Shamanism in South Asia

Shamanism in South Asia: A Preliminary Survey
Author(s): Rex L. Jones

Source: History of Religions, Vol. 7, No. 4 (May, 1968), pp. 330-347
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1061796
Accessed: 05-05-2016 12:39 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
History of Religions
This content downloaded from 14.139.206.51 on Thu, 05 May 2016 12:39:48 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Rex L. Jones SHAMANISM IN SOUTH
ASIA: A PRELIMINARY
SURVEY
INTRODUCTION
Most anthropologists who have described or analyzed shamanism in

South Asia approach the subject from a functionalist point of view.
For example, Berreman, in writing about shamanism in northern
India, contrasts the "roles of the shaman" with "the roles of
Brahman priests" and notes that shamans are especially important
as "religious innovators and policy makers."l He claims that
priests are administrators of the "learned, literate, or great tradi-
tion," 2 while shamans have "direct contact with the supernatural
world through a personal familiar spirit which can possess his body
(literally 'come to his head') and speak through his mouth to
communicate with people who call upon him for information."3
Although he seems to define the shaman in terms of his ability to
become "possessed," he makes no attempt to separate the shaman
from other "healers," part-time religious practitioners, etc. On the
contrary, he seems to lump all of them under the catchall phrase
of "the little tradition."4 Mandelbaum follows Berreman in mak-
ing a functional dichtomy between the "roles" of the shaman and
priest and only adds a more fancy set of terms for the appropriate
religious spheres-the "pragmatic complex" (little tradition) and
1 Gerald D. Berreman, "Brahmanism and Shamanism in Pahari Religion," in
E. B. Harper (ed.), Religion in South Asia (Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 1964), p. 53.
2 Ibid., p. 55.
3 Ibid., p. 56.
4 Ibid., p. 67.
330
the "transcendental complex" (great tradition).5 I feel that such
an explanation sets up false and misleading dichotomies that
hinder a deeper understanding of the beliefs that the people
themselves hold.
In this paper I follow the example of Eliade6 in holding the
shaman's ecstatic experience as the "primary phenomenon." An
analysis and comparison of this phenomenon leads to an under-
standing of "meaning" rather than to "a typology or morphology
of religious data." 7 Eliade, after a comparative study of shaman-
ism on an enormous scale, has this to say: "We have termed the
ecstatic experience a 'primary phenomenon' because we see no
reason whatever for regarding it as the result of a particular his-
torical moment, that is, as produced by a certain form of civiliza-
tion. Rather, we would consider it fundamental in the human
condition, and hence known to the whole of archaic humanity;
what changed and was modified with the different forms of culture
and religion was the interpretation and evaluation of the ecstatic
experience."8
In South Asia this statement may be interpreted to mean that
shamanism has been modified and incorporated within the cos-
mology of Hinduism and Buddhism. Shamanism does not exist in
India as a "complementary" religious rite to Hinduism or, in the
northern and southern fringes, to Buddhism, as Berreman and
Mandelbaum would have us believe, but is part and parcel of these
great religions as a whole. Shamanism, in this sense, represents on
one level of analysis a "survival," but only to the analyst. To the
Hindu or Buddhist it is a necessary and important part of his re-
ligion. It is extremely important to bear this in mind, because
throughout this paper I will speak of "shamanism" as though it
were something different or antithetical to Hinduism and Bud-
dhism. This distortion of native categories of thought is necessary
from the analytic point of view, because I am interested in isolating
shamanism as a phenomenon in its own right in order to show the
modifications that seem to have taken place in various geogra-
phical, historical, and cultural settings. I do not believe that the
people of South Asia make this distinction.
5 David G. Mandelbaum, "Process and Structure in South Asian Religion," in

Harper (ed.), op. cit., p. 10.
6 Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Bollingen Ser.,
Vol. LXXVI [New York: Pantheon Books, 1964]).
7 Ibid., p. xv.
8 Ibid., p. 504.
331
My assumptions must be made clear at the outset. First, I agree

