The Pheriwala Jogis were ghostbusters in Nepal, Sikkim, and Darjeeling, India, long before jump scares were a thing in horror films. If you grew up in these places, you might remember a strange horn sound in the middle of the night.
Haunting, no? That sound usually came from these wandering holy men, who walked through villages at night to scare away evil spirits and protect homes from harm.
For many years, this small but important community has been practising the Pheri rite, which uses a sacred horn made from the horn of a blackbuck. They blow the horns at midnight and chant mantras to fend off evil spirits.
Strongly entrenched in animism, shamanic, and tantric traditions, their practice, a cultural inheritance passed down through the centuries, goes beyond superstition.
Pheriwala Jogis have their roots in the Nath Sampradaya, who were devotees of Gorakhnath, the tantric guru. Their story begins with the Nath Sampradaya, an old Hindu spiritual tradition focused on yoga, discipline, and meditation.
The teachings of Gorakhnath, a fabled saint who is still highly revered in South Asia today, served as the foundation for this tradition. The Nath Yogis welcomed members of marginalised communities like the Tharu, Magar, and Gharti. Rather than participating in the primary rituals, they were assigned a different role.
They received coded mantras and Pheri to protect the village from evil spirits. Since then, the Jogis have faithfully performed their role, their existence being deeply embedded in local belief systems while frequently going unnoticed.
One of them is Budhhi Man Jogi, who began working when he was 11 years old. ”As a child, I used to get scared, too young to know and understand. Going around with my father taught me how to do this. But now I don’t get scared; we shield our body with a spell,” he reflects on his early days.
A lone Jogi travels around villages between midnight and three in the morning twice a year, between Chaitra (March–April) and Kartik (October–November), stopping at each home to blow the Pheri at its corners. The droning, deep sound breaks the silence, believed to agitate evil forces lurking in the darkness. Families give offerings of rice, salt, oil, turmeric, and even a black cloth at the break of day.
However, the customs of the Pheriwala Jogi are gradually disappearing in the modern world. Despite the hardships, Buddhi Man Jogi remains committed to his tradition.
“Even if we were rich, we would still visit at least 5/7 houses just to keep our tradition alive. After all, I am a Jogi, and I must do this. I’m not sure if my sons and grandsons will carry on this custom. But for now, I am doing this for the sake of my father’s reputation,” he adds.
Many young people from the community who are economically disadvantaged and marginalised are choosing modern lifestyles over traditional ones. They are not included in many government and non-governmental organisation inclusion programmes since the government does not formally recognise them as a separate ethnic group.
This lack of acknowledgement has played a part in their ongoing economic and social exclusion. Still, for some who recall waking up to the distant call of the Pheri, it serves as a strong reminder of the connection between humanity, nature, and unseen forces.
The Pheriwala Jogis have been silent protectors of a sacred tradition for centuries, warding off the unknown. And their legacy will live on if the Pheri can be heard on quiet nights.
Pratikshya Bhatta is a junior editor for Nepal Connect.
