Shamanism In Modern-Day Nepal

Daniel Noga

North Park University

SHAMANISM IN MODERN-DAY NEPAL

Shamanism In Modern-Day Nepal

Introduction

Shamanism is a form of religion that is poorly understood by most Western laypeople.

Religiously speaking, the Western world is dominated by Christianity, Islam and Judaism--

monotheistic faiths with a history of condemning polytheistic, “pagan” religions as misguided,

infernal, and inferior. In addition to this, even monotheistic religions are losing ground to a

growing secularism that champions science as a superior guiding principle to religion itself.

In reality, shamanism is useful in multiple ways to members of the communities in which

it exists. In this paper, I will demonstrate the multifaceted utility of shamanism by exploring its

manifestation in Nepal, where shamans are most commonly known as jhãkris (Sidky, 2010b).

Nepal makes for an interesting case study due to its religious and social diversity. While

longstanding shamanistic traditions are still practiced by indigenous people such as the Tamang

(Sidky, 2010b), Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu is a modern metropolitan city complete with

internet cafes; there, ancient tradition and modern life live side-by-side in the midst of a diverse

religious milieu. As I will show, the interaction between ancient shamanistic beliefs and

modernity has both positive and negative effects in Nepal. On the positive side, the work of the

jhãkris is capable of clearing a space for healing on a personal level (Sidky, 2009) and

empowering people to effect change on both personal and political levels (Holmberg, 2000;

Holmberg, 2006). The botanical knowledge held by jhãkris is also contributing to the field of

pharmacology in tangible ways (Uprety, Assalin, Boon, Yadav & Shrestha, 2010). On the other

hand, Lionel Obadia has shown that in the case of the Sherpa people, when the traditional

shamanistic views of the relationship between people and the environment meets with the

realities and conventions of modern life, pollution and ecological damage are among the
SHAMANISM IN MODERN-DAY NEPAL

consequences (2008). Taken together, these facts show that shamanistic beliefs and practices

hold an important place for the indigenous peoples who have by no means faded from the world.

Views of Shamanism: Convention and Controversy

According to Sidky, the field of shamanistic studies is quite contentious (2010b). Sidky

names several assumptions that are commonly held about shamanism across various fields

including (but not limited to) anthropology, archaeology, comparative religion, history,

psychology/psychiatry, and neuroscience (2010b). It is assumed that:

1. Shamanism is an ancient and once widespread religion originating in the hunting-

gathering cultures of the Upper Paleolithic period (Sidky, 2010b).

2. This “archaic religion” has been preserved intact up through the present day

(Sidky, 2010b).

3. The assumed universality of shamanism suggests a biological basis for

religiosity, or a “neurotheology,” (Sidky, 2010b).

4. Ancient cave art and petroglyphs can be used as evidence for the antiquity of

shamanism (Sidky, 2010b).

Sidky further asserts that these assumptions are based largely on an uncritical acceptance

of the picture painted by Mircea Eliade’s work on shamanism, especially Shamanism: Archaic

Techniques of Ecstasy (2010b). He challenges these assumptions on the basis of his own

fieldwork in Nepal, and upon the fact that Eliade did no fieldwork at all, but instead drew his

conclusions entirely from secondary sources (Sidky, 2010a; Sidky, 2010b). Problematically,

Eliade’s conclusions were based specifically on unreliable observations of Siberian shamans and

held to be generalizable to similar phenomena throughout the world (Sidky, 2010a). Due in large

part to an over-reliance by academics in various fields on these core works by Eliade, the very
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definition of shamanism is called into question (Sidky, 2010a). This includes such a wide

diversity of opinion that, on the one hand, some anthropologists believe the very concept of

shamanism itself to be invalid and “insipid,” (Sidky, 2010b) and on the other hand, some

scholars think we should be talking about the subject in terms of “shamanisms”—a plurality of

distinct examples as opposed to a universal phenomenon (Sidky, 2010a).

Sidky’s own conclusions seem to pave a middle way between these two extremes. In

Ethnographic Perspectives on Differentiating Shamans from other Ritual Intercessors, he

affirms the multicultural, and thus pluralistic, stance toward shamanism by asserting that it is

nonetheless possible to establish cross-cultural criteria for “diagnosing” shamanism (2010a). He

based these conclusions largely on his observations of Nepalese jhãkris.

