In the folklore of the Indian subcontinent, bhut are malignant spirits akin to ghosts or goblins. They haunt cremation grounds and cemeteries, abandoned houses or lonely, desolate places. They might be found lurking in trees, particularly the pipal, and spring out at unwary travellers at dusk. They are sometimes tricksters, who delight in deluding human beings. They can animate dead bodies or take possession of living ones.

According to the Vishnu Purana, they are fierce beings who live on human flesh and were created by Brahma when he was angry; in the Vayu Purana, their mother is said to have been Krodha, ‘anger’. They are attendants of the god Shiva, and he is their king.