Research source

Tola is a sort of "Will-o'-the-Wisp" in the Hills

Date of account: Second edition published 1896
Source: The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Reference: The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 1 (of 2) · selected passage 105
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Tola is a sort of "Will-o'-the-Wisp" in the Hills. According to one account, he is, like the Gayâl, of whom we have spoken already, the ghost of a bachelor, and other ghosts refuse to associate with him; so he is seen only in wild and solitary places. Others say that he belongs to the class of children ghosts, who have died too young to undergo the rites of tonsure or cremation. They are, as a rule, harmless, and are not much dreaded. After a child undergoes the specified religious ceremonies, its soul is matured, and fitted either to join the spirits of the sainted dead or to assume a new existence by transmigration. The estate of the Tola is only temporary, and after a time, it, too, enters another form of existence.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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