Ghosts of Assamese folklore sighted in digital form with AI art

A mechanical engineer turned short film maker Chinmoy Barma has given a digital shape to some of ghosts and spirits of Assam through artificial intelligence-driven software. 

The spooks of Assam have become spookier with a digital makeover. 

More than a decade ago, author Pranavjyoti Deka brought out a bilingual thesaurus on all things Assamese. One of the chapters was on some 60 types of ghosts and spirits – some benevolent, mostly evil. 

Now, mechanical engineer turned short film maker Chinmoy Barma has given a digital shape to some of these spirits through artificial intelligence-driven software. 

Topping his list in an AI art series, titled ‘Assamese folklore legends and ghosts’, is Bira. According to one of the earliest compilations by Pathsala-based Jayanta Kumar Sarma, Bira is among the most dangerous spirits and is usually controlled by sorcerers. 

People across the State believe that a male Bira possesses boys or men and a female Bira possesses girls or women. It is also believed that the delirium of a possessed person ends only after a sorcerer or priest drives a Bira away with special rituals and chants. 

Among the other spirits Mr. Barma developed digitally are Jokhini, the female spirit said to haunt pregnant women to steal their child; and Kon Bhoot, the king of ghosts sporting three legs and an eye on the chest but who has no neck. 

The eerie quotient goes a notch higher with Ghorapak, a part-horse part-human creature, among the most feared in Assamese folklore. Villagers who claim to bump into one say that it is seen on river banks, ponds, and swampy areas at night.