with Eliade in thinking that shamanism is "fundamental in the
human condition"-it is an archaic mysticism that has found its
way into the thinking of hundreds of cultures throughout the
world. In many places and in many religions this mysticism has
almost totally disappeared, or at least has been modified, built
upon, and altered until it is no longer recognizable as a religious
phenomenon at all. Nowhere, not even in Central and North Asia,
do we find shamanism in its pristine form, nor can we make the
claim that it ever existed as a "pure" religion in any one region of
the world or in any one culture. It has always undergone modifica-
tion and change, but the "ecstatic experience" is recognized
throughout the world and is thus the "core" around which the
changes have and are taking place.
Shamanism, then, from the analytic point of view can be defined
as simply "ecstasy" or as an archaic form of mysticism and less
simply as a specialized trance "during which his [the shaman's]
soul is believed to leave his body and ascend to the sky or descend
to the underworld." 9 The instruments and goals accompanying the
ecstatic condition vary, depending largely upon the situation-
curing, healing, divination, or accompanying the dead to the world
of the supernatural; but the meaning is always the same-the
connection of the shaman to a world not readily accessible to
ordinary human beings through an abnormal psychic state, the
trance. The trance may sometimes be simulated or "faked," but
generally it is genuine. What is important is the firm belief in con-
tact with the spirit world on the part of the shaman and his
audience.
The ecstatic experience is intimately connected with a vivid
belief in the "afterlife" or the "otherworld" of spirits, where the
shaman travels during his trance, and it is for this reason that any
study of shamanism must examine the concepts of belief in the
"afterlife." Shamanism is firmly grounded in the knowledge of the
"soul." Eliade notes that "the Shaman is the great specialist in the
human soul; he alone 'sees' it, for he knows its 'form' and its
destiny."10 Eliade rightly concludes that, "wherever the im-
mediate fate of the soul is not at issue, wherever there is no
question of sickness (= loss of soul) or death, or of misfortune, or of
a great sacrificial rite involving some ecstatic experience (journey
to the sky or the underworld), the shaman is not indispensable. A
9 Ibid., p. 5.
10 Ibid., p. 8.
332
large part of the religious life takes place without him." 11 Because
the properties and conditions of the soul are within his domain of
knowledge, the shaman is a curer and healer of disease. One might
conclude that, wherever illness has nothing to do with the "soul,"
shamans and shamanism will be conspicuously absent. The same
might be said of the destiny of the "soul" after death.
The connection between shamanism and the domain of the
"soul" is of primary importance for this paper, because I feel that
in India the variations and differences in shamanism can be corre-
lated to the variations and beliefs in the afterlife and the journeys
of the "soul." The data on which such a statement is based are
fragmentary, and it is the purpose of the paper merely to point to
such a conclusion rather than to demonstrate its validity in toto.
In South Asia, one is presented with two seemingly contradic-
tory "kinds" of shamanism. On the one hand, we have the more
nearly "classic" shamanism, where the shaman achieves a state of
ecstasy, leaves his body, and travels to the underworld or ascends
to the sky-more often the "descent" rather than the "ascent" is
present. This kind of shamanism seems to be almost totally absent
among those people who profess to some variation of Hinduism or
Buddhism, while "tribal" peoples of middle India, the Himalayas,
and especially Assam and the North East Frontier Agency, who
remain relatively free of Hindu doctrines of the "transmigration of
souls," profess a belief in the "ascent" and "descent" of shamans.
On the other hand, the mass of the people in South Asia who pro-
fess a belief in the "transmigration of souls" have shamans who,
while in a trance, are "possessed" by a god or spirit of the super-
natural world. It is this spirit that prescribes a cure, foretells the
future, or answers questions relating to the supernatural world,
and not the shaman, who serves merely as a repository through
which the spirit speaks. Gustav Diehl, in a passing note on shaman-
ism in southern India, claims that the shaman (kotainki) has "the
opposite experience of something descending on him."12 Diehl
goes on to say that it is the siddhars (holy men, or persons who have
perfected their spiritual development through the eight siddhi)
who more nearly approach the shamanic line. Although there may
be shamanic parallels here, the siddhar's soul is self-oriented and
directed toward "release" rather than "communication" between
celestial spheres.13
11 Ibid.
12 Gustav Diehl, Instrument and Purpose (Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1956), p. 234.
13 Ibid., p. 268.
333
In summary, this paper is not concerned with the "role" of the

shaman as a member of society but rather with the meaning
attached to his "ecstatic experience." I propose to compare the
similarities and differences involved in this "ecstasy" in relation
to the concepts of the "soul" and life after death held by various
peoples in South Asia. A comparison of this kind-one that deals
with the primary meaning of shamanism-will aid more in the un-
derstanding of shamanism as a religious phenomenon. The func-
tionalist approach can only lead to a typology of roles played by
various religious leaders.
SHAMANISM IN TRIBAL INDIA
Eliade makes the important point that "the symbolism of ascent,

with all the rites and myths dependent on it, must be concerned
with celestial Supreme Beings.... This symbolism of ascent and
'height' retains its value even after the withdrawal of the celestial
Supreme Being."14 With the development of ancestor cults and
"familiar" or heroic gods, the meaning of the shaman's ecstatic ex-
perience is altered. The symbolism of ascent gives way to the sym-
bolism of descent to the underworld, and, although myths or
cultural motifs such as the union of the first shaman with the
Supreme Being or the use of a shaman's ladder may be retained,
actual "ascent" during a trance is rarely found. Ecstasy on the
part of the shaman is more concerned with travel to and from the
underworld, or the Land of the Dead, where the souls of the an-
cestors live.
In tribal India, especially among the Munda-speaking groups
such as the Santal, Munda, Korhu, Saval (Saora), and Birhor, there
is a general belief in a Supreme Being, Bhagavan, who is not con-
nected to the Bhagavan of Hinduism.15 There is a vague belief that
Bhagavan sends disease and that the soul goes to Bhagavan after
death.16 Among the Aryan-speaking tribes such as the Bhils,
Bhuiya, and Baiga, a similar belief in Bhagavan prevails. Various
myths among the Baiga relate how the first shaman (gunia)
attained his powers by "whiffing" the steam from a pot cooking the
dismembered body of Nanga Baiga, a creation of Bhagavan.17 The
14 Op. cit., p. 505.

