4.2

Exorcists, Oracles, and Healers

pp. 142-6

[quoted from Wadley 1976, p. 235] “In North India, the native terms for oracle are baki {vacin} and bhagat {bhagavant}. The native terms for exorcist include jhad.n.ewala, ojha, mantravidh [“sic : should be mantravid”], and mativah.”

“They are : baki (babbler); bhagat (devotee); jhad.n.evala (spiritualist); ojha (exorcist, folk healer); mantravid (well-versed in mantras); and mativah (… opinion-bearer).

Henry [1981, p. 303] and Lambert [1988, p. 356] distinguish between Tantric healers called sidh {siddha} or sayana and mediums, bhopa or ojha.

Fuchs [1964] records that in central India the barwa cures by exorcism, while a janka does so by divinization.

McClintock [1990, pp. 37, 47], in Pakistani Panjab, cites Urdu amil, more properly “agent” or “operator,” as “exorcist,” distinguishing it from the jadugar (magician) and pir (saint).

In Gujarati …, the term bhagat is mentioned as someone who is able to diagnose the provenance of a spirit, while a bhuva … is an exorcist [GSGBD 1961, pp. 121, 124].

This is also a common term in Marathi, along with jhad. (medium) [Wagle 1995, pp. 194, 198].

Bhattacharyya [1986, pp. 42-7] rovides three words for folk healer in Bengali … : ojha (Skt. upadhyaya), roja, and gun.ina.”

p. 143

“the primary terms in Nepali for a religious healer are jha~mkri [p. 168, n. 4:191 : “Macdonald 1975:327n5, for regional variants of this word. Dietrich 1998:259 … records the word dhami as a rural variant.”] and paju, who can be either spirit mediums or practitioners of other shamanic arts, and the related jaki in Assamese [VShDY 2004, p. 15].”

p. 144

“Macdonald states [1975, p. 118] that a jha~mkri is one who “after having first of all suffered possession by a spirit foreign to his everyday world, manages to control it and regulate it.””

[quoted from Ho:fer 1994, p. 18] “the jha~mkri is a 'shaman,' i.e., a socially recognized ritual specialist … capable of controlling and/or producing paranormal experience – visions, possession, etc. – allowing for a privileged, direct contact with occult forces and beings.”

“Gaborieau records [1975a, pp. 73, 76 sq] the … word dhami and … d.amgre {cognate with, or a pun on, */DHYANA-KRIYA/ (/jha~mkri/)} in central Nepal.”

“Berglie [1976] provides a detailed description of the training of a spirit medium …, and an account of the trance experiences of the Tibetan dpah.-bo.”

p. 145

“The [Muslim] faqir invokes … jinns {jnun} to cure diseases, while

the ojha, … Hindu, arrange and sing religious songs known as bhasan [p. 169, n. 4:211 : “The word bhasan, writes Karim, “suggests one who is floated” (p. 307n15).”], padmapuran. or behula laks.indar, whoch invoke the serpent deity (as in the debaddhani festival in Assam) Manasha for healing.” (Karim 1988, p. 295)

“Shukla noted the words sokha (one who absorbs or dries up) and gun.i (adept), in addition to ojha and bhagat.”

[p. 159, n. 4:29 (quoted from Parry 1994, p. 236) : “The ojha lures and entraps the ghosts, while the sokha supervises his efforts and is the real expert in identification”.]

“Inglis notes [1985:90-1] … kot.anki (“possession specialists … who ply the trade of soothsaying in a market or other public place for a fee”).”

p. 145

“Caldwell [1996, p. 223 n 23] and Freeman inform us that, in Malayalam, the words for oracle are vel.icchapat.u or komaram. Most are male priests associated with temples. However, some are females who reside in the hilly tribal areas near Palghat.”

p. 146

For S`ri Lanka “Tamil, Lawrence [2003] cites the word kat.t.akal for “oracle” and teyvam at.ukakkal for deity-dancer, as well as vakku solluratu for “uttering oracle”.

“Maloney discusses [1980, p. 242] fand.ita in Maldive islands, which is “magic or religious 'science' of any sort …, curative or preventive, fertility ritual or divination.” The word fand.ita, from Sanskrit pan.d.ita, … entered Divehi, the local language … . … Nevertheless, in Divehi a conjurer, exorcist, herbalist, astrologer, and protector of {from} the evil eye (esfinna < Sinhala a svaha) is called a “fand.ita man.””

[p. 218, n. 4:218 : “On the evil eye in Sri Lanka, see Wirz 1954:178 f.”]

4.3

On “Folk” and “Classical” in South Bharata

pp. 146-56

“the presence in the Draupadi cult's Mahabharata of a {legendary} devotee, Muttal Ravuttan, who serves Draupadi by … receiving impure offerings, including gan~ja, opium, and arrack.

cf. Hiltebeitel 1988, pp. 101-27

At one temple, red and green chili peppers are offered to his [Muttal Ravuttan's] dog.

“brahman [spirit-]possession … is widespread in the bhuta cult of South Kanara district of Karnataka, in East Gadavari district of Andhra Pradesh, and elsewhere”. (Prabhu 1977; Honko 1998; Knipe 1989)

“Rigopoulos … states [1993, p. 54 n. 18] : “... Maharashtrian gods possess their devotees. For instance, Khandoba, Kal Bhairav, Dattatreya do possess””.

“I have heard

in Maharashtra … of [spirit-]possession by Hanuman, Gan.es`a, and S`iva, and

outside Maharashtra, of Kr.s.n.a (in Nepal) [Gellner 2001, p. 203],

the Buddha (also in Nepal) [Gellner 2001, p. 211],

Vis.n.u (in S[`]ri Lanka [Holt 2004] and Nepal [Gellner 2001, p. 102]”.

“Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, ... Dakota and Nebraska, … Mississippi … and … Chicago. All of these are Native American names, the total number of which by now surely exceeds the number of Native Americans in these areas who have any knowledge of their ancestral languages.”

{The U.S. Census Bureau figure is over 250,000 for native speakers of “the American Indian languages spoken in households across the United States.” (“AILS”) Thus, the number of Amerindian state-and-city names “surely” doth not exceed the number of Native North American speakers of Amerindian languages.}

“The … affinities of bait.hak as performed in Peshawar with, for example, the possession rituals aong the Jalari of Andhra Pradesh and the bhuta festivals among the Tulu speakers in Karnataka testify to a broadly distributed cultural form”.

“Shail Mayaram, who [2000] studied [spirit-]possession in Ajmer, Rajasthan, records that a Hindu woman regularly reports possession of {by} Imam H[.]usayn, the grandson of Muh[.]ammad … . Conversely, Mayaram notes that a Muslim woman healer reported regular possession of {by} a local mother goddess called Bayasaab Mata.”

p. 171, n. 4:234

“For a description of a spirit medium who “dances” with S`akyamuni Buddha in contemporary Singapore, see DeBernardi 1995:158.”

p. 155

“Dirks notes [1992, p. 231] that the camiyat.i (possessed “deity dancers”) in the Aiyanar festivals in Pudukkottai District of Tamilnadu were “initially chosen for possessing special spiritual powers,” but .. became hereditary.”