What are Indian Vampires All About? ( क्या भारतीय पिशाच है सब के बारे में? )

Out of the many Vampires throughout Asia, the Vampires of India especially and particularly are among one, out of the many the most fearsome ones of Asian Vampires. Indian Vampires can be generally classified as Demigods (Half God and Half Human or Demon).

The BrahmarākŞhasa / Brahmaparusha
The first is a North Indian Vampire known as the BrahmarākŞhasa or what some called as the Brahmaparusha. This vampire had a head encircled by intestines and drinks blood through it's skull which it would always carry around.




This evil vampire enjoyed eating humans and drinks it's victim blood from the skull it carried thereafter eating the brain. After this is done, it will wrap the intestines of the victim around it's own body to perform a ritual dance.

Bhuta / Prét
Bhuta is basically a vampire ghost. This ghost is of a person who died an untimely death like execution, accident, or suicide or leaded an unholy or immoral life. Bhutas appear as flickering lights or misty apparitions that cast no shadows and linger above the ground. They appear as dark shadows, Bhutas haunt forests and empty dwellings by day and night.

Occasionally, they would enter a corpse and lead it in its ghoulish state to devour living persons. Something similar to the Bhuta would be the Brahmaparusha from northern India.

Bhutas lived around cremation grounds, old ruins and other abandoned locations, and in deserts. They can transform into owls or bats. In Indian believes, it is considered unlucky to hear the owl's hoot, possibly fatal if heard in a burial ground. Owl flesh could be used in black magic rituals.

Bhutas were the ever-present evil spirits and were considered dangerous for a wide variety of reasons. They ate filthy food and were always thirsty. They liked milk and would attack babies who had just fed. They could enter the body through various orifices and possess a person. While the Bhutas might act in a vampirish way on occasion, they generally were seen as simply malevolent beings.

Churel / Chudail / Churail Devanagari चुडेल
A Churel is ghost like vampire that is vicious and vengeful. She is very unhappy ghost ! She hates life, and keeps all her greatest spite for her relatives



Usually the case of a woman who died while pregnant during the Diwali festival or considered to be unclean at any point of time. She could be a woman who died in child birth or when menstruating. They have vile appearances, processes pendulant/ sagging breasts, unkept / untidy hair , thick ugly lips and long thick black tongues. Often, her feet are backwards.

However, she can also be very beautiful and has what it takes to charm any man and usually it is young , handsome and strong man. She keeps them as captive and drains life slowly until they become into withered old and weak men. As her death has been said to be connected with young man, she hence preys on them.

The churel usually lives near small rivers or springs. She is either seen wearing a white or a red sari, representing a widow or a bride respectively. Along with this there's also a group of people telling that a churel is a spirit with enormous power who has sacrificed herself by giving her back part of meat in some ceremony of getting powers through black magic and that they can be at times be found at the place of their death too.

Masani
Is a female vampire of India; she is said to be the spirit of the burial grounds. The Masani is black in appearance and her hunts are conducted at night, starting as she emerges from a funeral pyre. Anyone passing the burial site will be attacked.

Masan
A vampire from India said to be usually the ghost of a child that delights in tormenting and killing children. The Masan is said to be able to curse a child that walks in its shadow. It will also follow a woman home should she allow her gown drag on the ground over his shadow.

Rakshasas / Rakshasis
The Rakshasas (female is Rakshasis) the most well known vampires from the Tal. they were nocturnal wanderers of the night. They had a fearsome appearance with elongated fangs. The natural enemy of the rakshasas was Agni, the dispeller of darkness and officiator at sacrificial ritual, and people called on Agni to destroy or ward off demons.



It is a ogres or demon like vampire and viewed as a demigod by many. It lives near the cemeteries and disturbs affairs of human by the means of disrupting rituals and devotions. The most loathsome thing that of it will be the slaying of infants.

Rakshasas has a variety of froms. some are males and females, some are humanoid and some half animals.
A Deity, Hanuman, which appeared in the form of a monkey, was reported to have observed rakshasas in every imaginable shape when he entered the city of Lanka as an envoy of Ramam.

In several Indian epics such as Mahabharata and the Ramayana , Rakshasas are often being characterized. In fact, many of the deities and mythical heroes gained their reputation by slaying rakshasas.

Vetala / Vental
This Vampire is a Zombie like spirit also known as Betail and it both inhabits and animated bodies of the dead. Ventals are in many indian stories and legends the very subject of it.
This such vampire that lives in corpses leave at night searching for a prey. For as long as they are the habitat of a vampire, the corpse will remain incorruptible. The body does become monstrous looking and does not resemble the host after inhabitation.  They can be described as humanoid versions of the fruit bats that are native to the region.



Pacu Pati
A powerful vampire from India. The creature is deemed lord of all beings of mischief. It is seem at night in cemeteries and places of execution.

Baital / Baitala
A vampire from India is a half-man/half bat creature, which stands around 4ft tall.


Pisacha
A vampire from India, said to be a creature created by humanity’s vices. While it is in general an evil deity, its favorite past time being the consumption of fresh corpses, it can also cure diseases if enticed too.



Chordewa
A witch found among the Oraons, (Bengal) capable of turning her soul into a form of vampire cat. It is said that if the cat licks person’s lips that they will die soon after.

Gayal
A vampiric spirit from India. Usually created due to the death of a man who has no one to properly perform the burial rites at his funeral. When he returns the Gayal reeks his revenge upon the sons of others and upon his on relatives. The threat of a relative returning as a Gayal usually ensures that the proper funeral rites are performed.


Hahn Saburo
Living in forests of India these vampires will attempt to drive or lure travelers into the forest to attack them. They also have the ability to control dogs.

Jigarkhwar
A vampiric sorceress found in the Sind region of India. She feeds by extracting a person’s liver through a piercing stare and various incantations. The liver is then cooked on a fire and eaten, at which time the victim dies.


Kali / Kalika
Has fangs or sharp teeth and black skin. She is seen as the dark goddess and is said to control the dark creatures.  It is said she got her vampirism after having to drink the blood of Raktaviya, the King of Demons, in order to defeat him.