Spirit possession in the central Himalayas
La possession en Asie du Sud January 1, 1999 Monika Krengel 6 citations
Spirit possession rituals called jāgar in the Kumaon region of the Himalaya are complex institutions that address more than healing. Although often triggered by a person's illness, a jāgar provides a stage for active discourse on past, present, and future community affairs. The ritual resembles a journey where an actual problem is just the starting point; oracular communication with deities reveals misdeeds unrelated to the sufferer's symptoms. Divine justice, voiced through local deities, shapes concepts of responsibility and guilt. Ambivalences about justice and truth make jāgars a medium where divine messages enter worldly argumentation. The power of individuals is strongly gendered, but identity, power, and responsibility are ultimately tied to territory and landed property.