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Shamanism
(From
Shaman
or 
Saman
, a word derived by Bantzaroff from Manchu
 saman
, i.e., anexcited or raving man, by van Gennep and Keane from
Saman
a Tungus word; others saya later dialectic form of the Sanskrit
 sraman
, i.e., a worker or toiler.)A vague term used by explorers of Siberia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries todesignate not a specific religion but a form of savage magic or science, by which physicalnature was believed to be brought under the control of man. It prevails among Turanianand Mongolian tribes and American Indians, and blends with their varied religious beliefsand customs. Thus the Turanians believe the shamans were a class created by the heaven-god Tengri to struggle for men's good against theevil spirits. The Buddhist Mongols callShamanism
 shara-shadshin
, i.e., the black faith, the Chinese
tjao-ten
, i.e., dancing beforespirits. The shamans are variously designated, e.g., by Tatars
kam
, by Samoyeds
taryib
, by Ostjaks
tadib
, by Buriates
boe
, by Yakut Turks
oyun
, by American Indians
medicinemen
, In the Bhagavata Purana the Jains are called shramans. In Persian-Hindu the term"shaman" means an idolater. In Tibet Shamanism represents a Buddhism degenerated intodemonology. Thus the Mongols say that shamans are closely allied with Odokil, or  Satan,  who will not injure any tribe that obeys its wizards.(1) Shamanism rests for its basis on the animistic view of nature.Animism(q.v.) teachesthat primitive and savage man views the world as pervaded by spiritual forces. Fairies,goblins, ghosts, and demons hover about him waking or sleeping: they are the cause of his mishaps, losses, pains. Mountains, woods, forests, rivers, lakes are conceived to possess. spirits, i.e., the
itch-tchi
of the Yakuts, and to be living, thinking, willing, passionful beings like himself. In respect to these, man is in a state of helplessness. Theshaman by appropriate words and acts uses his power to shield man and envelops him ina kind of protective armour so that the evil spiritsbecome inactive or inoffensive. His rôle is that of antagonist to the spirits and of guardian to ordinary man. The Esquimaux believe all the affairs of life are under the control of malignant spirits who areeverywhere. These minor spirits are subject to the great spirit. Tung-Ak, yet must be propitiated. The shaman alone is supposed to be able to deal with Tung-Ak, though notsuperior to him. Tung-Ak is a name for Death, who ever seeks to harass the lives of  people that their spirits may go to dwell with him. Ellis says that spirits far from friendlycompassed the lives of the Polynesian islanders on every side. The gods of the Maoriwere demons thronging like mosquitos and ever watchful to inflict evil; their designscould be counteracted only by powerful spells and charms. In Kamchatka every corner of earth and heaven was believed to be full of spirits more dreaded than God.The Navajo, Ojibwas, and Dakotah Indianshave a multiplicity of spirits, both evil and good, filling all space, which can be communicated with only after due preparation by the persons whohave power to do so, i.e.,
medé 
or 
 jossakeed 
.(2) The main principle of Shamanism is the attempt to control physical nature. Hence theterm embraces the various methods by which the spirits can be brought near or drivenaway. The belief that the shaman practises this magic art is universal among savages. Tothis art nothing seems impossible; it intimately affects their conduct and is reflected in
 
their myths. In some cases initiation is required. Thus with the Navajo andOjibwastheywho have successfully passed through the four degrees of the
medéwin
are called
medé 
,and are considered competent to foresee and prophesy, to cure diseases and to prolonglife, to make fetishes, and to aid others in attaining desires not to be realized in any other way. They who have received instruction in one or two degrees usually practise aspecialty, e.g., making rain, finding game, curing diseases. For this women are eligible.Again the
 jossakeed 
, or jugglers, form a distinct class with no system of initiation, e.g.,an individual announces himself a jossakeed and performs feats of magic insubstantiation of his claim. Among the Australians the
birraark 
were supposed to beinitiated by wandering ghosts. TheDakotahsbelieve the medicine men to be
wakanised 
(from
wakan
, i.e., godman) by mystic intercourse with supernatural beings in dreams andtrances. Their business was to discern future events, lead on the war-path, raise the storm,calm the tempest, converse with thunder and lightning as with familiar friends. Father LeJeune writes that the medicine men of the Iroquois enjoyed all the attributes of Zeus.Tiele says that the magical power is possessed by the shaman in common with the higher spirits and does not differ from theirs; in religious observances the magician priestsentirely supersede the gods and assume their forms (Science of Religion, II, 108)Most commonly the shaman is a man. Among the Yakuts, the Carib tribes, and in Northern California there are female as well as male shamans; and in some cases, e.g.,the Yakuts, male shamans have to assume women's dress. Every Maori warrior is ashaman. In Samoa there is no regular caste, but in other Polynesian groups the shaman isthe exclusive privilege of an hereditary class of nobles. With the Yakuts the gift of shamanism is not hereditary, but the protecting spirit of a shaman who dies isreincarnated in some member of the same family. To them the protecting spirit is anindispensable attribute of the shaman. They believe that the shaman has an ãmãgãt, i.e., aspirit-protector, and an
ie-kyla
i.e., image of an animal protector, e.g., totemism. Hencethe shamans are graded in power according to the
ie-kyla
, e.g., the weakest have the
ie-kyla
of a dog, the most powerful that of a bull or an eagle. The ãmãgãt is a beingcompletely different, and generally is the soul of a dead shaman. Every person has aspirit-protector, but that of the shaman is of a kind apart. With the American Indians theguardian spirit, from whom the novice derives aid, is more generally secured from thehosts of animal spirits; it can also be obtained from the local spirits or spirits of natural phenomena, from the ghosts of the dead or from the greater deities.In the practice of his art the Shaman is regarded as:
•
A healer, hence the term "medicine man", and the secret medicine societies of theSeneca, and of other American tribes; the Alaskan Tungaks are principallyhealers.