15 Stephen Fuchs, "What Some Tribes and Castes of Central India Think about
God," Anthropos, XLI-XLIV (1946-49), 884.
16 Ibid.
17 William Koppers, "Bhagwan, the Supreme Deity of the Bhils," Anthropos,
XXXV-XXXVI (1940-41), 311; Verrier Elwin, The Baiga (London: John Murray,
1939), pp. 328-29.
334
same applies to the Dravidian-speaking tribes such as the Oraon,
Khond, and Gond, who worship Bhagavan under another name,
Dharmi.8l Koppers traces Bhagavan to the early religion of the
Bhagavata, which was in opposition to the Brahmanism of the
Veda.19 Nowadays, Bhagavan seems to be relegated to a heaven
"high in the sky" and has little to do with earthly matters. Among
the Bhils, the "great god Bhagavan does not de facto enter into
magic at all." 20 According to Elwin,21 the Baiga make no images
of Bhagavan, who remains high in the sky, remote from the trials
of this life. Among the Muria of Bastar, the Supreme Deity resides
in the upper world and remains aloof from the middle world of
clan gods and ancestor spirits.22 Furer-Haimendorf indicates a
similar belief among the Raj Gonds of Hyderabad.23
Although the existence of a Supreme Deity has widespread
documentation among these tribes, the deity's relationship to the
activities of shamanism is almost non-existent. The shaman's acti-
vities are confined to the middle world of ancestor spirits and gods
or to the underworld of demons. Many motifs of ascent, both in
myth and ritual, are, however, found among these groups, which
seems to indicate a much closer connection in the past between the
shaman and the celestial God. The creation of the first shaman
among the Baiga by "whiffing" the bones of Nanga Baiga was
mentioned earlier.24 This mythological union with the Supreme
God is documented in the dreams of ascent among many of the
Baiga shamans. For example, a woman gunia (shaman), whose first
dream led her to become a shaman, claims that her soul (jiv)
"went flying up into the sky to catch the sun." 25 In a second dream
she fell ill, "died," and was escorted to Bhagavan by many gods.26
Another gunia dreamed that his soul (jiv) "took wings and flew
through the air." 27 The Baiga claim that in olden times the gunia
could "sit on a pole and fly through the air."28 This could well ex-
plain the shaman's use of a wooden ladder, a swing, or a rope with
18 Koppers, op. cit., p. 304; Sarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs
(Calcutta: Industry Press, 1928), p. 20.
19 Koppers, op. cit., p. 318.
20 Ibid., p. 298.
21 Op. cit., p. 312.
22 Verrier Elwin, The Muria and Their Ghotul (Bombay, 1947), pp. 180-89.
23 C. Von Furer-Haimendorf, "The After Life in Indian Tribal Beliefs," Journal
of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXXXIII (1953), 38.
24 Elwin, The Baiga, pp. 328-29.
25 Ibid., p. 138.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., p. 169.
28 Ibid., p. 340.
335
iron spikes. During the trance, the shaman runs up the ladder or
swings in the swing and replies to questions.29 Eliade documents
the use of the ladder among the Gond of Mohaghir and the Dusadh
and Djangar (tribes of the former Northwestern Province).30 The
Saora erect a bamboo pole in the house where the shaman performs
his rites,31 and among the Gond and Bhumia of eastern Mandla the
panda erects a ladder and climbs up on top, whipping himself with
a cow-tail rope.32
Other motifs of ascent are indicated by the use of horse sym-
bolism. The Muria gunia use the "hobby horse" during the ecstatic
dance,33 and Elwin rightly concludes that this symbolism shows a
parallel to Siberian shamanism, "where they represent the horses
on which the shaman rides to the Upper and Lower worlds."34
Rahmann interprets the use of an earth mound by the Santal and
Munda shamans as symbolic of the cosmic tree, which in Siberian
shamanism represents the shamanic flight to the upper world.35
Although many "ascensional" elements are found in middle-
Indian shamanism, as well as in other parts of India, the shaman
seldom makes a journey to the sky during the ecstatic trance. The
trance is primarily a means through which cures are achieved and
misfortunes are relieved. Majumdar notes that the bhagat (shaman)
of the Karwar of Mirzapur District goes into a trance, beats a drum,
and clashes symbols.36 After the trance he is "ready to answer
questions.... All ills, disappointments, miseries, diseases, even
domestic quarrels, were traced to the Bhawani (spirits) who were
many in Dudhi ... and remedies were suggested." 37 The Kamar of
central India have a gunia Baiga, "who can contact all deities and
can even communicate with Bhagavan. He is very powerful,
succeeds in bringing relief where all other Baigas fail." 38 Crooke
notes that, at the death of a Bhil tribesman, the bhopa is consulted.
The shaman beats a pot and goes into a trance, at which time he
indicates to the survivors the "person" (spirit?) who is respon-
29 Ibid., p. 381.
30 Op. cit., p. 426.
31 Rudolf Rahmann, "Shamanistic and Related Phenomena in Northern and
Middle India," Anthropos, LIV (1959), 696.
32 Stephen Fuchs, The Gond and Bhumia of Eastern Mandla (London: Asia
Publishing House, 1960), pp. 398, 530.
33 Elwin, The Muria and Their Ghotul, p. 207.
34 Ibid., p. 209.
35 Rahmann, op. cit., p. 738; see also Eliade, op. cit., p. 426.
36 D. N. Majumdar, The Fortunes of Primitive Tribes (London: Universal
Publishers, 1944), p. 20.
87 Ibid., p. 30.
38 S. C. Dube, The Kamar (Lucknow: Universal Publishers, 1951), p. 159.
336
sible.39 The Todas of south India have a shaman called tenuol, who
is a "devil dancer."40 The tenuol becomes "possessed" by a par-
ticular god and "speaks in Malayalam."41 The tenuol is consulted
for all misfortunes, sicknesses, and problems with buffalo. Rivers
notes that formerly the tenuol was able to travel freely to and from
the Land of the Dead (amnodr) and on the way had to cross a
perilous river by the use of a "thread bridge," much like the
shamans of Siberia.42
Among the Bhils all illness is believed to be caused by the super-
natural, or "evil eye," and cure must be sought by a raunria
(magician), but no mention is made of a "trance." 43 The Oraon de-
pend on a bhagat (shaman) who seeks the aid of a familiar spirit,
through a trance, in order to prescribe cures and diagnose
diseases.44 Among the Muria of Bastar, the shaman (sirahi) "has
the power of falling into a trance, of dancing ecstatically, and of
diagnosing disease and interpreting the divine commands while in
this condition."45 The same situation holds for the Gond and
Bhumia, described by Fuchs.46 The Saora say, "There can be no
disease without a spirit.... The task of diagnosis is one of the most
important of the shaman's duties... [He] starts a regular spirit
hunt in the other world." 47
The variations in healing and averting misfortune are numerous,
but the trance is nearly always the primary means for attaining a
diagnosis or dispelling the "disease" from the afflicted person. The
shaman's powers of diagnosis and exorcism are corollaries to his
abilities to contact the supernatural. I will now turn to a more de-
tailed survey of the relationship between the shaman and the
world of "souls," or spirits, in tribal India and attempt to place
this in the perspective of beliefs in the afterlife.
Among many of the tribes of middle India, the activities of the
soul are not detailed. Elwin states that "Saora eschatology is
39 William Crooke, Natives of Northern India (London: Archibald Constable &

