Spirit possession

Spirit possession challenges the dominant Self-Other binary in social theory by offering an alternative paradigm for understanding selfhood, inter-ethnic relations, and culture. Based on ethnography of two shaman women in rural Ajmer, Rajasthan, the paper shows how a Hindu woman possessed by the spirit of a Muslim martyr and a Muslim woman possessed by a Hindu goddess embody a permeable self where the other substantially takes over. This practice enables healers to intervene in mundane desires and weave complex cosmographies. The creative imaginary of the shrines contrasts with polarized ethnic identity politics of groups like the Tablighi Jamaat and VHP. The client-healer relationship creates a speech community across caste and ethnic lines, while gender performativity renegotiates gender relations but also exposes communal fractures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper challenges the preeminence of the Self-Other binary in contemporary social theory. The opposition not only pervades the field of cultural studies, it also dominates disciplines such as historiography and anthropology and the burgeoning work on ethnicity. Spirit possession, however, suggests an alternative paradigm for redefining the self and the other, inter-ethnic relations, and understanding culture and cosmologies. The argument is developed from an ethnography of two shaman women in rural Ajmer in Rajasthan. The spirit of Pīr Bābā or Imam Husayn martyred during the Karbala massacre possesses the ‘Hindu’ woman, Sushila Rawat. The collective mother goddess called Bayasaab Mātā possesses the ‘Muslim’ woman healer, Jamila Merat, whose practice has been taken over by her younger brother after her death.Embodiment visualizes the body as a permeable site where the other substantially takes over the self for the duration of the trance. The power of the possessing spirit enables the healer to intervene in the mundane world of desire, kāma, and necessity. Spirits and healers travel in time and across space enabling the latter to weave complex cosmographies such as when Sushila relates the mythic landscape of Ismailism and untouchable traditions.The highly creative imaginary of the two shrines is in contrast to the polarized discourse of ethnicizing groups such as the Tablighi Jamacat and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) who are actively involved in identity contests in the area. The discourse of mythico-ritual healing indicates an alternative civilizational response to the politics of “righting historical wrong” and to the issue of how to address past conquest and/or violence, real or perceived. The client-healer relationship brings into existence a speech community that cuts across caste and ethnic boundaries.The gender performativity of the two woman-healers helps them renegotiate gender relations within the community. But the discourse of disease and possession also exposes the gendered fractures within communities ethnically defined. The objectification of the self and the subjectification of the other involved in spirit possession suggest new ways to reconceptualize the Self-Other binary.