At Kolhápur, dreams are believed to be caused through some mental derangement or bodily disorder. It is customary to derive omens from dreams, but their nature greatly depends upon the different times at which these dreams occur. The dreams caused in the latter part of the night, i.e. just before daybreak, are believed to come true.[15]
At Ubhádánda in the Vengurla taluka it is believed that the soul of a person leaves the body temporarily during his sleep; hence it is said that no changes or marks of colour, etc. should be made on the body of a person during sleep, because it is believed that, while returning, the soul identifies the body, and if it is satisfied with the marks of the body it enters it; otherwise it might not return.[16]
At Adivare it is believed that only Hindu saints and ascetics, after deep and devout meditation, are capable of removing the soul from the body. It is believed that their souls go to heaven during that period and return at pleasure. At present there are no such sádhus in the district.[17]
Many Hindus in the Ratnágiri District believe that the soul goes to drink water at night, and therefore keep a pot filled with water at their sleeping place.[18]
The people of Chaul in the Kolába District do not consider it possible ordinarily for the soul to leave the body, but they state that the Swámi of Alandi, who died in or about the year 1886, used to remove his soul from the body by means of Yoga.[19]
At Kolhápur, it is believed that the soul leaves the body temporarily at night when a person is asleep.[20]
At Bankavali in the Dápoli taluka, it is believed that ghosts or evil spirits have the form of a human being, but their feet are turned backwards. They can assume any form they choose. Their character is ordinarily to trouble the people, but when satisfied they are said to prove friendly. The following story is narrated of a person who went to reside in one of the villages of the Konkan. His wife was first attacked by a ghost called Girha. The Girha troubled him much by playing mischief in his house, viz.: by taking away eatables or by mixing dirt in his food. At night he used to divest the couple of their clothes, and on one occasion an ornament was removed by the spirit from the person of the wife. Tired of these annoyances, the man left the village and went to reside at a distance, when, to the astonishment of the public, it happened that the ornament which was lost at the old village was restored to the man’s wife while she was asleep in the new village, and nobody knew who brought it there. All this was believed to be the work of the Girha.[21]
At Ubhádánda in the Vengurla taluka people believe that a Bhut is fierce in aspect and very troublesome, but when its wishes are complied with, it becomes harmless. The Bhuts reside in jungles, burial or cremation grounds, old trees, sacred groves and deserted houses. They assume all sorts of shapes and forms. Sometimes they appear very tall, and they can instantly assume the shape of a dog, a cat, a tiger, or any other animal. Some ghosts are even seen fishing on the banks of rivers.[22]
At Mithbáv in the Devgad taluka it is believed that the souls of those who die with their wishes unfulfilled take the form of a Bhut. They enter the bodies of people. Any woman who is attacked by the Bhut of a Pir becomes able to speak in the Hindi language although it may not be her mother tongue. When a child or a person is suffering from the attacks of a spirit, incense is burnt, and it at once begins to tell the whereabouts of the spirit and the reason why the person has been attacked. He is then asked to state what he wants, and when the things which the spirit wants are offered, it goes away.[23] Spirits are generally invisible.
The spirits that belong to the class of malignant Bhuts are of a ferocious appearance; but those that belong to the class of friendly Bhuts possess bodies like human beings.[24]