Krahang
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Krahang (, ; or , ) is a male spirit of the Thai folklore. It manifests itself as a shirtless man, wearing a traditional
loincloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclo ...
, who flies in the night. Royal Institute Dictionary, 1999 edition, first printing (2003) ''Krahang'' uses two large ''kradong'' (กระด้ง), round rice
winnowing Winnowing is a process by which chaff is separated from grain. It can also be used to remove pests from stored grain. Winnowing usually follows threshing in grain preparation. In its simplest form, it involves throwing the mixture into the ...
baskets, to fly in the night in rural areas of
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. It also often rides a ''sak tam khao'' (สากตำข้าว), the long wooden pestle of a traditional manual
rice pounder A rice pounder is an agricultural tool, a simple machine that is commonly used in Southeast Asia to dehull rice or to turn rice into rice flour. The device has similar functionality to a mortar and pestle, but with more mechanical advantage to ...
.


Legends & sightings

''Krahang'' is a type of
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
that is said to haunt the same areas as
Krasue The ''Krasue'' (, ) is a nocturnality, nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests as the floating, disembodied head of a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her organ (anatomy), internal organs still attached and tr ...
, a female spirit of the Thai village folklore, thus these two spirits are often mentioned or represented together. Legends of the Thai
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...
say that this is an evil spirit that may harm people walking at night in out of the way areas. Like Krasue it lives the life of a normal villager during the day. But from the research in " Three Seals Law" (กฎหมายตราสามดวง) from
Ayutthaya period The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai people, Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (city), Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. Europe ...
. Rongroj Piromanukul, an anthropologist of Ramkhamhaeng University found that the Krahang don't appear in the list of ghosts, so they believe that the names are recorded later. In August 2012 villagers from Lat Bua Khao, Sikhio District, in the western part of Nakhon Ratchasima Province, blamed Krahang for some attacks on local women at night. Ultimately, the culprit was found to be a person addicted to drugs. In July 2017, an 18-year-old girl at Nong Plong, Chamni District,
Buriram Province Buriram province (, , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-seven Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') and lies in Isan#Administrative divisions, lower northeastern Thailand, also called Isan. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) ...
, claimed that while she was in the restroom within her house at night before put her eyes together, she saw a Krahang through a gap near the ceiling. It appeared as a large man with a winged back. The girl panicked and ran out of the restroom, and when this story spread as a result, the villagers of the two villages were terrified. One elder villager said she saw the krahang for ten years. It flies in pairs with glowing eyes like a thunderbolt, she said she saw it last Sunday at the beginning of the year at 02:00 am for a half hour. The woman reportedly tried to get her son to film the creature with his cell phone without success. The village elder blamed a nearby house in which her family had previously lived, but is now abandoned. In 2010, her older sister and her mother died in this house. She then saw strange lights floating out of the house at night - she believed these to be Krasue and Krahang. She claimed to be fighting it in her dream for more than ten years before she actually saw it in early 2012. The elder hired a
sorcerer Sorcerer may refer to: Magic * Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources * Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...
to hold exorcisms at this house, spending over a hundred thousand
baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...
without success.


Modern adaptations

''Krahang'' is a popular folk spirit that has been featured in the 1991 Thai film Kahang (กะหัง) and film Krahang (กระหัง), and was adapted as a funny character in Thep Sarm Rudoo (เทพสามฤดู) a folk-style television series that was made in 1987, 2003 and 2017, as well as in a Sylvania light bulb commercial for Thai audiences. Representations of Krahang, mostly humorous, are very common in Thai comic
book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
s.Comic Vignette of Krahang with Krasue
/ref> A benevolent Krahang has a role as well in the Nak animated movie.


See also

*
Krasue The ''Krasue'' (, ) is a nocturnality, nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests as the floating, disembodied head of a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her organ (anatomy), internal organs still attached and tr ...
* Owlman * Phraya Anuman Rajadhon


References


External links


Thai popular spiritsThai famous ghostsKrahang Movie posterThai horror moviesGhosts and mysteries
{{Ghosts Thai ghosts