South Asian Anthropologist, 2014, 14(1): 1-9 New Series ©SERIALS 1

Traditional Healing Rituals in Tamil Nadu, South India

S. SIMON JOHN

Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi University,Rono Hills, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh 791111

E-mail: simonjohn19@gmail.com

KEY WORDS: Body. Traditional healing. Rituals. Music. Religion.Tamil Nadu.

ABSTRACT: Study of traditional healing practices is an important area in the disciplineof folklore and anthropology. In traditional societies most of the bodily illnesses are related tosupernatural power and several kinds of rituals, vows, and offerings are performed in order toheal the illness. This paper is an attempt to document some significant folk healing practicesthat are existent in Tamil Nadu. It tries to understand how the human body is culturally professed,purified, and healed through rituals in a particular cultural context.

INTRODUCTION

Healing practices and their study is remarkablein the Indian socio-cultural context because there isheterogeneity in medical beliefs and practices.Besides, the well-known and widespread systems suchas Ayurveda, Allopathic, Unani, Homeopathy andSiddha, there are a number of traditional beliefs,rituals, customs and practices connected to the humanbody and diseases. The concepts of etiology of illness,methods of diagnosis and treatment, and ideas ofprophylaxis, were developed and preserved as atraditional lore of every society and have had beenorally transmitted from generation to generation. Thebody of beliefs and concepts which existed in a societywith regard to the nature, origin and treatment ofdiseases, was found always integrated with otherinstitutions and organizations of the society. Religiousbeliefs, moral codes, and social values have influencedthe beliefs and practices of etiology of illness andtreatment. Cultural patterns and religious beliefs,economy and morality, social values and medicalbeliefs are all found together to form the health cultureof a society (Boban, ’98).

In traditional societies, rituals play a vital role inthe construction of human body. The socialconstruction of the body differs from the medical

construction in so far as it positions the body in thecenter of human interaction. That is, the body is seenas the existential basis of human interaction withingiven social, political, economic, cultural, andenvironmental conditions (Hall, ’77). RobertCrawford (’84) described the human body as a culturalobject. The human body is subject to social powerstructures and relations because it is shaped, almostconfigured, according to them (Shilling, ’93). Thehuman body is constantly being altered by natural andcultural processes. These alterations leave visibletraces, which, in many societies, are associated withreligious ideas, beliefs and forces. Rituals are centreson the body, and if we understand ritual we shall haveto take the body seriously as a vehicle for religiousexperience. Ritual is more than merely symbolicaction. It is hieratic. Almost all human activity issymbolic, even the most “rationally” pragmatic.However, ritual underlines and makes emphatic itssymbolic intention. Ritual behavior is repetitive andconsciously follows a model. Repetition, after all, isa natural way for the body to proclaim, enact, andexperience the choice of true as opposed to false thingsand ways, and to dwell self-consciously indeterminative model realities in the “holy.” In ritual,people voluntarily submit to their bodily existenceand assume very specific roles with highly patterned

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rules — rules and roles that conform the self to allothers who have embodied these typical roles in thepast. To contact reality, in short, the conscious selfmust sacrifice its individual autonomy, its freedom infantasy to “be” anything. Edmund Leach (’68)suggested that the term ‘ritual’ should be applied toall “culturally defined sets of behavior,” that is, to thesymbolical dimension of human behavior as such,regardless of its explicit religious, social, or othercontent. For Leach, such behavior should be regardedas a form of social communication or code ofinformation and analyzed in terms of its “grammar”.Ritual is treated as a cognitive category.

‘Ritual’ is those conscious and voluntary,repetitious and stylized symbolic bodily actions thatare centered on cosmic structures and /or sacredpresences. Verbal behavior such as chant, song andprayer are of course included in the category of bodilyactions. Even more fundamentally, r itual isintentionally bodily engagement in the paradigmaticforms and relationships of reality. As such, ritualbrings not only the body but also that body’s socialand cultural identity to the encounter with thetranscendental realm. By conforming to models orparadigms that refer to the primordial past and thatcan be shared by many people, ritual also enables eachperson to transcend the individual self, and thus itcan link many people together into enduring and trueforms of community. Rituals draw into itself everyaspects of human life, and almost every discipline ofthe social sciences and humanities has something tosay about it. The body is evidently more important inreligious experience than is often thought (Eliade,’87).

