Virika

(Vee-RIC-ah)

There is a ghostly flamered vampiric spirit in India known as a virika ("brave one"). Its teeth have been stained red by the quantity of blood it has consumed. It tends to linger around the home of someone who is dying, gibbering to itself as it is filled with excitement. To prevent it from attacking, a shrine must be built to its honor and filled with food and flowers. If the virika accepts the gifts, it will leave, and the dying will be granted a reprieve, left to depart this life in peace.

Source: Balfour, Cyclopædia of India, 87; Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 603; Khanam, Demonology, 23