Bestiary.us

Many parts of the country have a folkloric spirit that causes people to lose their way at night. Afflicted travellers start wandering around in loops and circles, unable to find their bearings, even when they are very close to their destination.

Bai Thappikne Seithaan, a spirit from Kasaragod, Kerala, belongs to this category. The word Seithaan is the local Kasrod-Malayalam dialect version of Shaitan, so the demon is presumably some sort of evil Jinn; but in most tales, he is actually fairly harmless.

After he selects a person or party to confuse, he simply follows some distance behind them in the shadows. He chuckles silently at all the anxiety he’s causing as they get more and more lost and distressed.

Luckily, there is a method by which the spirit’s enchantment can be defeated. The lost person should pick up seven stones and proceed to drop them one by one as he walks, letting go of each stone a few paces apart, as if leaving a trail. As he drops the stones, he should count them out loud. Finally, as he drops the seventh stone, he should confidently say, “EIGHT”.

The demon gets terribly confused at this, and rushes back to see where he lost count. In the meantime, the spell is broken, and the person can find their way again.

People who claim to have successfully used this trick report that they have heard Bai Thappikne Seithaan’s deep bass voice behind them, counting and recounting the stones, sounding very perplexed.

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In Assam, the spirit responsible for getting travellers hopelessly lost is the Poruwa, a sort of a mischievous fairy. She stands unseen at a crossroads in thick jungles, especially at a point where three paths meet. She plays an instrument called the toka, a sort of bamboo clapper.

If a lonely traveller approaches her — especially if it’s a young man — the Poruwa surrounds him with a thick magical fog, so he cannot see where he is going. Once he has left the path, she goes off in a different direction and starts talking in what sounds like a human voice. The traveller will follow the voice, hoping to get back on the path. Then the mist will clear, and he will find himself hopelessly lost, surrounded by thick vegetation.

A person who is Poruwa powa — possessed by a Poruwa — ends up wandering lost in the jungle until someone finds him.

The Poruwa can sometimes be glimpsed through the mist in the form of a beautiful woman dancing. However, if the apparition is chased, it will vanish.

In the folklore of Maharashtra and the Konkan Coast, the ghost of misdirection is called the Chakwa (not to be confused with the bird of the same name). It makes people go in circles, always returning to the same place even if they were sure they were walking in a straight line. It is said that if the Chakwa is only heard and not seen, then the spell will be broken by morning; but if he appears as a beckoning traveller, the person may wander so far into the jungle that they never return.

People of the Baiga tribe call this sort of spirit a Kari Bhulin. There is a folktale about how god turned one of these ghosts into a bear and got her married to the Earth; this is why bears play with termite mounds, which are the Earth’s breasts.

In Nagaland, the spirit Muzamuza plays a similar role. He is one of the Teghami.

The Bhoolandara of Madhya Pradesh is a mysterious plant that grows low to the ground. It has the strange power that if you step on it, you will become completely confused, unable to tell which direction you came from, which direction you were going, or how to get back to any landmark. You will end up walking in aimless loops.

Because of the disorienting effect, no one is sure what the Bhoolandara looks like.

Ref: 115. Gole, Sushant. (2016, October 07). Spirits and Ghosts of Konkan Culture & the Chakwa experience; 268. Perwad, Abdul., Theruvath, AQM., Dr. Amanullah, Adoor. (2017). Kaasrote Baase. Self-published.