Nepalese Shamanism: The Work and Culture of the Jhãkris

The cultural and social climate in Nepal sets the stage for refuting two of the four

assumptions about shamanism listed above. It is an ethnically diverse country where several

religions live side-by-side; while 80% of Nepal’s inhabitants practice Hinduism, the remaining

20% of the population practice Tibetan Buddhism (10% of the population), Islam, Christianity or

an indigenous faith (the latter of which is where we find the jhãkris) (Sidky, 2010b). According

to Sidky, the practices of the jhãkris represent a “thriving shamanistic tradition that is rich and

dynamic (2010a, p. 216).” The Hindu god Shiva is held by the jhãkris to have been the first

shaman (Müller-Ebeling, Rätsch, & Shahi, 2002; Sidky, 2010b), and Buddhist elements include

the incorporation of Guru Rinpoche as a deity within their practices (Sidky, 2010b). These are

two examples of the dynamic and synthetic nature of the jhakris’ traditions. As such, these

practices cannot be described as having been preserved intact from Siberian shamanism.

Nepalese people subsist through agriculture, refuting the association of shamanistic traditions
SHAMANISM IN MODERN-DAY NEPAL

with hunter-gatherer cultures (Sidky, 2010a; Sidky, 2010b). Despite these departures from

prevailing thought about shamanism, Sidky maintains that the traditions of the jhãkris

demonstrate all of the features associated by Eliade with Siberian shamanism, suggesting that

while differences prevail across cultures, there are commonalities that relate these traditions to

one another in an abstract sense (2010a; 2010b).

Jhãkris in Nepal serve their communities in a number of capacities, but in keeping with

the synthetic mindset of shamanistic traditions, all of them can be considered aspects of the

jhãkri’s role as a healer in either direct or indirect ways. One of the more direct ways in which

jhãkris heal community members is as physicians. Through their vast knowledge of plant-based

medicine, they are able to help community members in ways similar to what we in the West

would call a doctor or pharmacist; often, their consultations are a matter of listening to people

describe their ailments before prescribing some form of herbal remedy (Müller-Ebeling et al.,

2002). According to Uprety et al., conditions treatable through use of herbal remedies include

gastro-intestinal problems, fever, headache, ophthalmological problems, toothache, kidney

problems, and menstrual disorders (2010). Uprety et al.’s study identified 13 medicinal plant

species effective enough to become priority candidates for sustainable production and export

(2010). As this shows, the jhãkris are fairly effective when it comes to directly addressing

medical ailments.

In other cases, the intervention of the jhãkri takes place in a ritual context (Sidky, 2009;

Holmberg, 2000; Holmberg, 2006). Ontologically speaking, the jhãkri heals the patient by

drumming, dancing and chanting in order to enter an altered state of consciousness (ASC) during

which he or she either communicates with or is possessed by any number of different spiritual

entities ranging from local land spirits to major deities (Sidky, 2010a). The jhãkri either
SHAMANISM IN MODERN-DAY NEPAL

negotiates a resolution with them (sometimes involving offerings or an overpowering of the

spirit) or forces them into compliance by doing combat with them (Sidky, 2009). This commonly

takes place in rituals (called “cinta”) that last through the entire night and are attended by the

patient’s closest friends, family members, and neighbors (Sidky, 2009). The Nepali jhãkri differs

from similar ritual intercessors in that he or she maintains a conscious recollection of what

transpires during the ASC and also in that they are able to command or compel the spirits to do

their bidding (Sidky, 2009; Sidky, 2010a). In contrast to this, other healers in the region, such as

dhãmis, say that they are completely overtaken by spirits and have no recollection of what the

spirit said or did while occupying their bodies (Sidky, 2010a).

There is some controversy over the extent to which ASC is important to the work

performed by jhãkris (and indeed, other shamanistic healers throughout the world). Some

researchers believe the trance states entered by shamans are genuine, whereas others insist that it

is all an act put on by the shaman. Sidky suggests that the trance states are genuine by relating

how he has witnessed jhãkris “engaging in extraordinary feats, such as licking red-hot iron rods,

eating burning wicks, stepping on hot coals, and consuming massive amounts of distilled liquor

without ill effects (2009, p. 175).” He adds that the jhãkris themselves have repeatedly told him

that they “would never attempt such feats without harnessing divine powers (i.e., ASC). (Sidky,

2009, p. 175). Although this alone does not clearly illustrate why ASC may be an important

factor in the healing performed by shamans, a deeper analysis of the psychodynamics that are

thought to be at play in these scenarios can shed some light on this question.

