person who was beheaded) and many more!

 Sometimes, they’re very specific – like, if a ghost lives in a bamboo garden, it’s not called Gecho bhoot, it’s called Besho Bhoot.

 Apparently, they couldn’t even let go of their castes even after death… Brahmodaittyo, the ghost of a holy Brahmin, are believed to be benevolent and are shown to be kind and helpful to humans in stories and movies. As the Bengali saying goes, dheki shorge giye o dhaan bhane.

 Female ghosts, again, are classified into two types based on their marital status. If she dies unmarried or has some unsatisfied desires, she’s known as Petni. On the other hand, Shakchunni is the ghost of a married woman. Now, I have a few questions here – if she died unmarried, but marries after becoming a ghost, what will she be called then? Will the Shakchunni remain a Shakchunni if she divorces her husband after death?

 All this aside, some of these ghosts have very special requirements – because who cares about peace after death, let’s make things more complicated – and are nit-picky about where they live or what they do! Brahmodaittyo, for example, is said to move from bael gaach to ashwatha gaach while the female ghosts (Petni and Shakchunni) seem to prefer living in shaora gaach.

 I genuinely want to know if there was some journalist actually interviewing these ghosts about their un-lives and jobs or if there’s some kind of PhD program out there that researches Bengali ghosts and their habits. (Mostly because, if there is, I want to join, it seems like a more interesting line of work than the one I’m currently in.)

 P.S. I’m a Bangali Indian and I love my culture. This post comes from a place of love for both my culture and my general curiosity about ghosts. Also, there are many more types of ghosts in Bangali culture and folklore, but if I tried to name them all and describe all their mannerisms, we’d be here for a long while.

[minus-moscow]

For @mythologicalnet’s Bengali Mythology Event

The Origin of Rubies

A folktale from Bengal explaining how rubies came to be: includes a talking, cheeky parrot, a princess, a meditating god, an extraordinary woman and a brave man who seeks adventure. (X)

[briefbestiary]

Flesh-eating, blood-draining ghosts. Horrible spirits that are just another reason to avoid being alone in forests at night.

[briefbestiary]

Be wary of flitting lights over the water. In a majority of cases, following these strange lights tends to get you lost, and may possibly even leave you dead.

[worldmets]

Gitika: Swarup O Boishishtha by Barun Kumar Chakraborty

Gitika: Swarup O Boishishtha by Barun Kumar Chakraborty Bengali PDF Title: Gitika: Swarup O Boishishtha (Gitika: Nature and Characteristics), Author: Barun Kumar Chakraborty, Genre: Bengali Folk Literature, Folklore, Lok Katha, Folk Tales, Format: PDF, PDF Size: 19 MB, Pages: 534, Barun Kr Chakraborty wrote the Bengali Folk Literature Gitika: Swarup O Boishishtya The Richness of Bengali Folk…

Gitika: Swarup O Boishishtha by Barun Kumar Chakraborty

[halfwaythruthedark]

Bengali Ghostwatch

Ghosts in Bengali culture are multitudinous and diverse, according to Wikipedia, at least. I think my favorites of those mentioned are: 

"Begho Bhoot: This is a ghost of those person who are killed or eaten by the tigers in jungle."

OUCH. IS THERE A 12 STEP RECOVERY FOR THIS KIND OF AFTERLIFE SITUATION? 

"Mechho Bhoot: This is a kind of ghost who likes to eat fish."

DO THEY GET TOGETHER AND HAVE FISH FRIES? LIKE A FOOD CLUB FOR BHOOTS?

"Nishi: One of the most cruel of ghosts, the Nishi lures its victim to a secluded area by calling to the person with the voice of a loved one. The Nishi only strike at night, and their victims are never seen again, so it is unknown what happens to them. They may become Nishi themselves. According to folklore, the Nishi cannot call out more than twice, and so no one should answer a voice at night until it has called three times."

THIS IS SUCH A GREAT STORY HOOK. 

"Mamdo bhut: Ghosts of muslims."

MY FAVORITE. 

Follow-up thoughts...

1. I'm slightly amazed that this section of Wikipedia exists at all, thus, I will try to restrain my laughter at the descriptions. Actually the grammar sounds as if it was translated literally, so, ok...

2. Since I grew up in a Christian milieu, I can't help but initially laugh at the idea of ghosts of different religious groups. Somehow, you're trained so thoroughly not to be superstitious in mainstream American Christianity, that the idea of different ghosts existing from different faiths is like three steps too far. Even after growing up and getting all universalist and/or agnostic it's hard to wrap your head around. 

3. I need to read a bunch of Bengali ghost stories now. Beyond the obvious. [Tagore.]