The Divine and the Demonic

Supernatural Affliction and its Treatment in North India
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-415-75396-8
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 269 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Asian Religion

Based on fieldwork in the north Indian state of Rajasthan, this book focuses on supernatural affliction - illness and misfortune ascribed to demonic spirits or ghosts and to other mystical agents, such as sorcerers and witches. The study augments and extends the existing scholarship on a range of issues, including inter alia beliefs about spirit possession, sorcery, witchcraft and the evil eye. The themes of ritual practice, especially exorcism or healing ceremonies, Hindu priests and curers, popular Hinduism and pilgrimage are discussed, and the anthropology of South Asia is explored with an emphasis on medical anthropology and Indian ethnomedicine. At a theoretical level, the book sharply contrasts with much of the literature on spirit possession or on supernatural affliction and its treatment, as the author's phenomenological orientation involves movement away from psychological or psychiatric paradigms as well as from other forms of Western rationalism that have tended to dominate scholarly work. The book thus offers fresh insights, both in terms of understanding supernatural malaise and its treatment, and in terms of the application of the approach the author engages.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dwyer, Graham

Dwyer, Dr Graham

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1. Mehnidipur - The Fieldwork Setting 2. Supernatural Malaise and Key Patterns of Affliction: Causation, Attribution and Vulnerability 3. Sorcery, Witchcraft and the Evil Eye 4. Healing and the Transformation of Self in Exorcism 5. Hindu Priests and Healers Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Dr Graham Dwyer