Indian subcontinent
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A bhoot or bhut (भूत or بهوت) is a supernatural creature, usually the ghost of a deceased person, in the popular culture, literature and some ancient texts of the Indian subcontinent. Interpretations of how bhoots come into existence vary by region and community, but they are usually considered to be perturbed and restless due to some factor that prevents them from moving on (to transmigration, non-being, nirvana, or heaven or hell, depending on tradition). This could be a violent death, unsettled matters in their lives, or simply the failure of their survivors to perform proper funerals.
Etymology and idiom
Bhūta is a Sanskrit term that carries the connotations of "past" and "being", and because it is descended from "one of the most wide-spread roots in Indo-European - namely, *bheu/*bhu-", has similar-sounding cognates in virtually every branch of that language family, e.g. Irish (bha), English (be), Latvian (but) and Persian (budan).
In Urdu/Hindi, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Bengali, Sindhi and other languages of the northern subcontinent, the concept of bhoots is extensively used in idiom. To be "ridden by the bhoot of something" (bhoot sawaar hona) means to take an obsessive interest in that thing or work unrelentingly towards that goal. Conversely, to "dismount a bhoot" (bhoot utaarna) means to break through an obsession, or see through a false belief that was previously dearly held. "To look like a bhoot" (bhoot lagna) means to look disheveled and unkempt, or to dress ridiculously. A house or building that is untidy, unmaintained or deserted when it should not be is sometimes pejoratively called a bhoot bangla.
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