Leyak: The Graveyard Hunters

A Leyak is a sorcerer mentioned in Balinese folklore who can shapeshift into a demon to cause a problem, bring death and destruction among people, crops and animals. Leyaks are said to fly around seeking for a pregnant woman to suck her baby’s blood or that of a newborn. The blood of a fetus aids their magical powers. The Legend says that there are two females and one male Leyak.

Description:

Other names: Leak

Appearance:

A Leyak appears in the form of a mysterious light, a monkey or bird and flies at night. It can also bear the form of a head detached from its body with bulging eyes, flying in the darkness of the night. In its normal form, a Leyak usually has a long tongue and huge fangs. It appears as a human at day but has its head and entrails break out of the body to fly at night.

Abilities:

• A Leyak is a shape-shifter above all other things. He takes the shape of whatever form he desires to accomplish his intent, which is usually the destruction of lives and property.
• At daylight, Leyaks appear as an ordinary human, but at night, their head and entrails break out from their bodies to fly.

About

In the folklore of the Bali people, Leyaks are considered as the primary cause of all bad events and misfortunes which happen in the village. These sorcerers are known for their cannibalistic character. Leyaks can remain in a human form for so long. Some folks state that if the sorcerer who bears this shapeshifting ability sleeps, the Leyak flies into the dark skies of the night in the form of a bird, a strange light or a monkey. When the Leyak is killed, its human form instantaneously dies together with it.

This lore talks about the queen of Leyaks called Rangda. She was a widowed witch whose role in public ritual cannot be underrated. The mask of Rangda is kept in the village death temple. When the festivals of her temples occur, she is paraded around the village. Aside from this, Leyaks maybe the demons who are followers of Rangda.

Leyaks are well known to haunt graveyards to feed on corpses and dead bodies.  The people of Bali suffered a lot of sicknesses and deaths due to Leyaks. They resorted to a Balian (the Bali traditional healer) to conduct a seance to pin-point the cause of the death using witchcraft. During the seance, the spirit of the dead identifies the attacker directly or indirectly. The Balian will often advise the family of the deceased not to react in vengeance even when their suspicions and fears have been confirmed. The revenge upon the witch is carried out by the spirits.

Leyaks are visible to Leak hunters who can see them at night as they roam cemeteries and graveyards in search of human remains. They use the organs of corpses to make portions of magic which help them to shapeshift to tons of animals and objects such as tigers, a monkey with a golden tooth, a pig, a statue or mask of Rangda, a fireball or even a motorcycle. A leyak can be killed when it is stabbed on the neck from the bottom up. This can be done when its head is separated from its body.

The arch-rival of the Leyak is Barong, who is the main character in Balinese myths. He is the King of good spirits representing goodness while Rangda (who Leyaks are associated with) represents evil.

Going further:

In the 11th century, the Legend of Leak was recorded in the Javanese Calon Arang myth during the reign of Airlangga, King of Medang. In a village called Girah, there was a widowed witch named Calon Arang who had a beautiful daughter called Ratna Manggali.

Ratna Manggali had committed adultery, and none of the men in the village dared to marry her because of her witch mother. This got Calon Arang so angry that she caused the deaths of most people in the village. This made the villagers hate her so much, and the soldiers tried to kill her. One day, they found her asleep and grabbed her by the hair, but when she got up, she shot them with fire from her eyes. Only one soldier was able to escape. When Calon Arang, discovered that the King was behind the plot to kill her, she was furious. She spread evil throughout the village, causing an epidemic.  She wrote her magic in a book called Kitab Calonarang.

Later on, a hero emerged in Mpu Bharada, who discovered her magic book and hid it so it would not spread. However, followers of Calon Arang went to Bali, where her knowledge was passed down to a group of people now known as the Leak. In Bali, a special ritual is held every new moon to protect people from the Leak’s attack.

In summary, note that Leyaks exist on different levels.  Generally, a Leak can shapeshift for up to 1,000 times, and there will be at least five unique features in each of its forms. Meanwhile, each form corresponds to a level that reflects how much of Calon Arang’s knowledge it has.

An example is a Balinese wooden mask with fangs and protruding tongue that sticks out. This is called Celuluk, signifying the lowest level of Leak knowledge. Also, at this lowest level of knowledge, an individual can transform himself into common animals such as monkeys, white chickens, dogs, goats, and so on.

Mid-level knowledge allows individuals to transform into a mythological bird that has poison in its beak and claws, can fly high in the sky, and shoot fire from its eyes. Also, at this level, a Leak can also transform into a Jaka Tunggul or a palm tree that can release fire and poisonous odour.

Finally, high-level knowledge grants the individual the ability to transform into Bade, a towering wagon that carries dead bodies around Bali. The whole tower turns into fire and burns everything around it into ash.

References:

1.https://m.brilio.net/en/scary/balinese-demon-leak-can-turn-into-any-object-and-hunt-for-babies-160810l.html#questionnaire

2.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyak

3.http://www.bythegods.net/post/536539450

4.The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology.