Ritualized Medical Pluralism: Understanding the Social Legitimacy and Practice of Indigenous Knowledge and Spiritual Healing System Embedded in Pheri Culture of Phree Community in Nepal
Nepal Journal of Multidisciplinary Research July 9, 2026 Krishna Jogi
The Pheri culture of the Phree community in eastern Nepal is an indigenous spiritual healing system used for both prevention and cure, grounded in animistic, shamanistic, and tantric cosmology. It addresses illness from spiritual affliction, cosmological imbalance, and social disruption. Households combine biomedicine with Pheri healing based on culturally specific explanations of illness, creating a pattern of ritualized medical pluralism. The study argues that Pheri is a complementary and essential therapeutic domain, and its marginalization threatens cultural continuity and community health resilience.