The fear of evil spirits and the human agents who bent them to their will with malevolent intent is as old as human history. Glimpses of it surface in the Rig Veda, an ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns written in South Asia between 1500 and 1200 BCE. Directed to the storm god Indra and other deities, these chants called upon the protectors of goodness to “hurl down those who thrive on darkness,” including sinister, shape-shifting demons known as rakshasas and their sorcerer masters, who could assume the forms of dogs and birds. The phrase “let the light blot out the fiends” referred to the power of dawn’s first light to put to flight night-roaming spirits and their human handlers alike.
Indra and Soma, burn the demon and crush him; bulls, hurl down those who thrive on darkness. Shatter those who lack good thoughts; scorch them, kill, drive out, cut down the devourers…
Indra and Soma, pierce the evil-doers and hurl them into the pit, the bottomless darkness, so that not a single one will come up from there again. Let this furious rage of yours overpower them…
Plot against them. Swooping down swiftly, kill the demons who hate us and would break us into bits. Indra and Soma, let nothing good happen to the evil-doer who has ever tried to injure me with his hatred…
Indra shattered the sorcerers who snatched away the oblation and waylaid him. Indra splits them as an axe splits a tree, bursting apart the demons as if they were clay pots.
Kill the owl-sorcerer, the owlet-sorcerer, the dog-sorcerer, the cuckoo-sorcerer, the eagle-sorcerer, the vulture-sorcerer. Indra, crush the demon to powder as if with a millstone.
Do not let the demon of the sorcerers get close to us. Let the light blot out the fiends who work in couples…
Indra, kill the male sorcerer and the female who deceives by her power of illusion. Let the idol-worshippers sink down with broken necks; let them never see the rising sun.
Look here, look there, Indra and Soma; stay awake! Hurl the weapon at the demons; hurl the thunderbolt at the sorcerers!