In traditional societies, whenever the bodysuffered from certain kind of illness or defects, theyare always connected with supernatural powers andseveral rituals are performed in order to heal the body.Healing is a part of culture which is closely related torural religious practices. A number of folk healingpractices are existed in Tamil Nadu and these healingrituals are related to the folk religious practices ofthe region. Several vows, offerings, music and ritualsare performed in order to cure their bodily diseases.The komarathadi or samiadi (shaman/priest) plays animportant role in healing rituals and generallyperforms in sacred sites on allotted days such as

Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and also during theannual worshipping celebrations.

This paper is an attempt to document certainsignificant folk healing practices that exist in TamilNadu and tries to understand how the human body isculturally professed, purified and healed throughrituals in a particular cultural context. Empirical datahave been documented through fieldwork in thenatural cultural context of ritual performance and thetriangulation research methodology, i.e. observation,interaction and visual documentation have beenfollowed.

SUBMISSION OF BODY AND WHIPPING INPERIANDAVAR CULT

The festival of Periandavar, a male folk deity, iscelebrated for fifteen days once in two years atKulianoor village in Darmapuri district of Tamil Nadu,south India. The first ritual of the festival is kallnaatuthal, i.e. posting a stem. For this, the villagersworship the deity and dig a small pit on the right sideof the temple. Then, they take a lengthy branch of theneem tree, apply turmeric powder, vermilion, andsandal paste, and place a garland made of differentflowers on that branch. The important persons of thevillage and the temple administrators join togetherand erect the branch of neem in that pit. This ritual iscalled kaal naatuthal. This signifies the inaugurationof the festival.

From the day of kaal naatuthal, people in thatvillage, especially those who are actively engaged invarious ritual activities in the festival, give specialattention to their body in order to purify them. Theyabstain from meat, have bath twice a day, and haveconjugal continence. They do not wear footwearinside the village. All the core rituals of the celebrationare performed during the last two days of thecelebration. Rituals are performed at two places. One,at the temple situated in the center of the village andthe other, in the paddy fields two miles east of thevillage. Both temples are temporarily erected duringthe celebration. At the beginning of the ritual, twodeities made of clay are kept in the center of thevillage. A small shelter thatched with neem leaves iserected above the deities. The name of the deity isPeriandavar. They apply sandal paste and vermilionon the deity. In front of the deity, they spread banana

Traditional Healing Rituals in Tamil Nadu, South India 3

leaf and upon it, coconut, bananas, betel leaves,vermilion, turmeric powder, and sacred ash are placed.By that time, people start gathering around thetemporary shrine. Then two people come near thedeity performing music with a pambai (percussionmusical instrument). When they start performing thepambai, people join in clapping their hands joyfully.After the music one of them begins to sing a devotionalsong and the others repeat it. At that time, the menfolk put their two fingers in their mouth and make awhistling voice in order to invoke the deity.

The shaman then brings two feet long swords andplaces them in front of the deity. He lights the camphorand waves the flame around the deity. During this,the male mediums among the crowd are possessed bythe deity and dance vigorously. Each person picks upa sword kept in front of the deity and begins to beat itvigorously across their chest, first looking at the deityand later turning to the people. On completion of this,each male medium prostrates before the deity andreceives the sacred ash from the priest and applies ontheir forehead and chest and become normal. Whenthe last male medium begins to dance with the swordthe noise of the crowd is very loud. He dances for awhile and then run for a distance of nearly threekilometers. There in the midst of the field, he placesthe sword into the ground, and immediately a ropefence of two meters radius is put up in that place.Fifteen young men begin to dig a well on the spotmarked by the male medium. The persons who digthe well go through the ritual prescriptions. They areforbidden from wearing footwear and eating meat.They must adhere to the practice of conjugalcontinence, and they cannot cut their hair. Even toolslike spades, iron rods, buckets etc. used for diggingare kept away from contact.

