vetala
वेताल vetālaA spirit that animates a corpse, a haunter of the cremation ground ranked with the pisacha and the rakshasa; the narrator of the Vetala-panchavimshati.
Where this term appears
- The Beings of the Dark Treatise
The vetāla is the eerie spirit that animates a corpse, hanging from trees in the burning ground, wielding uncanny knowledge — the being who, in the beloved Vetāla-pañcaviṃśati (the "Baitāl Pachīsī"), rides on t…