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Pretas

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sprites or hobgoblins among the Buddhists in Ceylon. They are believed to inhabit a hell called Lokantarika. In appearance they are extremely attenuated, like a dry leaf. There are some pretas that haunt the places near which they once lived as men; they are also found in the suburbs of cities, and in places where four ways meet. Their bodies are represented as being twelve miles high, and they have very large nails. On the top of the head there is a mouth about the size of a needle's eye. They continually think with sorrow on their fate, from not having acquired merit in former births; they are now tormented without ceasing by hunger and thirst, and have not the power of obtaining merit.