The young men who dig the well tie their mouthswith a cloth to avoid polluting the place with theirsaliva. The digging begins at 10.30 pm. By around4.30 am the water begins to ooze from the well. Whenpeople see the water springing forth they shout out injoy. The diggers came out of the well, bow inreverence before it, and covered the well with coconutleaves. If water is found soon it signifies moreagricultural production for the ensuing years. If it islate, people believe there would be less agriculturalproduction.

The ritual of purification or driving away the evilspirit from body is held in the outskirts of the villageon the 14th day of the festival. Music is performedvehemently and the shaman runs at a high speed tothe place where devotees, who are waiting to purifytheir bodies, are present. Most of the devotees whotake part in this ritual generally offer a horse made ofterracotta as their fulfillment of vow. The shamanwears flower garlands around his neck and carries aterracotta horse on his shoulder. Two men on eitherside hold the horse from falling. At a specific placeabout two hundred women and few men lay down onthe ground facing downwards towards the earth inorder to submit and surrender their body and self. Theshaman walks fast atop the men and women lyingthere. This is repeatedly done, and the walk becomesfaster and faster. As he walks, some evil-possessedwomen begin to writhe and move. The shaman wouldthen stamp harder on the possessed women. Once theshaman takes off his feet, the possessed women arepulled by a few men to a tamarind tree nearby. Therethey take a small bunch of their hair, and nail it to the

Figure 1: Terracotta horses- Votive offerings

Figure 2: Whipping ritual

4 S. Simon John

tree. They made three knots and clip off their hair.They believe that the evil spirits are cut off thus.

On completion of the ritual of “driving away theevil spirit” the ritual of “whipping” commences. Threeyoung men whip the devotees who come forward withraised hands above their head. The young men beatthem rapidly on their hands. Some women massagetheir hands unable to bear the pain. They believe thatthe evil or sin in them would be removed this way.Women are dominant in the purification rituals interms of numbers. Traditionally, these purificationrituals are also related with the “fertility” of the femalebody. It is believed by the women that by participatingin these rituals they would be blessed with good healthand fertility. Another important factor associated withwomen body is “menstruation.” Menstruation istraditionally considered as profane in Tamil societies.It is a traditional rule that women should not take partin any rituals during menstruation, or else they wouldbe severely punished by the deity.

HEALING PRACTICES INST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH

St. Anthony’s church at Puliampatti village inTuticorin district of southern Tamil Nadu is knownfor its miracles. Saint Anthony is popularlyworshipped by large numbers of people irrespectiveof religion. There are two saints by the name of St.Anthony worshipped in Catholic Christianity. One isVanathu Anthony and the other is Pathuvai Anthony.Vanathu Anthony was born in Egypt during the thirdcentury AD. Vanathu comes from the term “vanam”referring to ‘forest’ or ‘desert’. This saint spent mostof his time in forests and deserts and performedmiracles. Therefore he is prefixed with “vanam” . Heis popularly worshipped in the northern region ofTamil Nadu. The other saint is Pathuvai Anthony, whowas born at Lisbon city in Portugal on 15th August1195. His real name was Ferdinand, and at the age of15 years he joined St. Augustine congregation to learntheology. Afterwards at the age of 26 years he left St.Augustine congregation and joined anothercongregation. Because of his faith on VanathuAnthony he changed his name to Anthony, andbecause he spent most of his life at Pathuva city inItaly, he came to be known as Pathuvai Anthony.During his lifetime he did several miracles and passed

away on 13th June 1231. Pathuvai Anthony isworshipped at Puliampatti village.

