demons and possession in old sources

[Venkatraman Iyer]

Dr. Lukas Werth schrieb:
>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.

The whole akanAn2URu poem 22 is about "oracle
women of ancient wisdom" (mutuvAyp peNTir atuvAy kURa)
diagnosing that Muruku (=Murukan/SubrahmaNya)
has possessed the young girl. The vElan priest
is called in and does exorcism to drive away
the Muruku spirit supposedly invading the girl.
Both oracle priestesses and velan shaman are utterly
clueless, as to the real nature of the disease.

It's worth reading K. Zvelebil's paper. He translates
few more sangam poems depicting god-possession upon the priests
or people.

-----------

Another poem where Muruku is possessed by an ancient
pulaitti priestess. Here, a jumping cow is compared
to the Muruku-possessed pulaitti.

     ERu uTai peru nirai peyartara peyarAtu
     ilai putai peru kATTu talai karantu irunta
     val vil maRavar oTukkam kANAy
     cellal cellal ciRakka nin2 uLLam
     muruku mey paTTa pulaitti pOla
     tAvupu teRikkum An2 mEl
     puTai ilagku oL vAL pun2ai kazalOy E

                                 - puRanAn2URu 259

G. L. Hart and H. Heifetz, The four hundred
songs of War and Wisdom: An anthology of poems
from Classical Tamil, The PuRanAn2URu,
Columbia Univeristy Press, 1999, page 157

" "
Though the large herd moves on behind its leading bull,
    they do not. They are there, hanging back.
You cannot see the warriors who hold powerful bows
    as they crouch in hiding
    within the great leaf-shrouded forest.
Do not go! Do not go after the cows that leap and gambol
    as if they were low-caste women whose bodies
    has been possessed by a god,
You who wear war anklets and by your side a shining sword!

KOTaipATiya PerumpUtra_nAr sings ....
TiNai: karantai. TuRai: cerumalaital and/or
piLLaippeyarcci ....

Note:
line 5: "Low-caste woman" is the translation of pulaitti.
People of low caste were (and are) thought to have powers
over the spirit world; hence they often are mediums,
prophesying while possessed.
line 6: "A god" is the translation of muruku. This
could also mean Murugan.
" "

>Now, I was wondering how long back this sort of spirit possession in South
>Asia can be traced.

You mention buffalo sacrifices, blood-drinking, etc.,
You must be familiar with:
A. Hiltebeitel, "The Indus Valley 'Proto-Siva', Reexamined through
Reflections on the Goddess, the Buffalo, and the Symbolism of
Va-hanas." Anthropos 73:5-6 (1978):767-97
(He calls the famous seal as proto-mahisha).
A. Hiltebeitel, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees (SUNY 1989)
Berkson, Carmel, The divine and demoniac : Mahisa's heroic
struggle with Durga, OUP, 1995

Since gods like Murukan routinely descend to possess
shamans of both genders in Sangam poems, and this is
where it first gets recorded so eloquently when literacy
comes into the South India, the spirit possession of
gods must have been present few thousands of years
before the beginning of our common era.

BTW, what is the etymology of Sanskrit "bali"?

Thanks and kind regards,
V. Iyer

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