Co., 1907), p. 254.
40 W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1906), p. 249.
41 Ibid., p. 250.
42 Ibid., pp. 398-403; Dr. Paul Hockings, in a personal communication, states
that this motif of the "thread bridge" was probably borrowed from the neighbor-
ing Badaga's theology, where "all dead cross this bridge."
43 Sarat Chandra Roy, The Hill Bhuiyas of Orissa: With Comparative Notes on
the Plains Bhuiyas (Ranchi: Man in India Office, 1935), p. 255.
44 Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, pp. 11, 268, 270.
45 Elwin, The Muria and Their Ghotul, p. 201.
46 The Gond and Bhumia of Eastern Mandla, pp. 312, 527, 529.
47 Verrier Elwin, The Religion of an Indian Tribe (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1955), p. 242.
337
confused and its doctrines vary from place to place."48 Similarly,

confusion is also associated with the "ecstasy" of the shaman's
trance. During dreams the soul of the shaman or shamaness descends
to the underworld and becomes "enriched by panoramic visions," 49
but during the trance a spirit comes upon the shaman, and his
"soul is temporarily expelled and the spirit takes its place in the
heart or the Adam's apple. ... The shaman's own soul 'goes away
somewhere.' "50 The shaman seldom remembers everything that
took place during the trance. Elwin further states: "Shamans
frequently visit it [the underworld] in dreams and the ancestors
often come at the time of trance and describe their condition
there." 51 An understanding of this ambivalence in "descent" of the
shaman and the reverse phenomenon of the "ascent" of the an-
cestor spirit is of primary importance in understanding shamanism
in India.
Among the Tibeto-Burman-speaking tribes of the North East
Frontier Agency and Assam, the ambivalence of "descent" and
"ascent" is absent. Most of the tribes in this area have a detailed
picture of the Land of the Dead, "including the tortuous path by
which it is reached." 52 Furer-Haimendorf relates how this picture
"is provided by the shamans who visit the World of the Dead
either in their dreams or while in a state of trance brought about
for the specific purpose of releasing the shaman's personality from
all bodily ties." 53 On the part of the shaman, there is no confusion
during ecstasy-the trance is for the specific purpose of "descend-
ing to the Underworld or Land of the Dead." The ancestor spirit
does not "possess" the shaman during the trance but remains in
the Land of the Dead. This lack of confusion in the shamanic flight
corresponds to a lack of confusion in the concepts of the afterlife
and of the journeys of the soul.
For example, the Apa Tanis believe that the soul (yalo) goes to
the Land of the Dead (Neli) after death. This underworld is ex-
actly the same as the Apa Tanis village in this life, and the people
there die again and go on to another Land of the Dead.54 During
dreams or illness, the soul leaves the body and is recalled by the
shaman, who "may trace the errant soul to the house of one of the
48 Ibid., p. 65.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid., p. 69.
52 Furer-Haimendorf, op. cit., p. 42.
53 Ibid., p. 42
54 Ibid.
338
many gods and spirits, i.e., who dwell in Neli, and are ever avid to
draw unsuspicious souls into this sphere."55 Once the shaman
locates the soul, he offers ransom for it, and the soul is returned to
the body of the patient.
Neli is in the underworld, but the Apa Tanis believe in another
Land of the Dead (Talimoko) situated in the sky where "all those
who died an unnatural death go." 56 Souls of both worlds return
from time to time, but, unlike the Saora of middle India, the souls
do not "possess" the shamans during the trance. Similar beliefs are
documented for the Dafla and Miri tribes.57 Among the Abors, who
are representative of the area in general, the shaman establishes
"direct control with gods and spirits as well as with the souls of the
departed." 58
The Nagas believe the spirit splits into three different entities-
Yaha goes to the Land of the Dead, Mio remains attached to the
skull, and the hiba, a soul brought about by violent death, wanders
about the earth. Shamans are capable of entering the Land of the
Dead while in a trance to recover a soul which has been kidnaped
during sleep.59
Among these tribes, then, the shamanic flight is not confused,
nor are the concepts of the afterlife. Souls go to a Land of the Dead,
and although they may wander about they do not "possess" the
shaman or "descend on him." The shaman's duties are clear-cut.
During the trance, the shaman journeys to the underworld and re-
captures lost souls or aids the souls of the dead to find their home
in the Land of the Dead.
In contrast, among other tribes of India the ambivalence of
the shamanic flight is paralleled by the ambivalence in beliefs con-
cerning the afterlife and the World of the Dead. Among the Raj
Gond, there is a belief that the dead have two souls-thejiv, which
returns to Bhagavan and is added to the pool of jiv for reincarna-
tion, and the sanal, which becomes a "god" or remains on earth.
No thought is given to the jiv after death, and the shaman ap-
parently never makes contact with this soul. The sanal of those
who died unmarried go to the underworld ruled by the god Bhimal,
but, "unlike the other Indian tribes, the Gonds have no shamans
who travel to the Land of the Dead and inform the living about the
fate of the deceased friends and kinsmen." 60
55 Ibid. 56 Ibid., p. 43. 57 Ibid.
58 C. Von Furer-Haimendorf, "Religious Beliefs and Ritual Practices of the
Mingong Abors of Assam, India," Anthropos, XLIX (1954), 602.
59 Furer-Haimendorf, "The After Life in Indian Tribal Beliefs," p. 43.
o6 Ibid., p. 39.
339
Among the Saora, a similar belief in two souls is found--suda