Large numbers of devotees come to this churchfor worshipping St. Anthony and most of the devoteesare non-Christians. Tuesday is the special day forworshipping St. Anthony and the annual festival iscelebrated in the month of January. St. Anthony’schurch is popularly known for healing and miracles.People believe that the evil possessed, mentallydisordered and sick persons are cured by the powerof St. Anthony. Large numbers of patients stay in thechurch premises, and there are separate rooms for thepatients. Mentally disordered and evil possessedpatients are tied with iron chains and kept in the roomswithin the church premises. Many have stayed formonths altogether, worshipping St. Anthony andperformed several rituals, vows and offerings in orderto get cured.

Figure 3: St.Anthony’s Church

Figure 4: Rituals in Kodimaram

Traditional Healing Rituals in Tamil Nadu, South India 5

Kodimaram, the flag post erected in front of thechurch, plays a vital role in healing r ituals.Kodimaram is believed to be powerful in driving awaythe evil spirits and in healing diseases. Prostration,touching and kissing the kodimaram, lightingcamphor, candles and incense sticks are some of therituals performed by the devotees in order to gethealed. The evil possessed persons also dancevigorously near the kodimaram. Devotees offer smallimages of bodily parts like eyes, nose and legs thatare made of silver or other metal to St. Anthony inorder to cure the illness of that body part. Eye-imagesare offered if a devotee has some problem in his eyes;leg-images are offered if a devotee has some problemin his legs etc. This offering is locally known asvuruvam koduthal. As a fulfillment of vow, devoteesalso sacrifice lambs to St. Anthony. The sacrificedmeat is cooked and served to all the devotees. Thisfood is known as asanam. It is believed that asanamis sacred and has the power of healing diseases.

HEALING PRACTICES ATST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH

St. Michael is worshipped by a large number ofdevotees at Rajavur village in Kanyakumari districtin southern Tamil Nadu. Rajavur is situated fifteenkilometres away from Nagerkovil junction towardseastern direction. In this village, converts, of St.Francis Xavier during 15th century AD, are settled.During the 18th century, a small shrine was erectedfor St. Michael in this village and later this small shrinewas developed into a big church. Opposite to thischurch a fifty feet high kodimaram is situated. On theright side of the church a shrine for St. Michael issituated. This shrine is locally known as kurusadi. St.Michael appears in a life-size statue in kurusadiholding a javelin-like weapon in his hands to kill theevil demon. He wears a crown on his head, featherson his shoulders, and shoes on his legs. He appearslike a soldier. This statue is set upon a platform andiron grills are fenced around it.

A large number of devotees sit in front of thisshrine and worship. They touch the shrine and kiss it,kneel down and worship, walk thrice around the shrineand worship, and light candles and incense sticks.Most of the rituals performed by the people arecentered on the kodimaram and the kurusadi.

This church is a separate parish in Nagerkovildiocese. Catholic priests administer the church. Thecatholic priests at this church perform regular masses.However Saturday is the special day for rituals.Thousands of devotees gather from various places ofthe state and from neighbouring Kerala. Generally aspecial worship service is held on Saturday at 11 pmin kurusadi. The devotees consider this Saturday massto be powerful in heal the diseased. The annualcelebration is celebrated for ten days during the monthof May.

Devotees believe that the power of St. Michaelwill cure the evil possessed and the mentallydisordered persons. Therefore large numbers ofdevotees bring their relatives who are possessed bythe evil spirit and mentally disordered to the church.They stay there for days or months altogether, takeregular bath in the sacred water available in thechurch, attend the worship service and apply the pasteof neem leaves together with sacred salt that areavailable at the church. Persons who are severallyaffected by mental disease are tied with iron chainsin the church premises. The church administration alsoappoints some doctors to check these patients.

Figure 5: St. Michael’s shrine

6 S. Simon John

On Saturday during the special mass at 11pm, anumber of evil possessed persons danced vigorouslyaround the kodimaram and in front of the kurusadi.The evil possessed run fast, jump, and hold their handson the altar, and beat their head forcefully at the irongrills that are fenced around the shrine. This iscontinuously performed throughout night. It isbelieved that the kurusadi and kodimaram has thepower to cure and drive away the evil spirit.

