At Umbergaon people do not throw stones at an owl. For it is considered that the owl might sit and rub the stone, and that the person throwing it will become weak and wasted as the stone wears away. [610] The people of Kolhápur do not believe that there is any connection between the bat or owl and the spirits of the dead, but they believe that, if an owl cries out in the evening or at night, it indicates the death of a sick person in the family. This applies also to the sound of a single pingla, but the sound of a pair of pinglas is considered auspicious. [611] It is generally believed that old unoccupied houses are haunted by evil spirits. Persons who wish to inhabit such houses first perform the Vástu shánti ceremony, and give a feast to Bráhmans. In former times, in the districts that were ruled by the Portuguese, religious persecution prevailed. To escape from these persecutions, people were compelled to leave their houses unprotected. Before leaving their houses, they used to bury their treasure in the ground, and on that spot a human being or an animal was sacrificed in order that the spirit of the dead should hover about the place, and prevent strangers from coming. [612] The evil spirits which haunt ruins and guard buried treasures and old forts are known as Mahápurush, Khavis, Brahma Rákshasa and Sambandh. [613] If there be any buried treasure in an old unoccupied house, the owner of the treasure remains there in the form of a ghost. If the treasure be near the temple of a deity, it is supposed to be under the guardianship of that deity. [614] At Vijayadurg it is believed that a person who builds a house in the days of his prosperity and does not survive to enjoy it, becomes a Sambandh. He remains in that house in the form of a ghost, and troubles every one who comes to stay there, excepting the members of his family. A man who buries his treasure underground becomes a ghost after death, comes back to watch his treasure, and troubles those who try to remove it. [615] Unoccupied houses are generally haunted by evil spirits. At certain forts in the Konkan where battles were fought, the souls of those slain in the battles are said to have assumed the forms of spirits, and to keep a watch over the forts. [616]