The role of non-human punishment in Buryat shamanism
Etnografia. Praktyki, Teorie, Doświadczenia December 16, 2024 Wojciech Połeć
Punishment in shamanic societies is not merely a human institution but includes actions by non-human entities such as mountain and river guardians and ancestral spirits, which are central to shamanic cosmology. Drawing on fieldwork in Buryatia and Mongolia and analysis of Buryat shamanic texts, the article argues that what external observers label as punishment is actually an immanent part of the belief system and its ethics. The concept of punishment is examined through ideas of ovoo guardians, illness, and the shamanic vocation, including shamanic disease, showing that it is embedded in a broader cosmology rather than a separate legal or justice system.