The Politics of Madness and Spirit Possession in Northern India.

In the Western Himalayas, being a medium of a god is common and normative. This article describes three mediums whose strong criticism of religious practices and the caste system caused mixed feelings in their community. Villagers typically cope with deviant mediumship by ignoring the person or gossiping to express skepticism or label the possession as inauthentic. These usual approaches failed for these three mediums. Consequently, some community members invoked the biomedical concept of madness to stop what they saw as deviant mediumship.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Being a medium of a god is common and normative in the Western Himalayas. In this article I present a case of three mediums who were regarded with mixed feelings by society, because their mediumship strongly criticized religious practices and the caste system. The villagers in the study area have cultural-religious practices that help them cope with deviant forms of mediumship - patterns such as ignoring a person or gossiping about them to express skepticism or to label the possession as inauthentic. These approaches were not effective in these cases. As a result, the biomedical concept of madness was invoked by some members of the community to put an end to what they regarded as deviant mediumship.