Thread by @tanvsngh

#vampires #Folklore #ofdarkandmacabre
Though the notion of vampires was greatly exaggerated and adapted by the European writers through Carmilla, Dracula, Nosferatu to name a few, the concept of vampires predates everything that we’ve seen portrayed in the last century or so.🧵

Vampiric myths in and around the Indian subcontinent are as countless as constellations, with each culture, each tribe and subsets all boasting of their own mythos and lore, some so multifarious that it becomes difficult to pinpoint all.
(TW)

The true concept of vampirism is less to do with drinking blood but more so with cannibalism. In pre-silk route historical accounts, if we are to abandon folklores, the fearsome nomads of the great Steppes grasslands were said to drink the blood of their enemies, and sometimes

even eat their own fathers. Certain tribes in India were said to practice ritualistic sacrifices in which the chosen man would be beheaded in front of their deity’s idol and the leader of the tribe would be offered the heart and blood of the sacrifice.

It was believed that drinking the blood from the heart would imbue the leader with great powers and would grant them immortality.
That being said, let's dive into some of the known accounts spread across mythology and folklores of India about vampires.

Disclaimer: Not to state the very obvious descriptions of Vetalas and Rakshasa in the Indus Valley Civilization where the groundwork of vampiric myths was laid, I’d like to mention the ones that aren’t.

Ratha Kaateri:
One of the most famous accounts of vampirism in India originates from the Nilgiri Hills. Kaateri Amman, a goddess worshipped in parts of South India & Sri Lanka, originated from a cult. She was also believed to have travelled with the Tamil labourers to Guyana,

Trinidad & Caribbean nations in 1800s, & later with Caribbean diaspora to the western countries. But in folklore, Ratha Kaateri is an undead monster, considered to be a malefic manifestation of the goddess Kaateri Amman, or someone who has gained dark powers by worshipping her.

This manifestation is entirely of Dravidian origins, and predates all religions practiced in India. Ratha Kaateri literally translates to ‘Vampire’ in Tamil language. Unlike the European concept of vampire in which a person turns due to a contagious bite, Ratha Kaateri chooses to

become undead through black magic, and quite the opposite of the pale vampires of the western texts, Ratha Kaateris have jet black skin, and they fear no stake, no sunlight, no religious motifs, and are believed to tear open their victim’s chest to drink blood from their heart.

Preta:
Famished and cursed for eternity, Preta are said to be undead, emaciated beings, sometimes even referred to as ghosts, with a taste for either blood, corpse-flesh or ashes. And yet, none provide them the nourishment or satisfaction. Food turns into fire in their mouths.

These pretas have been adopted into Buddhism, particularly Gaki in Japan and Pret in Thailand.
These beings live in Naraka, the abode of the dead. Even when they walk amongst humans-which they seldom do, they are invisible.
Similar to the vampiric myth of Sun harming vampires,

Pretas are tormented by it as well. The heat of the sun scorches their skin, even in shade. Myths differ about them across Asia. In Korean myths, they're called 아괴도 (Agwido), E Gui in China, and different Pali words across SE Asia and Mongolia.

*I will be adding more to this once I've put all of the myths together. Stay tuned!