Paper Short Abstract:

This paper reflects on the use of hypnosis to alleviate cases of ghost possession by Indian Punjabi rationalists, which invites criticism by other rationalists for enacting the pathological imitation of the holy-man phenomenon they otherwise seek to challenge.

Paper Abstract:

The phenomenon of the Indian rationalist activist who employs imitation as a method for rooting out the social pathology of the unbridled exploitation by holy-men of their followers has been well documented. Like hunters who transform their bodies into the image of their prey the better to catch them, activists dress up as holy men all the better to unmask and expose the ‘personality cult’.

This paper reflects on another form of imitative practice engaged in by Punjabi rationalists, whose controversial use of hypnosis invites criticism from rationalists elsewhere for reproducing the exploitative holy-man pathology that they otherwise seek to challenge. This occurs in particular when activists are confronted with cases of ghost possession, when they are accused of imitating holy-men in an attempt to remove the ailment. As one activist explains: ‘Before hypnotizing a person, you have to show her that you are a great personality to help hypnotize and influence’. Of course, in their school visits and street theatre they continue to seek to educate people about the non-existence of spirits, but it is also striking how they are willing in certain situations to suspend the educative project, viz. to dispel belief in ghosts, in order to exorcise ghosts and ameliorate the patient’s mental health in the here and now – a practice that sets these rationalists apart from rationalists elsewhere. Appropriating the affordances of a ‘superstitious’ practice to subvert it, while leaving its ontological premises intact, they prioritise social work over the wider rationalist educational project.