Weight of tradition
PREMA KASTURI
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Lack of accessible medicare is the reason why faith- healing thrives in rural areas, providing vital community healing spaces.
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People see these temples as providing them a supportive, non-threatening, reassuring setting, an “asylum”, a sanctuary...
Photo: Vipin Chandran
Traditional sanctuaries in times of need...
Generally speaking, “faith healing” is the attempt to use religious or spiritual means such as prayers, spiritual insights or other techniques to prevent illness, cure diseases or improve health. Faith healers claim that they can summon divine or supernatural intervention on behalf of the needy and bring about gradual relief or even miracle cures. About 75 per cent of the Indian population live in rural areas with no proper access to medical care. Though there is no reliable estimate of the number of traditional healers serving this population, it is clear that they are active in providing healthcare and counselling to members of the far flung community throughout the country. They provide self-alleged cures for everything from snake bites and epilepsy to AIDS. The key issue here is, are traditional beliefs economically viable and nominally effective?
Healing touch
From time immemorial temples provided a healing touch to distressed devotees. Pilgrimages to Kasi, Tirupati, Rameswaram, Puri or seats of Shakti worship are quite popular. Temples at Gunaseelam and Chotanikkara are sancturaries for the mentally ill. Studies on outcomes of healing temples with that of clinical psychiatry found that people saw these temples as providing them a supportive, non-threatening, reassuring setting, an “asylum” in the sense of the sanctuary, leading to reductions in symptoms. A recent article in a women’s magazine spoke on the firm belief of devotees in the efficacy of Vriddhagireeswarar of Venganur in providing jobs, transfers requested, promotion as well as educational and career opportunities. Worship of Navagrahas to avert calamities through special pujas or pilgrimages to Thirunallar or other navagraha centres is well known. In a multicultural society such as ours, resorting to a Dargah (Nagoor)or a Fakir for healing or attending community prayers in a church (Velankanni) for healing is quite common, emphasising our societal unity.
Counselling role
In cities as well as rural areas, the healers also give advice and guidance regarding family welfare, the future, relationships and even stolen property. As for the latter, my friends tell me the “collyrium” show using kaajal is quite effective to catch a culprit! And T.V. serials seem to be perpetuating such concepts. But, unfortunately, the gullible public are also exploited and misguided leading to physical abuse and harassment of weaker sections as we have noticed in recent reports.
The question which comes to my mind is why do people believe and resort to faith healers?
Faith healing has been a part of our tradition and we have, in spite of our so-called modernity, inherited the custom and hold on to it. People look on this as a part of our cultural resource for persons facing mental illness. The possibility of this being true is more so in view of scant mental-health facilities in India.
The belief in traditional healers is still true of many other parts of the world like the Americas, Africa and Asia.
What is considered “alternative physical and mental health systems” in western countries (faith and religious healing, native medicine) is an integral part of what people in India access in times of need. A proper study of community healing spaces and their roles is needed for understanding and utilising this apparently simple but complex social more.
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