SPIRIT POSSESSION: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION ON THE PRACTICE OF DEOUTHA AMONG THE DEORIS OF ASSAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Spirit possession is a complex, temporary, and reversible phenomenon still practiced in many societies worldwide. Anthropologists have conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork on possession and possession-trance across different cultures. Belief in spirit possession is ancient and widespread, as shown by historical and ethnographic records. It is intimately tied to religion and folk traditions, being culture-bound and dependent on the beliefs, customs, and attitudes of a particular cultural group. The term is emic, carrying meaning that believers themselves attach to what happens during a spirit possession ritual. Among the Deori, religious possession by spirits is considered benevolent and an integral part of their social system.

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Abstract

Spirit possession can be considered as a complex phenomenon found to be still in practice in many societies around the world. Anthropologists have spent long years of time conducting ethnographic field studies on spirit possession and possession-trance in different societies around the world.Belief in spirit possession and possession-trance are ancient and very widespread as seen in the historical and ethnographic records. Spirit possession in man is connected with religion and considered as religious and folk tradition which is a temporary and reversible phenomenon. Spirit possession is a phenomenon that is culture-bound i.e.it is intimately related to the beliefs, customs and attitudes of the particular cultural group in which it is found and is a purely emic term which contains “a meaning which believers themselves attached to what they believe happen during a spirit possession ritual.The “religious possession of spirits”is considered a benevolent entity and considered as an integral part of the Deori social system.