(big soul), and sanna puradam (small soul).61 The "little soul" is
essential to the body, but the "big soul" exists independent of the
body, and during dreams it wanders about. But the concepts
among the Saora of what happens to the souls after death is quite
different from those of the Gond: "Everything depends on the
cause of death. Those who have been taken out of this world by
their own relations, who are themselves known as Idaisum, become
Idaisum too and live with them. But if a man dies of smallpox or
cholera or is killed by a tiger ... he does not become an ordinary
Idaisum; he becomes a Rugaboi or Mardisum or Kinnasum, as the
case may be."62 This ambivalence seems to be due to Hindu in-
fluence, because many of the souls of the underworld "are regarded
as Hindus and observe some of the rules and taboos of caste."63
The Hindu "souls" of the underworld often act as tutelaries to the
shamans on earth by descending on a prospective shaman or
shamaness, proposing marriage, and eventually speaking through
the shaman's mouth during the trance.64 Consequently, shamans
and shamanesses often travel to the underworld in dreams, but be-
cause of the tutelary spirit they are prevented from making the
descent during the trance. Instead, they are "possessed" by the
spirit, who makes the diagnosis in case of illness or who describes
the needs of the ancestors in times of misfortune. Among the
Saora, the Land of the Dead is not clearly defined in terms of just
who lives there, as it is among the Tibeto-Burmans described
above. The shamans, then, are not capable of travel to the under-
world during the trance but instead rely on a "deity" to speak
through their mouths, nor do the shamans accompany the souls of
the dead to the afterlife but instead call on the spirits of the an-
cestors to help the souls in their journey.
Among the Gond, as described by Fuchs, the spirit of the
deceased is united with Bara deo, the repository of the "life-subst-
ance." 65 But, similar to the Raj Gond described by Furer-Haimen-
dorf, the shamans do not travel to the Land of the Dead. Instead
they become possessed by a spirit (bhut), who answers the ques-
tions of the living.
Among the Balahis, an untouchable caste in Rajputani, Uttar
Pradesh, and the surrounding areas, the soul is conceptualized un-
61 Elwin, The Religion of an Indian Tribe, p. 65.
62 Ibid., p. 67.
83 Ibid., p. 68.
64 Ibid., pp. 128-71.
65 The Gond and Bhumia of Eastern Mandla, p. 345.
340
der three principles---tmd (inner self), jan (vital principle), and
buddhi (mind).66 A man's jan may leave his body during sleep, but
the dtmd is immortal and is reborn in the same caste or family.
Here again the soul (dtmd) goes to Bhagavan, the Supreme Deity
who serves as a repository for souls. The bhagats (shamans) do not
attempt to travel to the otherworld but become "possessed" by a
spirit or, more often, a mother goddess (mdta), who answers ques-
tions for the living concerning disease and misfortune. As among
the tribes under discussion, the Balahis' Land of the Dead remains
ill defined.
Among the Lepchas of Sikkim, the mun (shaman) goes into a
trance at the ceremony called sanglion, which takes place after the
deaths of all persons who are not lamas. During the trance he
"conducts the soul to the rumlyang where all the dead live."67
After he arrives he finds a house for the soul and locks it in. One
year later the mun again goes into a trance and visits the rumlyang,
where he opens the house of the deceased and finds a baby inside
"who will later be reincarnated."68 The mun reunites the baby
with the people of the rumlyang "who are his ancestors." The
Lepchas have a well-defined idea of the Land of the Dead, where
the shamans "descend" during ecstasy, which contrasts sharply
with the Lamaistic conception of death and rebirth. The lama be-
lieves the soul wanders for forty-nine days and then goes on to the
next reincarnation. Gorer notes that the Lepchas actually have
two separate religions-the mun and Lamaism-and that during
the funeral ceremonies both the shaman (mun) and the lamas con-
duct simultaneous but contradictory rites for the dead. His de-
scriptions point directly to correlations between shamanic flight
and beliefs in the afterworld.
Throughout tribal India, then, the ecstatic experience of the
shaman and the motifs of descent and ascent are documented. The
intensity of the shamanic flight varies from group to group, and in
many groups, especially the tribes of middle India, the shaman's
powers of ascent and descent during trance are completely absent
even though symbolically treated in myths or in the use of para-
phernalia such as the ladder. I have attempted to point out reasons
for this variation in the "state of ecstasy" by correlating the
activities of the shaman to beliefs in the afterlife and the journey
66 Stephen Fuchs, The Children of Hari (Vienna: Verlag Herold, 1950), p. 220.
67 Geoffrey Gorer, Himalayan Village: An Account of the Lepchas of Sikkim
(London: Michael Joseph, Ltd., 1938), p. 359.
68 Ibid., p. 359.
3-H.O.R. 341
of the soul. True mystical flight, the descent to the underworld or