DIVINATION AND HEALING INSUDALAI CULT

Worshipping of pey or bhuta or demon occupiesa significant place in the folk tradition of southernTamil Nadu. No visitor to the region can fail to noticethe numberless truncated, often shapeless, obelisksof brick or plastered mud, which are to be seen almosteverywhere on the roadside, on waste grounds,cremation grounds, on mounds standing dry abovethe paddy fields, in the village lanes and even in thebackyards of inhabited houses. Often these pyramidsstand in groups or clusters of groups; they are placedas a rule on a pedestal cut into two or three steps. Aferocious human figure may be depicted in colourson one face of the pyramid. Sometimes, all faces areperfectly plain. These symbols are locally calledpudam. They are called pey kovil (temple of devils).It is only an expert or Shaman who can decide whatdeity each pudam in a group represents. In someplaces, huge human structures with ferocious facesreplace the pudams in the out skirts of the village andworshipped. These deities are believed to relish thesacrifice of animals and human blood, failing whichthey go around the world giving trouble. If not pleased,they inflict disease on men and cattle; they attacklonely women, especially if they are with child; nightand midday are the worst times and the blackest daysare Tuesday and Friday. The places in which demonsare worshipped are known as pey kovil or temple ofdemons. Among all the demonic deities, Sudalai, amale deity is considered as a chief of all evil spirits.In Tamil literature, there are two meanings for theword Sudalai. One refers to the ground for the burningof corpses — a graveyard and the other refer to adeity whose sanctorum is generally situated near agraveyard.

The temple of Sudalai is considered powerful fordivination and healing. Those who have suffered fromillness, black magic and evil spirits generally go toSudalai temple to get healed. Sudalai temple inVijayanarayanam village in Tirunelveli region isknown for healing. Devotees who are suffering fromillness go to this temple and express their problemsto the komarathadi – the shaman and request forremedies. Accordingly the komarathadi pray to thedeity, get possessed and ask the deity that “this devoteefrom this particular place is suffering from this

Figure 6: Mentally disordered person

The church administration keep large amount ofsalt and water near the shrine. Salt and water that areavailable in the church are considered sacred and it isbelieved that it heals the body. Most of the devoteescarry this salt and water to their homes. Number ofvows and offerings are performed by the devoteesfor fertility, to heal the diseases and to get moreagricultural yields. As a fulfillment of vows, devoteesgenerally offer flower garlands, gold and silveranklets, and small bodily images like eyes and legsmade of silver.

Traditional Healing Rituals in Tamil Nadu, South India 7

particular illness. Kindly show the remedy to solvehis illnesses”. After getting the divine reply, thekomarathadi explains the cause and remedies for theillness. Sometimes the komarathadi asks the patientto come to the temple continuously on every Fridayfor five weeks or seven weeks and asks the devoteeto bring coconuts, betel leaves, bananas, lemon fruit,a black cock, eggs and a pumpkin during the last visit.On the last day, the komarathadi takes the patient tothe crematorium and performs rituals in order to curethe illness. In the crematorium, the devotee is askedto stand towards the east and the komarathadi showsthe coconut, lime fruit and eggs around his face forthree times and cuts it in to two pieces and throws itaway. Then he takes the cock and shows it around hishead three times, sacrifices it and throws it away. It isbelieved that the evil spirits, illness and the evil eyeswill go away along with these things. It is also believedthat the birds and animals will not eat the sacrificedcocks because it had the power of the evil sprit. Insome temples the komarathadi slaps the patients withhands and gives blows on the heads in order to curethe illness. These healing practices are not commonin all Sudalai temples. It differs from place to place.Generally in all the Sudalai temples they give sacredash to cure the ill persons.

In some Sudalai temples female komarathadi alsopractice divination. In Sankarankovil village a femalekomarathadi practice divination with flowers. She isvery popular in that region. During divination shespreads a skin of a deer on the floor and sits on it andprays. The devotees bring coconut, betel leaves,

bananas and a rope of jasmine flowers. Thekomarathadi performs divination by counting theflowers.

