Rakesh Khanna

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India Rakesh Khanna

An encyclopedia of evil entities and folkloric fiends from across the country, from Ladakh to Kerala, Lakshadweep to Nagaland, Naraka to Tuchenkwaka.

"I was not prepared for how deeply this book captivated me... Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India is exemplary of what a book can be, how it can operate. It's a bridge across space, time, and language" -- Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

"... A welcome effort in compiling the astonishing diversity of otherworldly beings who make the Indian subcontinent their home... As you browse through the entries, it feels like traversing a colossal hypertext, the denizens of the netherworlds all interlinked, all shapeshifting. A vast and teeming multitude is revealed, abounding with grotesque imagery" -- Jaideep Unudurti, OPEN

Inside this book you will find... Killer robots built with stolen Roman engineering technology that once guarded the relics of the BuddhaThe ghost of a twenty-one-year-old motorcyclist whose Enfield Bullet is venerated at a highway temple in RajasthanA Himalayan drum-playing spirit-teacher whose wife is a fearsome YetiDiabolical entities conjured into existence by the simultaneous deaths of seven tigersTriple-rooted night-flying Vedic necromancersCall-centre employees from beyond the graveThe dreaded Ngalei Ahmaw of Maraland, whose victims' heads detach themselves from their bodies at night and go wandering in search of blood... AND MORE!
Featuring illustrations byAppupenShyamSamita ChatterjeeRashmi Ruth DevadasanMisha MichaelPankaj ThapaVidyun SabhaneyOsheen SivaPriya Kuriyan
Poetry byJoseph FurtadoJyoti Prasad Agarwala
With a new translation byAnannya Baruah