I’m doing a brief study on the situation of females within Hinduism. One aspect of this, an off-shoot of the main topic, is the phenomenon in India – and also outside India in some places such as South Africa where Indians have emigrated to – for women to be ‘possessed by Kali’. It’s not all that rare.
Normally in the Hindu lifestyle a woman’s role is fairly clearly marked out. From a Western perspective it can appear as though women in Hinduism are somewhat subservient. But there are instances in which both men and women become people who are regularly ‘possessed’ by a deity, and for women this deity is often Kali.
I’ll quote a few lines from material I’m reading:
“Trance possession, usually by one or other of the fierce Goddesses, such as Kali, Durga, Draupadi or Mariammam, is one of the most important features of these [South African Hindu fire-walking] festivals. People in trances display some of the characteristics associated with the particular deity. Generally, women are possessed by one of the fierce Goddesses, behaving in uninhibited ways not normally expected of respectable Hindu women. Women appear to experience possession more frequently than men and men tend to be more often possessed by one of the male deities, rather than by a Goddess.
“The usual triggers for entering a trance state are drumming, clapping, and chanting, and the smell of burning incense and camphor. As the trance comes on, devotees often start trembling, their eyes sometimes roll back, and women with long hair loosen their buns and throw their arms out while twisting their bodies. Some women shriek loudly as the Goddess takes control of them. These women often behave in fierce and frightening ways with their eyes wide and staring, they advance on people, grunting and gesticulating, and dancing ecstatically. They do not seem to feel pain when needles are inserted through their tongues and cheeks and hooks, with garlands attached, are pinned through the flesh of their chests and backs.”
There are also accounts in which the possessing Goddess comes regularly, such as every evening, and acts as advisor, councillor and doctor, sitting and conversing more sedately than described above with perhaps 30 to 60 people in queue per night, through a woman prone to such states. Family members may also be trained to let Kali take them over.
OK, so I’m wondering what peoples’ opinions are on this. I’d be particularly interested in feedback from people who are Hindus or have studied Hinduism quite deeply. For the Hindu perspective.
It seems to me that there are a few ways of looking at this.
1. Hindus take the effect at face value, believing that this IS ‘Kali’.
2. Some Westerners studying this don’t see an occult side to it at all and rationalise it away. To them, this is an outburst from the unconscious of some Hindu women due to their normally repressed lives. By taking on the persona of ‘Kali’ they can give vent to some of their repressed energies.
3. I see this more as a cross-cultural thing, and the Hindu possessions are only their localised ‘take’ on something wider. Isn’t this just like shamanism? Isn’t it very much like the Christian ‘speaking in tongues’ which they perhaps mistakenly today put down to ‘the Holy Spirit’? So maybe you get this in all cultures, and Hindu women simply take on the guise of ‘Kali’. But I don’t actually believe it is Kali, or even that there is a particular being who talks to you or has an individual life, called Kali. I see ‘Kali’ as more of an abstraction or a symbol of energy.
So if I’m right, it could be that such women are getting literally possessed by some form of discarnate, but that it isn’t actually Kali; or there may be no discarnate and it may indeed be some strange but powerful aspect of the unconscious. (I believe this aspect of the unconscious is at the root of much channelling, for example, and that there’s not really any outside being involved.)
I think right now I tend to the idea that it’s actual possession, by either outside discarnates or
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Hi David
With little time (usual story - Caernarfon internet cafe this time!) I will make one comment and hope to come back to this fascinating subject later and spend more time on it.....I am reminded of witnessing a festival at a small 'family' temple in Kerala some years back. A special 'shaman like' priest, not a regular pujari, was running the show and there was indeed a lot of 'trance' drumming. There was also a big fire with a pot of water being heated to boiling point and a metal rod stuck in the fire itself. Sitting in the front row inside the temple (which was open at the sides but protected by a roof) were the family members who were all well heeled, up to date, educated Malayalis. I was invited to sit with them so had a good view of the proceedings. The shaman (vellicapada I think is the true name but not sure of sp) also sat and then casually nodded to one of the women sitting near me, a middle aged lady wearing spectacles, and called her to him with a motion of his head. She got up, went to him and he whispered in her ear. In a split second she started to dance wildly, spun around to the fire and took up a palm frond which she repeatedly dipped into the boiling water and flicked onto her back and arms. Throwing that aside she then grasped the almost red hot metal bar and brandished it wildly in the air whilst continuing to dance. Eventually the shaman wrestled this from her and her family members guided her back to her seat. The ceremony continued with the shaman dancing and the woman was fanned by her family and eventually came to herself looking a little sheepish. One of the family told me that one of the women is always possessed (it's an annual festival) but they never know in advance which one it will be.
