The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature and Civilization

by Frederick M. Smith

The Self Possessed is a multifaceted, diachronic study reconsidering the very nature of religion in South Asia, the culmination of years of intensive research. Frederick M. Smith proposes that positive oracular or ecstatic possession is the most common form of spiritual expression in India, and that it has been linguistically distinguished from negative, disease-producing possession for thousands of years.



In South Asia possession has always been broader and more diverse than in the West, where it has been almost entirely characterized as demonic. At best, spirit possession has been regarded as a medically treatable psychological ailment and at worst, as a condition that requires exorcism or punishment. In South (and East) Asia, ecstatic or oracular possession has been widely practiced throughout history, occupying a position of respect in early and recent Hinduism and in certain forms of Buddhism.

Smith analyzes Indic literature from all ages-the earliest Vedic texts; the Mahabharata; Buddhist, Jain, Yogic, Ayurvedic, and Tantric texts; Hindu devotional literature; Sanskrit drama and narrative literature; and more than a hundred ethnographies. He identifies several forms of possession, including festival, initiatory, oracular, and devotional, and demonstrates their multivocality within a wide range of sects and religious identities.

Possession is common among both men and women and is practiced by members of all social and caste strata. Smith theorizes on notions of embodiment, disembodiment, selfhood, personal identity, and other key issues through the prism of possession, redefining the relationship between Sanskritic and vernacular culture and between elite and popular religion. Smith's study is also comparative, introducing considerable material from Tibet, classical China, modern America, and elsewhere.

Brilliant and persuasive, The Self Possessed provides careful new translations of rare material and is the most comprehensive study in any language on this subject.

Genres: Hinduism, Nonfiction, Religion, Anthropology, Cultural Studies

736 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2006

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished the book! However, to claim that I have read it in its entirety would be akin to lying. This massive tome is full of extremely pedantic methodologies, various theories and extremely lucid discussions regarding topics that are seldom touched by academia. As a result, I had to skip large portions, while for the other parts I could hardly leave the book even for daily chores!
It contained the following chapters~
Part I: Orthodoxies, Madness and Method
1. Academic and Brahmanical Orthodoxies
Part II: Ethnography, Modernity, and the Language of Possession
2. New and Inherited Paradigms
3. Possession, Trance Channeling, and Modernity
4. Notes on Regional Languages and Models of Possession
Part III: Classical Literature
5. The Vedas and Upanisads
6. Friendly Acquisitions, Hostile Takeovers
7. Enlightenment and the Classical Culture of Possession
8. Vampires, Prostitutes and Poets
9. Devotion as Possession
Part IV: Worldly and Otherworldly Ruptures
10. Possession in Tantra
11. Tantra and the Diaspora of Childhood Possession
12. The Medicalization of Possession in Ayurveda and Tantra
13. Conclusions
The biggest strength of this book is its analysis of a subject that had been hitherto considered as pure superstition or illness prevalent among the feeble-minded. By exploring its philosophical as well as ritual roots, the author has presented possession in a completely new look.
If you are keen on this topic, or are interested in learning about stuff that can be interpreted from Vedic and Puranic texts by reading between the lines, then this is meant for you.
However, I would strongly recommend giving the first twenty percent of the book a pass. It's meant for academicians, who need such weapons for their civil war. As far as you and me are concerned, the rest is gold!
Recommended.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smith has produced an exhaustive study of the semantics of possession in South Asia, drawing upon and comparing literary and ethnographic, lexical and descriptive evidence. The manifestations of possession he finds fall along a continuum from emotional absorption to deity embodiment to psychic transfer, all within the context of an implicit theory of the self as aggregate, unstable, and permeable.

This way of conceptualizing the person, which to some extent the very evidence of pervasive possession activities helped to construct, posed a challenge to Brahmanical notions envisioning a discrete atman and valorizing a controlled persona. Nevertheless, despite, or perhaps because of, this contradiction, forms of possession were gradually rationalized and assimilated into orthodox ritual. This kind of permeability of the border between elite and popular socioreligious spheres is suggested in a number of ways throughout the text, including exchanges of language, epistemology, and practice.

Although Smith occasionally privileges the lexicographic evidence over that of seemingly self-evident description, and thus perhaps stretches the confines of familiar definitions of possession, this may ultimately reflect a more accurate picture of indigenous Indic conceptual delineations and linguistic usages.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent overview of the phenomenon of possession in South Asia. By focusing on the cultural ontology he dramatically reassesses the nature of the self and the significance of spirit possession and psychic permeability in the Hindu tradition.