INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

articulate suppressed needs. Religious interpretations, as explanations to experiences
of spirit possession, are of marginal interest in these studies.
In more recent years anthropologists have criticized these interpretations for
being too entangled in Western concepts of a person and instead paid attention to
indigenous expressions of subjective experiences. In a phenomenological study,
Dwyer distinguishes between the phenomenon of spirit possession and interpretations
of the same, which are always dependent on cultural understanding. In the
North Indian context different diseases and problems which are interpreted in terms
of supernatural influences appeal to pre-existing religious and cultural discourses.
The fact that women more often claim to experience spirit problems should, according
to Dwyer, not be seen as conscious strategies in deprived situations but a phenomenon
related to cultural conceptions which consider women weaker and more
exposed to affliction. Spirits are attracted to impurities which make women an easy
target as they go through several periods of impurity during menstruation and childbirth.
People thus interpret and attribute diseases and problems to supernatural
causes, derived from their own cultural and religious understanding. 695
As the case of Aman illustrates, a healing tradition is dependant on the cognitive
structure of a belief in spirits, the agency of an acknowledged healer, patients,
and a healing process during which the healer will use a particular method or ritual.
A person considered possessed by spirits does not merely invent a drama to ventilate
inner conflicts or mental stress, but people seriously believe in the existence of spirits
and other supernatural forces that may cause trouble if disturbed or attracted to humans.
The Sikh healing practice of Mata ji presupposes this cultural understanding.
What distinguish Mata ji and Kuku ji from other specialists in the local context, however,
is their adherence to a healing tradition within popular Sikhism and the religious
measures by which they cure patients. The family of Aman, as well as other
Sikh clients, stated that the power of Mata ji, as a healer and devout Sikh, depended
on three interrelated factors: the blessing and mantra she had obtained from Dehra
Sahib and which allowed her to work in the tradition of Baba Vadbhag Singh; her
own spiritual achievements in life; and the use of gurbani hymns in the immediate
healing situation. Many said that Mata ji had been graced with divine power from
intensive meditation and austerity practices. She had internalized gurbani and committed
herself to recitations for sixteen hours a day. As a result of this dedication,
Mata ji was graced with knowledge of gurbani and knew which hymn suited for
which situation or problem her clients experienced. But it was only her initiation in
the tradition of Vadbhag Singh that provided her authority to cure people. Before
exemplifying how gurbani hymns are ritually used for healing purposes in the practice
at Paharia, we must first examine the tradition which legitimizes this usage.
695
Dwyer 2003.
438
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008