•
An educator, i.e., the keeper of myth and tradition, of the arts of writing anddivination; he is the repository of the tribal wisdom.
•
A civil magistrate; as seers possessing secret knowledge with power at times of assuming other shapes and of employing the souls of the dead, they are creditedwith ability to detect and punish crimes, e.g., the Angaput wizards among theEsquimaux. In Siberia every tribe has its chief shaman who arranges the rites and
 
takes charge of the idols; under him are local and family wizards who regulate allthat concerns birth, marriage, and death, and consecrate dwellings and food.
•
A war-chief; thus with theDakotahsand Cheyennes the head war-chief must be amedicine man. Hence the shaman possesses great influence and in many cases isthe real ruler of the tribe.The means which the shaman uses are:
•
Symbolic magic, on the principle that association in thought must involve similar connexion in reality, e.g., the war and hunting dances of the Red Indians, placingmagical fruit-shaped stones in the garden to insure a good crop, to bring about thedeath of a person by making an image of him and then destroying it or rubbingred paint on the heart of the figure and thrusting a sharp instrument into it.
•
Fasting with solitude and very generally bodily cleanness and incantations usuallyin some ancient or unmeaning language and with the Yakuts very obscene. Thusthe song that salved wounds was known to the Greeks, e.g., the Odyssey, and tothe Finns, e.g., the epic poem Kalewala. Among the Indo-Europeans theincantations are known as
mantras
, and are usually texts from the Vedas chantedover the sick. With the New Zealanders they are called
karakias
. In ancient Egypt,according to Maspero, the gods had to obey when called by their own name. AtEleusis not the name but the intonation of the voice of the magician produced themysterious results. In calling on the spirits the shaman imitates the various soundsof objects in nature wherein the spirits are supposed to reside, e.g., the whispering breeze, the whistling and howling storm, the growling bear, the screeching owl.
•
Dances and contortions with use of rattle and drum and a distinctive dress deckedwith snakes, stripes of fur, little bells. Among theOjibwasat the sound of thesacred drum every one rises and becomes inspired because the Great Spirit is then present in the lodge. The frenzy and contortions lead to an ecstatic state which isconsidered of the greatest importance. In South America drugs are used to inducestupor. The spiritual flight in search of information is characteristic of the Siberianshaman; it is rare in America. Vambéry cites a whole series of shamanisticceremonies, e. g., tambourines and fire-dances, practised by the ancient
 sak-uyzur 
.Shaman incantations are found in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Medes atSuze. Sacrifices, gifts of beads and tobacco, and a few drops of the novice's bloodform part of these rites with the American Indians.
•
Possession; thus in Korea the
 pan-su
is supposed to have power over the spirits, because he is possessed by a more powerful demon whose strength he is able towield. This is also the belief of the Yakuts.(3) Shamanism is closely akin to Fetishism, and at times it is difficult to tell whether the practices in vogue among certain peoples should be referred to the one or to the other.Both spring fromAnimism; both are systems of savage magic or science and have certainrites in common. Yet the differences consist in the belief that in Fetishism the magic power resides in the instrument or in particular substances and passes into or acts uponthe object, whereas in Shamanism the will-effort of the magician is the efficient factor incompelling souls or spirits or gods to do his will or in preventing them from doing their 
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