Lately, there have been rumors about how people in Nepal have
been terrorized by a digital spirit, a “Kichkandi” who calls people on their Ncell numbers (a telecom company),
displaying their numbers in red, and if
they pick up the phone, they are very likely to die! My household help and her
sisters and a few of my neighbours and shopkeepers swear they know of so-and
so- from their hometown or village who is in a coma because they answered the call of a “Kichkandi.”
Nepalis are a superstitious lot, and have a plethora of very
colorful ghosts, spirits in-betweens and ghostbusters and exorcists and clairvoyants to get rid of them.
Growing up, while most of
our friends grew up being terrorized by “Bhakundey Bhoot’,’Kichkandi’,’Bokshi’’Teen
Ghantey”’Khyak”, by their parents or elders, our mother terrorized us with
Pradhan Nyayadhish(supreme court justice)and Jogi(religious mendicants),
because she felt that they were the ones we were least likely to need in life!
We were not supposed to fear the police or doctors let alone imagined spirits, unlike our friends
who had a real fear of the dark and of
doctors and the police.
Because our mother told us that there were no ghosts and no
spirits, I whole heartedly believed her, although my brother was not entirely
immune to “Teen ghantey” and “Rakey bhoot”.
At age 9, I discovered
the previous occupant of my room in the
new house we moved into, had died in his bed -young and troubled, but I stayed
in it . It had already been 6 months of no “ghostly” activity, I loved the
room, and maybe, like the Otis family in Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost
,he had tried and failed to scare us!
Everyone in Nepal has a story or two about encounters with ghosts and spirits, and according to the tales
I’ve heard, I have tried to classify some of the ghosts and the way their neutralization/elimination is possible-
Kichkandi-
The most famous type of ghost in Nepal at the moment is believed
to be the ghost of young women who have died at childbirth or a young woman who
committed suicide. The first mention of a Kichkandi is during King Pratap Malla’s
reign (1624–74 A.D.).there is a statue in
Ranipokhari of a king on an elephant who is trampling a Kichkandi underfoot,
and a temple dedicated to her near Kasthamandap in durbar square.
She has long black hair , long nails, dressed in
white sari, with her feet turned
backwards .She is beautiful and can run like the wind, I hear, in any direction. She will appear to
young men who wander about at night, as a damsel in distress, and follow them.
This beautiful ghost will suck the life
out of the men, lead them to cremation grounds ,or just scare them silly by
letting them see her feet!
In modern times Kichkandi have
been sighted around Thapathali, Chabahil and have taken rides in ambulances cars
and motorbikes of vulnerable young men, and of course ,called them on N-cell
numbers!
You can save yourself by
not talking to or giving lifts to
unknown young women(sound familiar?), keeping a bunch of keys which you can
jangle at them, and best of all, keep dozens of womens’ glass bangles in your
car(I don’t think its practical to keep them on your bike handlebar).A
Kichkandi does not scare children, women
and married men by the way!
Rakey Bhoot and Teen Ghante
Rakey bhoot(a moving blue light)
and Teen Ghante (-3- houred) are both known to call you by mimicking the voice of
someone you know very closely. They even
knock at doors or ring the bell. It’s
best not to answer them for at least 3 times. If you answer or talk back before
this, they will say “Tin Ghante” and you
will die in three hours, or you will die immediately after you see the blue
light of the Rakey Bhoot! If you don’t answer, they will leave you
alone. So always answer only after the third call, and be prepared
for a really long wait outside the house or the loo even if you are not Rakey
Bhoot or Teen Ghante .
Murkatta
A Murkatta is a headless ghost. It
may also be a headless skeleton, like that of Ranodip Singh(Rana Prime minister
of Nepal who was murdered by his nephews in 1885 ) .The temple of
Ranamukteshwar is said to have been constructed to appease his ghost . A
murkatta travels in a straight line and men who wear nepali ‘topi’ are somehow
immune to it, because it is accompanied by a khyak (poltergeist)who will knock
off your cap signaling the murkatta’s approach .When you bend down to retrieve
your cap, you are saved from the murkatta!
Bahkundey
Bhoot ,Chauda and Khyak
These three types of ghosts are
not that harmful because they will give you a really good scare but are
unlikely to kill you. They are more like poltergeists, accosting you on
stairs(bhakundey)dragging you out of bed, throwing cold water on you, slapping
you silly ,or even granting wealth, like the white Khyak! Chauda are the ghosts
of little children who appear and disappear at will.
The Ghost busters
If a ghost or spirit troubles you ,there are a
number of steps you can take to save yourself or make peace with the ghost.
The most popular of the ghostbusters are the
Dhami and the Jhankri. There are the Gubajus and Janney(one who knows). Then there are the ‘Birs’ who are the
devotees of Hanuman and who are capable of finding lost items, lost people,
thieves, and occasionally help
possessed people. They use a young
impressionable adult as medium.I have sent many acquaintances to the Birs, and
have witnessed their work firsthand.
My
favorites are the Pheri Lagauney jogis who go around from house to house
getting rid of ghosts and spirits twice a year in Kathmandu and surrounding
hilly areas. As an anthropologist, I wanted to witness firsthand the work of
the Pheri Lagauney man of my neighborhood. I conversed with him every time he
came to collect his fees the night after an exorcism, and tried to take videos
of any ghosts that might be captured on camera, unsuccessfully. I listened to
the distinctive sound of the human fibula he blew on, chanting mantras to rid
our compound of ghosts.it is not advised to look out or to stay awake while he
goes about his business, in case the ghosts and spirits reveal themselves. This
year, a new man came to collect the fees, and when I enquired about my old Pheri Lagauney, who had promised to
allow me to witness his work, I was told that the shaman was in jail! It seems he was
so enraged that someone else had collected his fees, he beat the impostor to
death. The newcomer told me that as it was involuntary manslaughter, the
original man would be out in a few years. My husband was horrified and added
numerous I-told-you sos, while I countered that he was such a nice fellow, who had
never even spoken in a loud voice to me, and that he had nothing to fear from
me anyway!
So I’m still waiting for a ghostly encounter. Until
then, I am open to ghost stories, encounters
and mild mannered exorcists for my incomplete video!
