demons and possession in old sources

[Lukas Werth]

At 22:09 30.03.01 +0100, you wrote:
>>Can anybody suggest old sources to me which deal with demon (bhut, pret,
>>Tamil pey) possession and exorcism - preferably from 1200 AD downwards?
>>Lukas Werth
>
>There are thousands of poems in ancient and medieval
>Tamil describing spirit possession, 'veRi". Singing
>veRi (veRi pATutal, veRiyATTu, veRi-ayratal) was considered demanding.
>In sangam and prabandham literature a love-sick girl often
>feigns the frenzied possession. Parents often
>arrange exorcism by vEla_n priests, kaTTuvicci ladies
>.... to scare the demon away, but in vain.
>Needless to say, when scholars knowing Tamil well,
>with a grounding in Sanskrit and modern advances
>in shamanism, indology devotes years into Tamil,
>new breakthroughs will be made in understanding
>ancient Indian religion that includes drumming, blood
>sacrifice, dance, songs and possession as important
>components.
>
>Let me give a poem of about 2000 years antiquity
>describing spirit possession:
>
>-----------------------------------------------------
>
>    In that confused time
>    when no one realized
>    that it was the broad fragrant chest
>    of the chieftain in the countryside of forests and waterfalls
>    descending from high mountains where aNaGku dwells
>    which caused [my] desire and suffering,
>    the women of ancient wisdom proclaimed:
>
>         "She will be soothed
>          by worshipping NeTuvEL
>          whose strong arms are famous
>          for wiping out those
>          who do not bow to him."
>
>    In the awe-inspiring midnight,
>    to invite Muruku,
>    red millet mixed with blood
>    was scattered as offerings,
>    to the loud singing in the shrine,
>    the spear was garlanded,
>    the threshing-floor polished.
>
>       while [my] lover came to cure me
>       of the debilitating illness of love,
>       like a mighty tiger who moves fast,
>       hiding in a shelter watching the elephants as its prey,
>       so that the watchmen of the large house
>       in our beautiful home
>       do not see him.
>
>    He wears wreaths with many flowers
>    buzzing with honey bees,
>    which grow in plenty near the waterfalls
>    on the slopes fragrant with sandal.
>
>    He comes to fulfill the desire of my heart
>    with his lust,
>    and whenever I make love to him
>    so that I swoon in the soul's ecstasy,
>
>    I must laugh, really,
>    when I see the waste
>    spent here on the useless priest with the spear!
>
>                          -    akanAn2URu 22
>
>The female author is called "The Lovely Eyed One
>who Sang About Religious Frenzy" (veRi pATiya
>kAmakkaNNiyAr).
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>I would translate kaLam as sacrificial altar
>here, not as threshing floor. Few more chnages
>may be needed.
>
>This quoted translation is from K. Zvelebil,
>"The nature of Sacred power", Acta Orientalia,
>40 (1980), p. 157-192.
>
>Tamil literature talks of tAkkaNaGku (afflicting aNaGku)
>often. Probably the same as tAkurANi/TAkurANi in North
>India. These demons/goddesses attack as well as nourish
>(mAri/maGgalA/sItala).
>
>Considering Muruku-Skanda as a demon, Iravatham Mahadevan
>identifies a shrivelled deity(demon) in Indus seals:
>I. Mahadevan, 'Murukan' in the Indus script,
>p. 21-40. J. Inst. of Asian studies (Madras),
>vol. XVI, no. 2, March 1999.
>
>Prof. Peter J. Claus (email= pclaus at csuhayward.edu) has written
>articles about bhUta worship in TuLu country. pEy theme among
>modern Christians in Madras is analyzed in
>The Anthropology of evil (edited by David Parkin.)
>B. Blackwell, 1985.
>
>Best wishes,
>V. Iyer
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
>



Thank you for this interesting reply. The poem is beautiful, was unknown to
me. I fail to recognize the comparison to spirit possession in it, however.

"Anthropology of Evil" is known to me, and I do have first-hand experience
of spirit possession and exorcism in Tamil Nadu (among Christians, too).

Perhaps I should state the motive for my short question: possession in
ritual, foremostly by goddesses (like those you refer to) is an important
feature of non-brahmanical religion - linked frequently to bloody sacrifice
- in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in India. The people I was with drank the
blood of buffaloes and goats they sacrificed when the goddess was in them.
Ecstatic ritual also includes well-known practices like piercing of tongs,
walking over hot coal - you know it.
I also believe such practices can at least be traced into the Devi Mahatmya
(as analyzed by David Coburn): the frenzy of the goddess killing the
buffalo demon in myth parallels possession.
Besides, you have evil spirits possessing mostly women, which makes
exorcism necessary (like the spirits of women who died in childbirth). At
many temples, possessed women with their relatives who seek help are a
common sight (as in Sufi shrines). Note that this is not necessarily the
same as in reigious ritual. Islam or Christianity do not know possession by
god - though they do know religious ecstasy - but possession by jins is a
prominent Islamic theme.
Now, I was wondering how long back this sort of spirit possession in South
Asia can be traced.


Lukas Werth