According to Sidky, jhãkris are masters of leveraging the powers of belief and cultural

symbolism and are adept at manipulating states of consciousness—not only their own, but
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crucially, those of the many other participants in the ceremonies as well—to bring about healing

in the primary patient (2009). Although the jhãkris do claim to have command of divinely-

sourced healing powers, it is thought that the true gift of jhãkris is to serve as facilitators who

deftly arrange every circumstance of the cintas to stimulate healing within the patient him- or

herself. Every element, including the people involved, the symbolic details of the ceremonies,

and even their length and timing, serves to create an atmosphere that causes a beneficial change

in the psyche of the patient (Sidky, 2009). By including the patient’s friends and family and

involving them intimately in the narrative that unfolds during the ritual, the jhãkri ensures that

the patient’s journey is supported by the people who matter most to them (Sidky, 2009). These

rituals are far from being a mere cure; a large part of the jhãkri’s “diagnosis” takes place in the

early part of the ritual. Weaving together elements that can include divine figures and

astrological influences with insights and suggestions offered by the friends and family overnight,

a coherent explanatory narrative is created that serves to explain the source of the illness (Sidky,

2009). With an array of conspiring causes thus identified, the jhãkri sets to work addressing each

ritually; where disadvantageous astrological configurations are held responsible, the jhãkri

manipulates physical representations of those forces to illustrate their nullification; where

divinities are thought to be involved, offerings and appeals to said entities are attempted in

elaborate psychodramas (Sidky, 2009). The length of the cintas and their scheduling overnight

results in the patient, who is largely a passive observer of the proceedings, entering a state of

sleep deprivation that psychologically increases their suggestibility and thus empowers the

ceremony to work within the mind of the patient (Sidky, 2009). The jhãkri also drums

rhythmically throughout the entire ceremony (Sidky, 2009), and rhythmic sound is known to

induce trance states in and of itself; as such, everyone in the room, from the jhãkri to the patient
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to the patient’s friends and family is affected in this way. In a way, this is very similar to modern

methods of hypnosis. What essentially occurs (or so theorizes Sidky) is that in the end, the

ceremonies generate sufficient force in the mind of the patient to bring about a placebo effect—

and while the placebo effect is often leaned upon in Western society to dismiss phenomena such

as magic or supernatural forces, the reason it works as an explanation is that it is well-

documented to be an effective, if ill-understood, factor in healing (2009). If it were not so,

placebos would not be employed by doctors as often as they are; although we don’t really know

why the effect exists or how it functions, its efficacy is well-known in modern medicine.

If it’s true that the ceremony works by serving to “trick” the patient into a placebo-

induced recovery, it’s easy to understand why some scholars think the entire thing is an act

perpetrated by a clever and all-too-knowing community leader. In that case, why would the

jhãkri’s own ASC be important? Couldn’t he or she pull this all off without it? Perhaps they

might, but there are a few reasons that ASC might be a powerful and important part of the

picture.

One possibility is that the ASC might help the jhãkri to instill in the patient a confidence

in his or her credibility and alleged divine powers. As Sidky noted, jhãkris often perform

seemingly miraculous feats that would be regarded as torture by most people (2009). One

function of ASC might be that pain is dulled or even eliminated while in such a state, enabling

the jhãkri to do these things. In addition, the shaking and convulsing that a jhãkri often goes

through during the ceremony may make it easier for the patient and witnesses to believe that the

jhãkri is being inhabited by spirits, and a genuinely altered state of consciousness might make

this more convincing (Sidky, 2009). Lastly, I speculate that ASC may even inform the way a

jhãkri manages to so masterfully weave together the elements of the unfolding psychodrama by
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opening them up to more freely make intuitive associations between disparate symbolic elements

in a way that might be hindered by a more alert, discursive state of mind that we are more

familiar with in day-to-day life. In the end, it may not matter so much whether jhãkris genuinely

enter altered states or are simply play-acting; in either case, the placebo effect is a possible

outcome.

The aid of a jhãkri goes beyond directly (as in the case of plant medicine) or indirectly

(as in the case of cintas) bringing about a physical healing effect. Another way jhãkris encourage

wellness is through the ritual production or transference of power upon others (Holmberg, 2000,

Holmberg 2006). This occurs at a rather abstract level within the minds of those helped by the

shamans in a way that is intrinsically rooted in the beliefs of recipients. According to Holmberg,

“...shamans (bombo) of highland Nepal possess the unique visionary capacity to see from above,

from in between, and from outside social and cosmic orders produced elsewhere in Tamang

ritual life (2006, p. 87).” In short, even as a Nepalese shaman utilizes belief in the power and

reality of spirits (as well as social customs), he or she nonetheless operates at a level that

transcends them. This gives them the ability to shift those very beliefs in ways that free the

recipients from certain limitations in their own psyches that stem from those beliefs. In so doing,

the bombo confers “wang,” or magical power, to those on whose behalf the bombo is performing

the ritual (Holmberg, 2006).

