Rannamaari: The Sea Demon That Demanded Sacrifice
In pre-Islamic Maldives, a terrible sea demon called Rannamaari rose from the ocean each month to demand a sacrificed virgin. The girls were dressed in fine clothes and left alone in a Buddhist temple on the eastern seafront of Malé; by dawn, they were found violated and dead. This terror continued until a Maghrebi Muslim traveler, Abu'l-Barakat al-Barbari (or Yusuf al-Tabrezi from Tabriz, Iran), volunteered to take the girl's place. He spent the night reciting the Quran, and when the demon appeared, the holy verses caused it to flee into the sea, never to return. The king, identified as Dhove