From the folklore of the Muria
When men increased in number, they began to fall ill and die. In those days they used to take a three days’ supply of rice and pulse to feed the corpses in the very places where they buried them. The ghosts made vessels of leaves and cooked and ate their food. But after the funerary rites of the Dassa, the Dead got no more food and they wandered about hungry and in great misery.
One day many ghosts gathered and said, “Let’s go to Jam Deota and ask him to make proper arrangements for our food.” They did so and said, “We are always hungry, for our relatives only give us food for three days. Make some arrangement for us.” Jam Deota gave them a small earthen pot and pulse and rice and said, “Don’t go down to the earth, but stay here and cook and eat.” The ghosts cooked in the sky, but with what the heat of their fire and the heat of the sun, it became unbearably hot below and houses and trees caught fire. The people were frightened and ran to Jam Eota and told him what was happening. Jam Deota sent word to Indra asking him to make it rain. Indra poured down the rain and this cooled things. Jam Deota then said to the ghosts, “Only cook by night, not by day.” The stars are the fires in the hearths of the ghosts. When one of them has no fire and gets some from a friend, we see it shoot jak-jak-jak across the sky.
Source:
Chapter 4, Tribal Myths of Orissa, Verrier Elwin, 1954
Kotharian Lightning 