Assamese Demonology

What It's About

A short, plain-spoken survey of the spirit world as ordinary Assamese people understood it in the early 1900s. The author records the beliefs as he heard them, "without varnish". He sorts the spirits into four territorial classes: underground, earthly, airborne and heavenly. Most of the book covers the earthly spirits of water, forest and home. It describes how each looks and behaves, whom it targets, and what it fears. After the catalogue come the signs of possession, the exorcists' methods and a set of supplementary notes. Short stories of ghostly encounters follow, along with appendices listing haunted places and notable exorcists district by district, and a glossary of Assamese terms.

Key Concepts

The Assamese were a Hindu people, and the author shows how many Sanskrit deities and demons were demoted into local hobgoblins. The best known is the dot, a tall, jet-black water spirit descended from the Sanskrit daitya. It is powerless without its "spectral bag" and dreads mustard seed, fish-hooks and iron. Possession is diagnosed by symptoms: itches and boils, yellowed eyes, fevers, or sudden speechlessness. It is treated by exorcists using chanted "arrows" (ban) of mustard, enchanted grass, ashes and medicinal roots. The stories include a retelling of the myth of Khob and Khubi, the demon pair said to feed on those born at inauspicious moments. The book also covers the village of Mayang in Nowgong, long reputed for witchcraft. The author makes no claim to scientific method, as the introduction by W. J. Reid acknowledges. It is best read as a primary record of belief, not an explanation of it.

About the Author

Benudhar Rajkhowa (1872–1955) was an Assamese writer, poet and dramatist, born in the Dibrugarh district of Assam. He wrote the preface to this book from Sibsagar in 1904.