The whole thing was absolutely fascinating. And the deity was of course Ma Kali.
Computer time is alas coming to a close and 38 Americans will be waiting for me round the corner. So that's all for now.
Love as ever
Sunanda xxxx
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
That's interesting, Sunanda, as the possessed woman seems to have been perhaps not 'special' or at least not a regular 'body' for the spirit's use.
I continue to see this kind of thing as cross-cultural. If that's right, then in the Hindu context the phenomenon is only called 'Kali' or whatever to suit those present.
I wonder if you've heard of the spiritual organisation, Subud? Their 'latihans' are like mass possession. The group latihans seem to make anyone nearby prone to possession. I met one member who joined after being an electrician working int he room ABOVE the latihan, who knew nothing of it (in Birmingham). While working on wiring he suddenly got possessed, and knew enough to go downstairs afterward to ask what it was all about.
It begs the question as to whether such things are really 'spiritual' or in fact to be avoided.... An open subject.
Venetian
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Hi David
(from an internet place in Chester now!)
On another occasion in Kerala, I witnessed a festival in honour of Lord Murugan (second son of Lord Shiva), where only male participants had metal skewers threaded thru their cheeks. Three participants had hooks thru the backs of their shoulders and the backs of their legs and then were suspended horizontally face down on what was basically a horizontal crucifix. This was then paraded thru the streets of Trivandrum for about five hours. The piercees also danced thru the streets, each with a minder, and were dowsed with water from time to time. Interestingly I had been permitted to watch the piercings ('Madam no ladies are allowed.' Five minutes later: 'Madam please come in'!) The trigger for the trance (no one called this possession btw) was again drumming which sent the participants into frenzied dancing. They were then led up one by one to a very muscular priest who was doing the piercing and he tested their degree of 'out of it-ness' by throwing a bottle of rose water in their face. If they flinched he sent them away to dance some more. they displayed no pain and did not bleed. But one of the men with the hooks in the back of his legs started to bleed before being hoisted in the air: this was dealt with by passing the aarti lamp in front of his face and smothering the wound with vibhuti (sacred ash). the object of the exercise was apparently to ask Lord Murugan for a boon and also to demonstrate the courage of the participants. At the end of the procession thru the streets several of the unpierced followers walked over red hot coals.
A week later I went to a similar festival and was there right at the beginning when the drums started inside the temple. Within a few minutes I could feel my body moving and realised how easy it would be to slip into trance if I wanted to. Interestingly no one was actually pierced on this occasion but the participants carried 'kavadi', wooden yokes on their shoulders decorated with peacock feathers and when they had walked a good few miles to another temple, two of the priests walked thru the fire, except this time it didn't work and they burned themselves quite badly (I saw their feet afterwards.) On the first occasion the pierced ones and the firewalkers were not priests but ordinary men, though I was told this winter that they are from just one caste (sorry don't know which.)
I'm sorry if this is a little off thread. Incidentally, I don't really want to comment on whether or not the women are possessed by Kali or some discarnate entity or simply in trance: I don't feel qualified to do so and, as you know, it is not in my nature to analyse things in this way. I simply see them, feel privileged to have seen them and accept that what I saw happened. why and how don't bother me.
Another point: in Tamil Nadu, on the odd occasion when a woman has seemed to become possessed in front of the deity, she is treated as a nuisance and an embarassment. (This in the big Shiva temple.)
But please do try and read the Sarah Caldwell book I recommended to you: it is very apposite (I hope that's the word I want!)
Love etc
Sunanda xxx
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Thanks for the accounts, Sunanda!
So apparently the same practices went with the Hindus to South Africa. There are three locations there where there's a large fire-walk of maybe 40 to 150 people. At least some of these are in trance at the time. It's usually the culmination of a long ritual build-up in the place of one and a half weeks. There's a minor controversy in one of the places as the males in charge don't allow women to partake, and a few at least wish to including the one taken over by 'Kali' every evening.
I understand your wish not to judge what is going on. 😉 That's actually a healthy and also scholarly attitude. (But it's also perhaps not so healthy for those involved to take it all on face value i'e' as Kali, etc.)
Some failed and burned their feet? I've hardly ever heard of that in any fire-walking situation. Interesting....
V