Note 15 — Chapter IV · WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS AND SAINTS.

The lives of bhuts and pishāchas, male and female ghosts, are said to extend over a thousand years.15 Shrāddhas, such as the samāchari i.e., the death anniversary and Nārāyanbali i.e., a shrāddha performed in a holy place, emancipate the ghostly spirits from their wretched existence and make them eligible for birth in a better form.16 Some believe that at the end of their ghostly existence (a thousand years) they take birth in the animal kingdom in the mortal world.17