the Land of the Dead, is well documented for the tribes of the
North East Frontier Agency and Assam. Among the Saora, the
descent is accomplished only in dreams, while during the trance
the shaman is possessed by a tutelary spirit. In other groups
shamanic flight is completely absent, and the shaman acts only as
a medium for the spirit world.
I suggest, at this point, that, with the increasing contact of
Hinduism in the south and Buddhism in the north, the eschatology
of the people has begun to change. The notions of karma and the
transmigration of souls tends to replace the notions of a Land of
the Dead. Spirits or ghosts of ancestors no longer have need of the
shaman's powers in finding their way into the otherworld. The
path is laid out for them through the concept of karma and rein-
carnation. This does not mean that the shaman as a medium, as an
earthly contact with the spirit world, is no longer needed but
merely that the means of contact has undergone a radical change.
The shaman is "possessed" by spirits or gods and goddesses who
speak directly to the living, diagnose disease, and call for sacrifice
or propitiation in order to relieve misfortune.
SHAMANISM WITHIN HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM IN SOUTH ASIA
Throughout India, where Hinduism is the dominant religion, the

belief in a Supreme Being similar to the Bhagavan in tribal India
is absent. The notion of an impersonal force (Brahman) or "crea-
tional principle," though acknowledged by many Hindus, plays no
part in shamanic ritual, whether it be healing, prophecy, or the
initial "call" of the shaman. For this reason alone, one would not
expect to find "ascensional" elements within the shamanic ritual.
In the Pahari area of northern India, the shaman is "devoted to
a particular deity for whom he acts as a medium in the diagnosis
of difficulties." 69 He holds regular sessions and conducts a puja,
beats a drum, and sings mantras in honor of a personal god. He
gradually becomes "possessed" by the god, who singles out each
client and determines the cause of misfortune. Berreman claims
that the Pahari shaman of northern India differs from the "plains"
shaman described by Opler70 in that the Pahari shaman "does not
69 Gerald Berreman, Hindus of the Himalayas (Berkeley: University of Cali-

fornia Press, 1963), p. 89.
70 Morris Opler, "Spirit Possession in a Rural Area of Northern India," in
W. A. Lessa and E. Z. Vogt (eds.), A Reader in Comparative Religion (Evanston,
Ill.: Row, Peterson, 1958), pp. 219-226.
342
take part in exorcism or in ceremonies in which the god speaks
through its victim and is ultimately displeased."71
The people described by Berreman have a strong belief in karma,
and the journey of the soul from death to reincarnation is "vague"
in their minds.72 However, they have a strong belief in "wandering
ghosts" who generally cause trouble to the living while searching
for a body in which to be reborn. Difficulties of any kind are attri-
buted "ultimately to fate and more immediately to the machina-
tion of one or another of a host of supernatural beings." 73 Shamans
(baki) have little or no need for leaving the body in "mystical
flight" in search of the souls of persons who are ill, since most
disease is not a result of "loss of soul" but of "possession" by
wandering spirits or demons. In a like manner, the shaman is not
needed to accompany the soul of a dead person, since the soul's
destiny is determined by fate (karma). A similar situation prevails
among the Magars of Nepal.74
As was pointed out by Berreman above, the plains Hindus of
northern India differ from the Pahari Hindus with regard to
notions of "possession." However, the shaman still acquires his
powers as a result of a tutelary god who "possesses" the shaman
and argues with the malevolent spirits.75 Here the ghosts or spirits
that give trouble to the living are "transferred" by the shaman to
objects such as flowers where they can do no harm. Concepts of death
and the afterworld are similar to those of the Pahari villagers studied
by Berreman. "There is no question of going to Heaven or Hell
after death." 76 A strong belief in karma is recorded among the
more tradition minded, while others retain a "this-worldly view," 77
that is, that heaven and hell are in this life. The shaman is confined
to dealing with spirits through "possession," and mystical flight is
completely absent.
In Nepal and other areas of the Himalayas where Tibetan
Buddhism is the dominant religion, shamanism resembles the
Hindu practice to the south. Bon (the early "religion" of the area)
has now become a difierent sect of Lamaism.78 The Sherpas of
71 Berreman, Hindus of the Himalayas, p. 90.
72 Ibid., p. 84.
73 Ibid., p. 83.
74 John T. Hitchcock, The Magars of Banyan Hill (New York: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston, 1966).
75 Opler, op. cit., p. 554.
76 Oscar Lewis, Village Life in Northern India (New York: Random House,
1965), p. 253.
77 Ibid., p. 255.
78 Li An-che, "Bon: The Magico-Religious Belief of the Tibetan Speaking
Peoples," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, IV, No. 1 (1948), p. 31.
343
Nepal look to a shaman (Iharva) who is "capable of seeing spirits...

