A spirit that inhabits and animates a corpse, especially one left near a cremation ground or hanging in a tree. Unlike a mindless revenant, the vetala is articulate, elusive, and frequently several moves ahead of the person trying to bind it.
The best-known cycle is the Vet?lapa?cavi??ati: King Vikram repeatedly carries a corpse occupied by a vetala, which tells a morally difficult story and ends with a question. When the king answers, the spirit escapes. The result is as much riddle literature as horror, and modern labels such as 'Indian vampire' flatten a figure whose defining weapon is often intelligence rather than appetite.