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The Legend of West Bengal

This is one of the famous urban legends in west Bengal

By Narendran CPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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The Legend of West Bengal
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

This is one of the famous urban legends in west Bengal. It is considered some kind of ghost. Nishi indicates night or dark. The Nishi Dak is a spirit that speaks to people in a familiar voice at night or in the dark. It is a hazardous spirit that was previously very widespread in Bengal, where it is still known as the Nishir Dak or Call of the Night Spirit, as well as in Bihar and Jharkhand, where it is known as the Nishi. During night time, too, specifically on no-moon days, Nishi Dak would hide in a dark place waiting for its victim.

If it sees someone walking alone on the path, it will call their name twice in a voice that is familiar to them. If someone responds to that voice and turns over, they would find a shadow standing at a long distance. In some stories, it is said that people even look at the faces of the people who called, but from a long distance. Then, if the man follows the shadow or the other person, the nishi dak takes him to a place where there are no people around. Nishi Dak would then revert to its original form after arriving at the location.

Then when he shouts, out of fear that Nishi Dak would kill them, So it is said that people in the village should be careful about it. People even believe Nishi Dak is to blame for accidents in remote areas and mysterious murders in the surrounding area. According to the tales, the soul of the deceased person turns into a nishi dak. If the family of the person fails to do the rituals after the death, the soul of that person will change into a nishi dak.

I read a story regarding this. I was not able to backtrack the origin of this urban legend, but the story was very interesting. According to that story, a man in a family dies. The family failed to do the rituals after the death. After that, the angry soul turns into a nishi dak. After turning into Nishi Dak, he started killing the people in his family one by one. Because of the fear, nobody in the village came out in the dark. One interesting fact about this legend is that if someone is killed by this nishi dak, then eventually they will also turn into a nishi dak too. The urban legend itself has the answer to the question of the survival of the people from Nishi Dak. Nishi Dak calls the name of the person exactly two times. It will not call the person's name more than two times.

One solution is that if someone calls your name twice, you do not turn or respond to that sound. If a real person called, he would call more than four times, and we should respond to it. This is the solution, according to the stories. According to the people of the village, do not turn or respond to anyone after it becomes dark. The other story I heard was about tourists. One day in the mangrove forest, a bunch of tourists went camping. They appointed a guy named Kisno as their boat driver and guide.

During the campfire at night, everyone heard a voice calling out the tourist guide's name. At first, no one took it seriously. After awhile, they heard the same voice. They all went silent. Then the tour guide told them to go to their tents and sleep without making a scene. The following morning, the tourist inquired about the events, and the guide explained the nishi dak. Even today, in many villages, there is a fear of nishi dak. 

urban legend
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