PAARVAI PARTHAL, A MAGICALHEALING OF KAANIKARAR

Kaanikarar is one of the very few tribalcommunities of Tamil Nadu domiciled in the westernGhats of Tirunelveli district. The Kaanikararsettlement is about eighty kilometers away fromTirunelveli junction. The topography of this entire hillis known as Pothikai. The temples situated in Pothikaihill are known for its pilgrimage. People from variousparts of Tamil Nadu pays regular pilgrimage visit tothese places. In Pothikai hill, Mylar, Agasthiar Nagar,Servalar and Injikuzhi are the places whereKaanikarar lives. Each residential place of Kaanikararis known as ‘Kaani kudiirupu’. The total populationof Kaanikarar in these regions is about one thousand.Earlier they were lived in the interior parts of thejungle. But after the colonial government they wereasked to settle in these places. Kaanikarar are darkskinned and small in stature. They call their languageas Proto Tamil, which seems to be mixture of Tamiland Malayalam. Their language is locally known asMalampashai i.e. language of the hills.

Kaanikarars traditionally practice a method ofmagical healing known as parvai parthal.Puvanentharan Kaani who residies in Mylar Kaanisettlement is the only traditional medicinal practitionerof his kind among the Kaanikarar community. He isan expert in magical healing of snake and other

Figure 7: Sudalai

Figure 8: Parvai Parthal

8 S. Simon John

poisonous bites. Patients from various Kaanisettlements and also people from the plains gettreatment from Puvantharan Kaani. He traditionallyowns a magical stone named as visha kal i.e.poisonous stone. It is black in color and the dimensionis bigger than a tamarind seed. He says that the stoneis made from a mixture of secret herbs. It is kept in asmall box along with some herb which is consideredas food for that stone. It is believed that the stone haslife and it eats the herb. This herb is known as ‘SivaMooligai’. When a patient comes for treatment,Puvanantharan observes the spot of the poisonous bitein the body and identifies the nature of poison.

It is informed that there are four kinds ofsnakebites. They are magadi, kalathri, kali andemathoothi. After identifying the poison, he sits infront of the patient, worships his ancestors and holdsa bunch of mantha leaves or neem leaves in his handand shakes the leaves slowly in front of the patient’sface. Simultaneously he says some manthras in a verylow voice. Shaking of the leaves begins slowly andaccelerates to high speed. It is performed for aboutfive minutes. Then the visha kal is kept on the bittenplace for some time. It is believed that the stone hasthe power to suck the poison and automatically it fallsdown after sucking the poison from the body. Thenhe gives a juice known as kashayam made from amixture of herbs. The patient is asked to stay therefor some more days if the affect of the poison is more.Separate diet is also prescribed to the patients.

Learning of medicine is spiritual in Kaanikararsociety. It is informed that there are two types ofschools to learn the medicine. One is Maya Padipui.e magical learning. In Maya Padipu the person learnsthe knowledge of medicine through dream in his sleep.It is believed that their ancestors appear in dream andteaches the knowledge of medicine. Sometime thepersons leave their home and stay in the jungle formonths together to learn. During this type of learningthey avoid salt in their food and stay away from familylife. Palliitu Padipu is another kind of learning.Generally it happens in the Tamil month of Karthigai.A group of persons worship their ancestors and jumpinto the river. At that time their ancestors or theirfamily deity select the suitable persons and teach theknowledge of medicine in the water. Every day theystay in the water for hours together and learn the

medicine. This will continue for about six months.Sometimes they leave their homes and stay in theforest for months together and learn medicine. Thesekinds of traditional learning systems do not exist now.

