Dayan (Daayan, Ḍāin, Ḍāini)

The Dayan is not a ghost but a living woman — or so she appears. In North and Central Indian folk belief, a Dayan is a person, almost always female, who has acquired or inherited supernatural powers through a pact with malevolent forces. She uses these powers to cause illness in children, poison livestock, destroy crops, and bring misfortune to enemies.

Belief in the Dayan is ancient and widespread, but it carries a shadow of real-world violence. Accusations of being a Dayan — often targeting widows, older women, or women who have defied social norms — have led to documented murders, torture, and social expulsion. The National Crime Records Bureau of India reports hundreds of witch-hunting cases annually, the majority from tribal districts of Jharkhand and Odisha.

A Dayan looks like an ordinary woman. The supernatural signs are behavioural and circumstantial: she is seen at crossroads at night, she does not eat with others, her shadow falls wrong in certain lights.

In direct supernatural encounter (as distinct from the social accusation), she is described as able to leave her body at night, her spirit travelling as a flame or an owl.

Dayans are depicted as vengeful, predatory spirits who feed on the life-force or blood of the living, most often attacking male family members (stories describe the youngest male household member being drained of youth and turned prematurely old). They are said to seduce and entrap solitary men by taking the form of a young woman, imprison them and use them sexually until the victim ages and dies, or cause a man who eats the dayan's food to become old by dawn. The braid (choti) functions as an active instrument in attack. Folklore also portrays dayans as worshippers of 'black magic spirits' or as associated with yoginis; in social contexts the label is also used to accuse living women of harmful magic, producing ostracism or violence. Sources note ambiguity between postmortem revenant accounts and accusations applied to living women.