Sri Lankan Ghosts
02 August, 2023
Hi everyone, in today's post, I will be talking about ghostssss... Boo! Now, you might have heard about paranormal entities from other cultures or countries like Faeries in European folklore or Skin-walkers in Navajo culture, but today, you can add a whole lot of new paranormal entities to your list. Nowadays, much of the urban population tend to dismiss these stories as faux, but regardless, these are a nice lot. But buckle up, they aren't the most beautiful stories.
Mohini
Now Mohini is one of the most famous of them all. She is characterised as a woman who walks with a child in her hands and wears a white saree. Most stories revolve around male victims so it's safe to assume she has a problem with us. Her origin is not exactly known but you won't need to know that if you meet her. Word says that if you meet her, she would ask you to hold the child so that she could adjust her saree (they are very demanding clothes). And once you take the child to your hand, it's game over for you. I don't know what happens to you exactly, but it certainly doesn't look good. Common advice is that if you are walking alone at night, you either yell swears or walk praying. But this is not an excuse for you to yell slurs at your friend because she rarely comes when there are many people (or so I've heard). Mohini is a main subject of discussion for ghost obsessed year-three students in urban areas (trust me on this, I was one too).
Maha Sona
Maha Sona is a guy; he is also a very famous demon. He is characterised as a man with a bear's head fixed backwards. I'm not sure if he walks backwards or looks behind while walking (the former sounds logical), but regardless, that is a very scary thing to see at night. He also has a nice back story. His real name (when he was alive) was Ritigala Jayasena. He once had a fight with a wrestler named Gotaimbara. During the fight, Gotaimbara kicked Jayasena on the head and his head broke off and was tossed somewhere. Now here it gets a bit blurry, I am not sure who, but someone then panicked and looked for his head. And when they couldn't find it, they broke off the neck from a bear walking by and fixed it (accidentally) backwards on to Jayasena. Or, someone buried his body wth a bear's head. Pretty, right? Now he is haunting people in search of his lost head. Legend says that if you are unsure and want to confirm if that is actually Maha Sona, look from under your arm - pretty uncomfy position, I know, but hey, it's better than your head getting ripped off.
Kalu Kumaraya
This one is weird. His name would translate to "Black Prince" and he is described as a dark and (extremely) handsome devil (literally). Cool, right? No. He is the Sri Lankan incubus (a demon who takes the form of a man to 'have fun' with women when they are asleep) His 'victims' are girls, especially young girls and ones you recently hit puberty. Word goes that, this Black Prince, once he lies eyes on a girl, that girl would feel unconditional attraction to him and once the prince is 'satisfied' the girls would ask their throats to be slit, which he does. He is also a creep. He is said to watch when women are bathing and scare them. Also, he is said to touch the belly of pregnant women he meets, on which point the child would die. So, although he is handsome and 'royal', he is not the 'handsome devil' you'd expect.
Riri Yaka
Although the name sounds very disarming, it literally means "Blood Demon". As far as descriptions go, this one is similar to a vampire but a thousand-fold scary (not the Twilight kinda vampire, Stoker's Dracula kinda). Story says that initially he was born to human parents in Northern India, but then he began his bloody expeditions which made people to think he is a demon. He has one of the most disturbing descriptions: a monkey faced little man with four arms, covered in blood. He is said to be extremely strong and to ride a pig, with a sword, parrot, rooster and a human head in each of his hands and found in cemeteries. A person possessed by Riri Yaka is said to look anaemic and the demon is now often associated with blood diseases. Bloody stuff, literally.
So, there goes four of the most famous ghosts/ demons of Sri Lanka. Scared? No worries, they won't haunt you in your country nor would haunt you when you are in Sri Lanka, unless you walk alone in the night in dark and empty places. So, until next time, stay spooked.