Rannamaari (Sea Demon of the Maldives)
Rannamaari is a terrifying sea demon from Maldivian folklore that rose from the ocean each month to demand a sacrifice of a virgin girl. According to legend, before the Islamization of the Maldives in 1153 CE, the Buddhist inhabitants of Malé were terrorized by this demon. Each month, a virgin was dressed in fine clothes and left alone overnight in a temple on the eastern seafront of Malé — by dawn, she was found violated and dead. This practice continued until a Maghrebi Muslim traveler, Abu'l-Barakat al-Barbari (alternatively identified as Yusuf al-Tabrezi from Tabriz, Iran), arrived in the