Volume 37, Number 1, January-June - Special Issue on the Ethnography
of Healing Guest Editor: Laurent Pordie

Demonic possession in Catholic South India
Robert Deliège

Spirit possession plays an important role in the management of distress among the Catholic Paraiyars of Tamil Nadu. The study of the beliefs in evil spirits and the ways through which people are afflicted by them also reveal a continuity between Catholics and Hindus. This article attempts to reconstruct the collective representations in the field of aetiology and demonology. Demons strike the feeble and those who sexually attract these concupiscent beings: it is particularly the case of women who are vulnerable. Demons are also particularly feared in the areas or times of transition and passage. The demons gather in all inhabited places and demonstrate a contrario the importance of society and culture. Outside the social order, life is dangerous, especially for those who are considered as weak.

Keywords: Spirit Possession; Religion; Illness; Sexuality; Low Castes

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