
Vetala
The vetala is a spirit of Indian tradition that animates corpses in the cremation ground. Unlike most walking dead it is highly intelligent: in the famous story cycle the corpse it inhabits outwits a king twenty-four times before warning him of a sorcerer's plot. The underlying idea, a dead body moved by something that is not its original owner, runs from Indian tantra to the Tibetan ro-langs. It gives South Asia a corpse-animating being centuries older than the Caribbean zombi.12
- chanting mantras
- performing its funeral rites, which releases it
Yaqala nini ukuvela?
The Vetala tales form part of the Kathasaritsagara, compiled no later than the 11th century
Okushiwo yimithombo
Ubungayidlula ngokugijima?
Isigaba sejubane esisuka ekuchazweni yimithombo (iyehluka), hhayi isilinganiso.
Imithombo
Wonke amaqiniso kuleli khasi avela kule mithombo, abhalwe ngamazwi ethu. Ubone iphutha? Sitshele ku-[email protected].