THE MUSICAL THERAPY, KODANGI

Kodangi is a small double-sided musicalinstrument that is performed in several rituals. Thetwo sides of the instrument are circular in shape andcovered with tender leather. The center portion of theinstrument is narrow in shape. The two sides of theinstrument are joined with threads at the center. Theperformer holds this around his neck with one handand taps with the fingers of his other hand. Kodangiis performed by the men of Kambalathu Naickercommunity who worship Sakammal as a family deity.The performer who performs the musical instrumentis also known as kodangi. The kodangi performanceis also known as kodangi paatu, vuduku paatu,peyviratu paatu and kuri paatu. When theperformance is performed to drive away the evil spirit,it is known as peyviratu paatu and when it isperformed for divination it is known as kuri paatu.Kodangi paatu is performed to invoke the spirit ofgods and goddesses and to drive away the evil spirits.Kodangi paatu is performed at the house of thekodangi performer. Persons who are affected by evilspirits or black magic, and who seek divination visitsthe kodangi’s house on a Tuesday or Friday. Byplaying the musical instrument the kodangi worshipsall the deities and drives away the evil spirits. Apartfrom the musical instrument, the kodangi also whipsand beats the evil possessed persons to drive away

Figure 9: Kodangi

Traditional Healing Rituals in Tamil Nadu, South India 9

the evil sprits. At the time of healing, if the kodangiis not able to drive away the evil spirit, it is believedthat the evil spirit is very powerful and then he invitesthree other kodangi performers to perform togetherand drives away the evil spirit. The kodangi performeruses a small shell called muthukuri for divination.With the help of this muthukuri he tells the cause forthe problems and remedies to cure. Generally thekodangi performer gets Rs.50 for divination and Rs.200 for healing.

CONCLUSION

In traditional societies, healing practices cannotbe considered independent; rather it is interdependentwith other elements of culture. Every religion suggestsperforming certain kind of rituals, vows, offerings tothe devotees in order to get rid of their physical illnessand purify their body. In traditional societies peoplebelieve that the cause of illness is divine and it isbelieved that the body would be affected if they doanything against the wish of gods and goddesses. Asa result people worship and celebrate an annualfestival for the deities, invoke the spirit of the deitythrough several folk arts and offer food, sacrificeanimals and perform several rituals in order to pleasethe supernatural forces. It is believed that if the deitiesare pleased they will not cause illness to the people.People prevent themselves from the diseases bysatisfying the supernatural forces.

The above described ethnographic notes onhealing practices reflect that the folk healing practicesare purely magico-religious. Generally there are noprescribed medicines to consume or ingest. It is theshaman and the sacred site that plays a vital role inhealing. The shaman finds out the cause and remedyfor the illness through divination and instructs thedevotees to perform certain rituals in order to get ridof the problems. In Tamil folk culture, rituals likewhipping, offering of cradles, fire pot, milk pot, lampsmade of lime and flour, prostration, animal sacrifice,offering of foot wears, offering of small bodily imagesare performed in most of the folk religious practicesin order to get rid of illness. Lamps made of flour andlimes are generally offered to the goddess Mariammanin order to cure chicken pox. It is a traditional beliefthat the anger of the goddess Mariamman causeschicken pox. Therefore in order to cure chicken poxthe devotees perform these rituals. Cradle is offeredto the goddess Isakiamman in order to get fertility.Offering of old footwears to the deity Muthupattan inTirunelveli region is also practiced in order to curethe illness of the legs.

Thus, it is seen that the cause and remedies forillness are not human but is divine in nature. Fromthe above ethnographic descriptions it is clear thatthe human body is constantly purified, healed, andconstructed through different rituals.

REFERENCES CITED

Boban, Jose. K. 1998. Tribal Ethno Medicine: Continuity andChange. A.P.H Publishing Corporation: New Delhi:

Crawford, R. 1984. A Cultural Account of “Health:” Control,Release, and the Social Body. In: McKinlay, J .B. (Ed.):Issues in the Political Economy of Health Care. Tavistock:New York.

Elliade, M. 1987. The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 2.MacMillan: New York.

Hall, E.T. 1977. Beyond Culture. Anchor Books: New York.

Leach, E. R. 1968. Ritual. In: D. L. Sills (ed.), InternationalEncyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Vol. 13. MacMillan:New York.

Shilling, C. 1993. The Body and Social Theory. Sage: London.

Figure 10: Offering of cradles