Studying Spirit Possession in South Asia

Studying Spirit Possession in South Asia
South Asia is a region with a long history. Dominated by the Indian subcontinent, it is a region blessed with a variety of geographical features, from rainforests to grasslands, valleys and desserts, glaciers and seas. Its climate is also varied, with the south susceptible to tropical monsoons, and the north known to be more tropical. South Asia is a region of diversity, no single region has reigned dominant in the region, no specific language or identity can be associated with its people. Its people are Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims, so their lifestyles also differ from each other. Aside from its unique history under the British Empire, countries of South Asia have very little in common. Yet, it is this diversity, which allows the region as one of the best places to practice anthropology: its various cultures and belief systems are a source of unending questions aiming to understand the mysterious. Evidence of spirit possession is found in historical and religious documents as well as contemporary movies and texts. Evaluation of such evidence is commonplace and various theoretical frameworks have been developed over the years.
Much of the work about spirit possession may be found in Indian text. In a work by Frederick Smith ADDIN Mendeley Citation{c5fb9504-4b18-49d5-ad5c-ba8773929d49} CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "family" : "Smith", "given" : "Frederick M." } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2006" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Columbia University Press", "publisher-place" : "New York", "title" : "The self possessed: Deity and spirit possession in South Asian literature and civilization", "type" : "book" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=c5fb9504-4b18-49d5-ad5c-ba8773929d49" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "manualFormatting" : "(2006)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Smith 2006)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" } (2006), he said, "[e]thnographic work at the beginning of the twentieth century…shows that spirit or deity possession is a widespread epsteme - a historically situated discourse, phenomenon, and practice - in Indian thought, culture, religion, and medicine" (3). It is found in Mahabharata, Ramayana, in the Yogasutras of the Patanjali, the Jain Yogasastra of Hemacanda, Brahmasutras of Badarayana ADDIN Mendeley Citation{c5fb9504-4b18-49d5-ad5c-ba8773929d49} CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "family" : "Smith", "given" : "Frederick M." } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2006" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Columbia University Press", "publisher-place" : "New York", "title" : "The self possessed: Deity and spirit possession in South Asian literature and civilization", "type" : "book" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=c5fb9504-4b18-49d5-ad5c-ba8773929d49" ] } ], "mendeley" : {...