Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India

Rakesh Khanna & J Furcifer Bhairav Watkins/Blaft 2023 Hb, 417pp, £18.99, ISBN 9781786788078

This is a reprint of the 2020 editby the authors’ own company in India; Watkins is to be thanked for bringing it to a wider Western market. It provides individual descriptions of 330 of the regional ghosts, monsters and demons of India. These portraits range from half a page to several pages long; all so well-written and fascinating in their unfamiliar details that one is compelled to keep reading. Khanna’s publishing house specialises in Indian-language folklore and pulp novels; we should be grateful that his scholarly love of local lore found another expression. His pseudonymous co-author, clearly another scholar, claims to be “the child of a professional exorcist”.

Every entry comes across with all the delight of a new discovery to be told to friends, and all the more fascinating for bringing to life the dark side of rural demonology and witchcraft that is quite foreign to most of us. While ghosts, demons, goblins, spirits, vampires, nightmares, fairies, cannibals, revenants and animated curses are common to Western lore, their Indian equivalents emerge from such ancient Sanskrit poems as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Although parts of these epics can be dated back to the 8th century BC, this astonishingly varied and richly detailed material is living folklore for modern Indians.

Bucolic folklore of the Indian continent is not so well represented in the general literature, and scholarly studies are not easily accessible outside institutional publishing, so this anthology is doubly welcome. Despite the obscure nature of their stories the authors’ enthusiasm ensures this handsome presentation will delight the general reader. To add to its value, the book is richly illustrated with monochrome drawings. No index, but the list of names and copious bibliography offer some compensation.

Bob Rickard

★★★★★