Churel (Chudail)

In the summaries provided, the churel is said to arise when a woman dies 'very cruelly' or without proper purification; such a death produces a revenant who returns for revenge, especially against the males of her family. The Wikipedia summary frames the churel as 'the ghost of an unpurified living thing' and notes alternate local names (Petni, Shakchunni). The material treats the churel both as a familial revenant and, in some legends, as a spirit that becomes attached to trees, producing narratives in which a wronged woman remains bound to particular landscape features.

The supplied sources consistently describe the churel as resembling a woman but do not provide a stable, detailed morphology in the excerpts given. The Wikipedia overview emphasizes the female human form and notes variant local conceptions (including the tree‑attached form). Other popular or blog sources mention a wider set of malign female‑spirit tropes in South Asian folklore, but specific, attributable physical attributes for the churel (clothing, hair, feet, deformities) are not documented in the provided texts.

The documented behavioral trait is revenant vengeance: a churel returns after a cruel or unpurified death to seek revenge, particularly targeting male kin. Some summaries note attachment to trees—legends describe churels 'latching' onto trees—so they can function as place‑bound spirits. Beyond these motifs, the provided materials do not supply authoritative lists of additional supernatural powers (such as possession, vitality‑draining, or shape‑changing) for the churel in the cited excerpts.