THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

different remedies, For example, a number of boys we knew, both Yakha
and non-Yakha, were troubled by warts on their legs, and dhamis were
sometimes consulted both for these and for pimples (DanDiphor>, Chamba
blessed water for a friend of ours with pimples by reciting some mantras
over a bowl of water, He sucked in each breath harshly and, holding his
hand with second and fifth fingers extended, chopped at the air, After
this our friend had to go outside and rub the water into his face. For
our friend this was only one of many attempts he had made to clear his
face, using both shamanic and other methods. We were often asked by
other friends if we had ointment which would be effective for warts.
However, the situation was not one of pure fluidity between
different kinds of health-seeking activities. Some indigenous
practitioners were suspicious of allopathic medicine. The village
health worker (a government appointment - see Chapter Eight> told us his
job was often made more difficult because people only asked for his help
after they had become seriously ill, when dh6mis had failed to help,
People explained to us that, if a dhami was treating them for a disease
requiring the appeasement of spirits which could become further annoyed
if crossed, then the use of medicines such as antibiotics or paracetamol
to cure. the same disease was to be avoided.
Going to hospitel was similarly ambivalently regarded. A woman we
met at our dh6ra one day told us with some bitterness about how she had
had two children, both of whom had died because she was told by everyone
not to take them to hospitel. When Tamara was about to go off to
hospitel, our next door neighbour (who was a dh8mi) came to bless her.
First he sat down on a chair some distance from his patient and began
softly chanting, making stirring movements with his right hand, fingers