Paper short abstract:

This paper studies the notions of evidence employed in understanding spirit possession and ritual healing in a North Indian temple by the afflicted and their care-groups and how these are negotiated and contested with and among different ritual healers and psychiatrists sought while seeking a cure.

Paper long abstract:

In the field of health, evidence is the essential prerequisite for accepting the sickness as well as the cure both socially and clinically. However, what constitutes as evidence varies widely depending upon the context of evaluation. Not only the notions of evidence differ as employed in psychiatric treatments and ritual healing but are also contested on popular and folk levels of understanding of possession and exorcism.

With the backdrop of ethnographic study of ritual healing of those possessed by spirits at Balaji temple in Rajasthan (India), this paper tries to study how evidence is understood, negotiated and contested in dealing with spirit-affliction and exorcism in different settings of temple healing and psychiatric consultations. The main aspects discussed are: 1) what constitutes as evidence in the episode of spirit affliction and subsequent exorcism in popular perception of sufferers and their care groups? 2) How is this evidence negotiated by the care-group with and contested among different ritual healers (priests and folk exorcists or bhagats) and psychiatrists/doctors? 3) How do these different notions of evidence co-exist and are managed by the care-groups while seeking treatment at different settings. The paper is built upon data from fieldwork based on in-depth interviews, illness narratives and focused discussions as well as case studies of process of evidence-making in actual healing encounters at the temple, a few of which have also been included here.