Encounters with the Invisible: Revisiting Spirit Possession in the Himalayas

This volume considers spirit possession in the Himalayas and the various ways in which invisible powers are made present. It does so by examining material representations of these powers through artefacts, animals, plants and natural substances, while also focusing on narratives of people’s encounters with the invisible that may help them to reconfigure reality. Through these two approaches, the contributions examine new phenomena associated with the concepts of "possession" and "shamanism", which otherwise tend to lead research into well-worn furrows. The book addresses a range of themes, including the gods of the Western Himalayas, death and ritual dissolution among Hyolmo Buddhists in Nepal, gods and rivers as legal persons in India, and the problem of conversion disorder in Nepal.

Rich in ethnography, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of anthropology, religion, spiritualism, sociology of religion, Himalayan studies, sociology and South Asia.

Marie Lecomte-Tilouine is research director at the National Centre for Specific Reseach (CNRS), and member of the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale, CNRS/Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sociales (EHESS)/Collège de France, Paris, France. She has coordinated several collective programs of research in Nepal and the Western Himalayas, and she is now heading a programme on the “Stones Fallen from the Sky”, included in the Programmes et équipements prioritaires de recherche (PEPR) Origins. Her books include, Hindu Kingship, Ethnic Revival and Maoist Rebellion in Nepal, 2009; (ed.) Bards and Mediums: History, Culture and Politics in the Central Himalayan Kingdoms, Almora, 2009; (ed.) Revolution in Nepal, 2013; (ed.) Nature, Culture and Religion at the Crossroads of Asia, 2017; and Sacrifice and Violence, forthcoming.

Anne de Sales is senior researcher emerita at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and member of the Laboratoire d’Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative/CNRS/Paris Nanterre Université. She has participated in or coordinated several collective research projects in the anthropology of Nepal and the Himalayas. Her publications include a monograph on an ethnic minority, the Kham-Magar, and numerous articles on shamanic practices and oral literature. Her publications have also addressed a range of anthropological issues concerning the impact of the Maoist insurrection on rural areas.