more effective means could be formed to frighten the life out of humans than by tenanting a corpse!
“I would describe the Vetala as ‘sporting,’ in that he has an inate admiration for bravery and is perfectly ready to own himself beaten, and even to help and advise. In the Vetala tales … we shall see that as soon as the Vetala discovers the persistence and bravery of Trivikramasena, he at once warns him of the foul intents of the mendicant. We have also seen that even the Rakshasa can become quite tame, and act the part of a kind of Arabian jinn who appears on thought. Thus we see that the Vetala of Hindu fiction is by no means an exact counterpart of the blood-sucking vampire of Eastern Europe who never had a good intention or decent thought in his whole career.”[44]
In a private letter to myself Mr. Penzer writes: “It is the Rakshasas who are the more prominent among malicious demons. Their name means ‘the harmers’ or ‘destroyers’ as their particular delight is to upset sacrifices, worry ascetics, animate dead bodies, etc. They date in India from Rig-Vedic days.
“In the Atharva Veda they are described as deformed, of blue, green, or yellow colour, with long slit eyes. Their nails are poisonous and are dangerous to the touch. They eat human and horse flesh, the former of which they procure by prowling round the burning-ghats at night. They possess great wealth, and bestow it on those they favour. Their chief is Ravana, the enemy of Rama. See Crooke, Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. I, p. 246 sqq.
“The Pisachas are very similar to the above, while the Vetalas are perhaps more like Vampires.”
In the Preface to Vikram and the Vampire, “Tales of Hindu Devilry” (Adapted by Richard F. Burton), London, 1870, p. xiii, Sir Richard Burton says: “The Baital-Pachisi, or Twenty-five (tales of a) Baital—a vampire or evil spirit which animates dead bodies—is an old and thoroughly Hindu repertory. It is the rude beginning of that fictitious history which ripened to the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, and which, fostered by the genius of Boccaccio, produced the romance of the chivalrous days, and its last development, the novel—that prose-epic of modern Europe.” Baital in Sankrit is Vetāla-pancha-Vinshati. “Baital” is the modern
