Indian Ghosts & Legends

arunnegi

lol i was very much in senses...no chhaang or anything :P

these names like deferento and ropotok i have heard from many people from middle kinnaur and its a part of local belief.

machadinha

Hm. If you're serious about it, it could open up questions (if they haven't been before) regarding their possible contacts with the Mediterranean or Eastern European world of yore I guess.

Which, as such, isn't far-flung at all, in fact the connection is well-established (and there are Indian tribes/peoples still tracing their lineage to Alexander the Great and his folk I believe, notably in the Himalayas; and anyway trade contacts are often far older than we tend to assume. I believe prehistoric trade routes from roughly Scandinavia and Russia to Central Asia if not the Far East have been established. It appears that, migrations quite apart, ancient man was not so isolated as we sometimes think), I just don't know how it would reflect on this particular region, and I still don't know what the origins of those two names might be in any mythological or legendary or spooky sense. Be my guest to try and find out more about it Could probably easily take a lifetime of dedicated research. It's an interesting theme alright, if there's anything to it.

Mind you, they may well just be local names. Just didn't strike me as very Indian at a first glance. And as very Romanic instead.

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Indojingai

Perhaps very OT. But a few years ago there were reports of a monkey man (no no.. not one of the Gods) attacking people in Delhi suburbs. This was also the month when Michael Jackson was visiting India. So, the ghosts in India may not always be Indian

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arunnegi

@machadinha
the european connection that you talk about i too have heard.one of them are the drok-pas inhabiting north-western parts of kashmir ( i think its the batalik and turtuk regions) the people claim themselves to be descendants of alexanders army and indeed if you see the feature of those people, it is in total contrast with the otherwise mongloid stock that is common .

the names that i just mentioned are prounced like this
defer-n-toe
rop-o-talk

as per my relatives these names had tibetan origin


@Indojingai
there was indeed some creature whose popularity was soaring on b-grade news channels here. Interestingly he could jump many floors , had red eyes, and an iron fist just like han from enter the dragon. he soon faded away when people got bored

machadinha

Hm yes. This university department site seems to be currently malfunctioning, but they could be a source to ask: http://www.arts.leiden.edu/organisat...cultures .jsp

If you don't waste their time, I've had good feedback from them in the past. If you do waste their time, I reckon they'll soon be done with you, so little harm done either way.

I'd expect that site to be functioning again soon (their homepage does in fact), and do let us know if you find anything, it would interest me.

What would seem curious is how those names had survived for so long in a language that was (I assume -- what is spoken there?) no longer theirs, then again, for special entities, they well might. I don't know, there are dozens of languages spoken in the Himalayas anyway, that's what that uni dept. specializes in.

arunnegi

wow i'm quite impressed to see a entire department on indo-tibetian culture!

the language rather the dialect spoken there is kinnauri. are you sure the words i told are not native to our language. There was an email mentioned there...lets see i'll give it a shot. i have always been interested in learning about the history of my culture. sadly we dont have much written texts. thanks for the links

skk

Separately, demons are said to reside in Banyan trees - my elder brother, the evil sod, used to scare me witless when we passed one in the late evening and he reminded me of what lived up there and how one of the strangler roots - that particular one was swaying and reaching out for me - this is in Maharashtra.

But, the Banyan tree is also sacred - and there's the whole story of the Buddha (Northern India) meditating under a Banyan tree, whereas I was taught never to sleep under one. So go figure.

Also, demons don't necessarily have to be bad guys - there's a lovely movie, IMO, called Paheli (means First, I reckon)(2005), about demons with mega-star Shah Rukh Khan. Its summarized as Folk myth + feminism + sweet sweet lovin' = huzzah! at this Post-Punk Cinema Club website with the review at: http://p-pcc.blogspot.com/2007/05/paheli-2005.html

-skk

machadinha

Yes, they well may be and there may be nothing to it, but nope, sorry, can't help you any further. I just have an interest in language, not a linguist or anything.

If anyone, those folks should be able to help. Tell you what, if your email to them goes unanswered within a couple of days, let us know here & I can give them a ring for you.

And if you do get answered, let us know the end result

mazha