in a state of trance, during which spirits and gods take possession
of the medium's body and speak through his mouth."79 The
shamans are chosen by supernatural "visitation," but "unlike
shamans of other Himalayan tribes Iharva do not travel to the
world of the spirits, but induce spirits and gods to come to them
and to speak through their mouths." 80 After diagnosis of disease,
the Iharva often prescribe a recitation of texts by lamas. Indeed,
where Lamaism is greatest, most of the duties of the shaman are
taken over by lamas. The lamas guide the spirits of the dead
through the otherworld,81 where the spirits wander for forty-nine
days, after which they are reborn into another body.82 The Sherpas
have a vague belief in a Land of the Dead, but the concept is super-
seded by the doctrine of transmigration. Correlated to this concept
is the complete absence of shamanic flight.
In southern India the absence of shamanic "flight" parallels the
data examined in the northern and plains areas. Harper,83 in his
description of the activities of the shaman in Mysore State, draws
attention to the tutelary spirit, who "possesses" the shaman at re-
gular seances. The seance is begun with a ritual bath, the spirit is
asked to "come," and the shaman goes into a trance.84 The spirit
takes over the body of the shaman and speaks to the clients. There
is no indication of mystical flight. Most of the gods that possess the
shamans are classed as devates (gods who eat meat).85
Gough reports that "shamanistic possession by the goddess
Bhagavati or by the god Argappan is... still prevalent among
rural Nayar, and such religious possession is still more common
among the lower castes."86 Disease and misfortune are attributed
to anger of the village goddess or of lineage ghosts. Such illnesses as
mental disorders, barrenness, and miscarriages come about through
79 C. Von Furer-Haimendorf, The Sherpas of Nepal: Buddhist Highlanders

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964), p. 255.
80 Ibid., p. 256.
81 Alexandra David-Neel, With Mystics and Magicians of Tibet (London, 1931),
p. 12.
82 Furer-Haimendorf, The Sherpas of Nepal, p. 246.
83 See E. B. Harper, "Shamanism in South India," Southwestern Journal of
Anthropology, XIII (1957), 267-87; "A Hindu Village Pantheon," Southwestern
Journal of Anthropology, XV (1959), 227-234; and "Spirit Possession and Social
Structure," in Bolu Ratnam (ed.), Anthropology on the March (Madras: Book
Centre, 1963).
84 Harper, "Shamanism in South India," p. 268.
85 Harper, "A Hindu Village Pantheon," p. 231.
86 Kathleen Gough, "Cults of the Dead among the Nayars," in Milton Singer
(ed.) Traditional India: Structure and Change (Philadelphia: American Folklore
Society, 1959), p. 243.
344
"bodily possession by a ghost."87 Generally the Nayar call on
special officiants of the lower castes to exorcise such ghosts. The
shaman comes to the Nayar house, recites origin myths, receives
blood sacrifice, performs a masked dance, and becomes possessed
by a god or spirit.88 They also use "imitation bullocks and horses"
as "vehicles" of the deities' demon servants.89 Such elements may
symbolically represent the "shamanic flight," but data are almost
completely lacking.
Among the Nayar there is little or no concept of a Land of the
Dead. The lineage ghosts "are oriented toward the living.... Good
spirits go to a heaven of sensual pleasures and bad spirits to a hell
of physical torture." 90 But according to Gough the Nayar "do not
elaborate this belief or refer to it in connection with the cult of
lineage ghosts." 91 Gough further states that "these attitudes ap-
pear to form part of a general this-worldly attitude among tradi-
tional Nayars."92 The Nayar attitude to the departed contrasts
with the Brahmans, who claim "the aim of the soul is to escape the
cycle of rebirths and find union with the divine,"93 but both the
Nayars and Brahmans "acknowledge the theory of rebirth and
hold that a spirit which is correctly propitiated after death is likely
to be eventually reborn in a high estate." 94 The Nayar refer to the
soul as pretam (malevolent ghost), but to many Nayar dtmii is the
aspect of the soul which is reborn. The pretam is usually the ghost
of an ancestor who died violently.95 In general it would seem that
the concept of karma would rule out any belief in a Land of the
Dead, where the shamans would go during a trance; instead the
ghosts "possess" the shamans and speak their prophecies or order
the living to propitiate them by sacrifice and other offerings.
Michael Ames, in a paper on religion in Ceylon, has noted the
interrelated aspects of shamanism and Buddhism. He notes that
"there is no simple dichotomy here between the Great and Little
Tradition, sophisticated and folk religions, urbanite and villager."96
The shaman becomes "possessed by tutelary deities [and] does
87 Ibid., p. 244.
88 Ibid., p. 261.
89 Ibid., p. 260.
90 Ibid., p. 247.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid., p. 252.
94 Ibid., p. 256.
95 Ibid.
96 Michael Ames, "Magical-Animism and Buddhism: A Structural Analysis of
the Sinhalese Religious System," in Edward Harper (ed.), Religion in South Asia.
345
little else than act as a mouthpiece for some deity."97 He further

