4 ENTITIES
Witches & Dark Practitioners of Indian Folklore
The Daayan, the Dain, the Jokhini — women accused of wielding dark arts, hunted by their own communities.
UNDERSTANDING THE ARCHETYPE
The witch in Indian folklore occupies a uniquely dangerous position — dangerous to others, and dangerous to herself. The Daayan is said to drain life force through touch. The Dain shape-shifts into animals to terrorize villages. The Jokhini practices arts so dark that even other spirits avoid her. But behind every witch-spirit story is a human reality: women accused of sorcery, ostracized, beaten, and killed.
India's witch traditions are not medieval relics. Witch-hunting continues in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Assam to this day. The National Crime Records Bureau documents hundreds of murders annually where the stated motive is accusation of witchcraft. The folklore and the violence are inseparable — the same stories that make campfire entertainment also provide the justification for mob justice.
Understanding witch-spirits requires holding two truths simultaneously: these are genuinely powerful figures in the supernatural imagination of millions, and they are also the mask worn by some of humanity's oldest and most persistent forms of misogynist violence.
Between 2000 and 2016, India recorded over 2,500 murders linked to accusations of witchcraft — more than any other country in the world during that period. The majority of victims were women from marginalized communities.
THE ENTITIES
All Witches & Dark Practitioners
Daayan
☠☠☠☠rajasthan
The Daayan is a witch-spirit from Rajasthani and Madhya Pradesh folklore. She drains your life through touch — holding your hand, pressing your pulse. Origin, rules, folk stories, and more.
Dain / Dayan
☠☠☠☠rajasthan
The Dain is the Punjabi witch who sheds her skin at night and feeds on children's life force. She is your neighbor by day, a shape-shifting terror by night. Origin, protection rules, and folk stories.
Churgin
☠☠☠tribal
The Churgin is a witch-spirit from Ho/Munda tribes in eastern India. Women accused faced persecution mirroring European witch trials — and the practice continues today.
Jokhini
☠☠☠northeast
The Jokhini is an Assamese witch spirit — a woman who practiced dark arts in life and refuses to stop in death. She haunts bamboo groves and riverbanks. Origin, rules, folk stories, and more.
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