notes that there is no confusion between magical animism and
Buddhism, but in practice Ceylonese Buddhists "frequently fuse
them." 98 Throughout Ceylon there is a strong belief in karma and
the "transmigration of souls." Ames's paper goes a long way in show-
ing that shamanism has become transformed within the higher re-
ligion of Buddhism, and I think the same could be said for
shamanism within Hinduism.
CONCLUSIONS
The data on which this paper is based are fragmentary and, as

stated at the outset, only point to an understanding of the dif-
ferences and similarities of shamanism in South Asia. I have
attempted to follow Eliade in his study of shamanism in other
parts of the world and directed the analysis toward the "meaning"
of shamanism, which results from the "primary phenomenon" of
the ecstatic experience.
Eliade states the following in his conclusions:
The historical changes in the religions of Central and North Asia-
that is, in general, the increasingly important role given to the ancestor
cult and to the divine or semi-divine figures that took the place of the
Supreme Being-in their turn altered the meaning of the shaman's
ecstatic experience. Descents to the underworld, the struggle against
evil spirits, but also the increasingly familiar relations with "Spirits"
that result in their "embodiment" or in the shaman's being "possessed"
by "spirits," are innovations, most of them recent, to be ascribed to the
general change in the religious complex.99
In India I have found a similar alteration associated with the
"ecstatic experience" on the part of the shaman. In the North East
Frontier Agency, parts of the Himalayas, Assam, and parts of
middle India, the ecstasy or "descent" and "ascent" on the part of
the shaman is genuine. The shaman's soul leaves his body and
journeys to the underworld or to the sky to seek aid from the spirits
or gods that reside in these spheres. The shaman is more than a
"medium"; he is the expert in affairs of the otherworld. "Con-
fusion" in eschatological beliefs among tribes and low castes of
middle India brings forth a "confusion" in the ecstatic trance of
the shaman. He descends to the World of the Dead in dreams, but
during the trance he becomes "possessed" by a tutelary deity, who
97 Ibid., pp. 34-35.

98 Ibid., p. 35.
99 Eliade, op. cit., p. 506.
346
relates prophecies through the mouth of the shaman. Elements of
"descent" and "ascent" are present in such motifs as the "hobby
horse," the ladder, the cosmic tree, and in myths relating to the
birth of the first shaman through the will of a celestial God, but the
ecstatic experience becomes diffuse and often results in "posses-
sion."
Within Hinduism and Buddhism, both in the north and the
south, the shaman loses the art of ecstasy and serves as a "medium"
for the god or spirit to speak. This is in line with notions of rebirth
and karma, where the Land of the Dead is no longer an important
part of the beliefs of the people but where the shaman is necessary
as a "medium" through whom the people gain access to the causes of
misfortune-nearly always caused by the activities of malevolent
spirits and ghosts or dissatisfied gods. Eliade points to the increas-
ing importance of the ancestor cult, which brings about this change;
the Nayar of southern India are a prime example. The importance
attached to the propitiation of lineage ghosts denies the shaman an
access to the "secret knowledge" of the spirit world. The spirits are
"familiar," live in the homes of the Nayar, and demand constant
attention. Shamans, acting as mediums, are necessary only in
"relaying" messages from the "ghosts," who are generally dis-
satisfied.
In this brief survey of shamanism in South Asia, I have con-
centrated on the meaning of the "ecstatic experience" rather than
the "role" of the shaman in the society at large. I have attempted
to demonstrate that the "ecstasy" of the shaman is closely corre-
lated to eschatological beliefs. Where the doctrine of the trans-
migration of souls is present, as in Hinduism and Buddhism, the
meaning of the shaman's "ecstatic experience" is altered, and it
becomes problematic as to whether one is dealing with "shaman-
ism" at all.
Viewed from the functionalist point of view, the "roles" of the
shaman throughout South Asia offer striking parallels-as, for
example, the emphasis on healing, prophecy, and the like. But an
examination of the content of the shamanic "trance" reveals that
two quite different religious phenomena, under the label "shaman-
ism," are being analyzed and described. I maintain that the
functionalist approach, though valid for many purposes, has led to
a misunderstanding of the beliefs that the people themselves hold
and, subsequently, to a confusion in the comparison of this im-
portant religious phenomenon in South Asia.
347

Shamanism in South Asia

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Shamanism in South Asia

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Shamanism in South Asia

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Shamanism in South Asia: A Preliminary Survey

Author(s): Rex L. Jones

Most anthropologists who have described or analyzed shamanism in

5 David G. Mandelbaum, "Process and Structure in South Asian Religion," in

My assumptions must be made clear at the outset. First, I agree

In summary, this paper is not concerned with the "role" of the

SHAMANISM IN TRIBAL INDIA

Eliade makes the important point that "the symbolism of ascent,

14 Op. cit., p. 505.

39 William Crooke, Natives of Northern India (London: Archibald Constable &

confused and its doctrines vary from place to place."48 Similarly,

Among the Saora, a similar belief in two souls is found--suda

of the soul. True mystical flight, the descent to the underworld or

SHAMANISM WITHIN HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM IN SOUTH ASIA

Throughout India, where Hinduism is the dominant religion, the

69 Gerald Berreman, Hindus of the Himalayas (Berkeley: University of Cali-

Nepal look to a shaman (Iharva) who is "capable of seeing spirits...

79 C. Von Furer-Haimendorf, The Sherpas of Nepal: Buddhist Highlanders

little else than act as a mouthpiece for some deity."97 He further

The data on which this paper is based are fragmentary and, as

97 Ibid., pp. 34-35.

You might also like