Just as a patient’s condition is both diagnosed and remedied from within the context of

the cinta, the jhãkri brings about this transfiguration of belief by first ritually “deconstructing”

the “socio-cosmic” orders that exist for the recipients as the ritual itself commences (Holmberg,

2006). Seeing these orders for themselves as the arbitrary and socially-constructed structures that

they are, the jhãkri utilizes the ritual in what may be viewed as an elaborate and deliberate farce
SHAMANISM IN MODERN-DAY NEPAL

that symbolically illustrates that arbitrariness itself to the recipients (Holmberg, 2000, Holmberg,

2006). In short, the jhãkri reveals to ritual attendees that they are essentially limited and

disempowered by beliefs that only hold power over them because the attendees believe they do;

if the jhãkri is successful, the recipients emerge from the ritual with a greater awareness of how

they already unwittingly forge much of their reality and experience of the world by blindly

adhering to a given set of beliefs and ideally, this will empower them to consciously seek and

find alternatives without the previous constraints under which they operated. Thus, they are

transformed from passive patients into active agents (Holmberg, 2006).

As an example, Holmberg describes the process in terms of the “soundings” or recitations

of place performed by Tamang bombos in the highlands of Nepal (2006). The bombo first

reaffirms the existing order by performing a routine ritual recitation of the names of many places

that are familiar to the recipients, as geographic location is socially significant and confers

intrinsic meanings to Tamang people (Holmberg, 2006). Next, the bombo assumes the form of a

bird or even a bird-shaped divinity such as the Hindu Garuda; in Tamang culture, the avian

ability of flight is symbolically suggestive of the jhãkri’s ability to traverse divine realms

inaccessible to most people (Holmberg, 2006). The bombo proceeds to undertake this symbolic

flight to heaven realms, and his or her recitations shift from a traditionally-prescribed recitation

of places to a “real-time” narration of the bombo’s current travels (Holmberg, 2006).

Symbolically, this transcendence of prevailing order effects the “deconstruction” theorized by

Holmberg (2006). Consciously or not, this communicates to the recipients that the social and

cosmic orders to which they were previously subject are not absolute, but in fact relative

(otherwise, how else could anyone, even a bombo, move beyond and above them?). Finally, the

bombo descends from the heights, and in a closing ritual narrative followed by a more informal
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10

dialogue with the participants, co-constructs a new, wider order for the recipients that results in

greater power and agency—or, in other words, generation of wang (Holmberg, 2006).

In these cases of individual healing, the inherently social nature of the constructs that the

bombo works with means that the same process employed to heal individuals can also be applied

to entire groups of people in order to effect wider, socio-political empowerment. In fact, this is

exactly the objective of the ritual called Checchu, which Holmberg explored in-depth (2000). In

the specific performances examined by Holmberg, the headmen and bombos of the local Tamang

hill community ritually challenged the political legitimacy of the Hindu monarchy that ruled out

of Kathmandu, which subjected the Tamang to forced labor in the production of munitions

(2000). In these rituals, the “deconstruction” phase involved mockery and derision of the high-

caste Hindu monarchy, as well as spiritually-based exorcism of their “demonic” influence

(Holmberg, 2000). The overall objective was to ritually generate a sense of power in the larger

Tamang community which opened them up to their own inherent agency, ultimately helping

them to realize their previous complicity in their own oppression through internalization of the

caste system imposed upon them by their Hindu rulers (Holmberg, 2006). In this sense, we see

that the capacity of shamans to “heal” and uplift others is far-reaching, impacting individuals and

entire communities alike.

While the guidance resulting from the interpretive role of Nepalese shamans is often

beneficial and positive, it does have limitations and its impact is not always positive. As I’ve

sufficiently demonstrated, these ritual intercessors are often great healers of people. However,

the very same interpretive processes, rooted deeply as they are in animistic concepts, have been

shown by Obadia to have negative effects on the health of local ecosystems as Nepal undergoes a

modern transformation and opens itself up to tourism (2008). With Nepal’s opening to foreign
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commerce in 1950, modern ideologies of social and economic development from outside Nepal

were adopted (Obadia, 2008). Beginning in the 1980s, this was transformed into an

understanding of “sustainable development” and included the adoption of modern values of

ecological conservation (Obadia, 2008). One might suppose that the net result of a society that

already lived close to the land “refining” its ideology by consciously incorporating such eco-

friendly values would be beneficial, but this did not prove to be the case among the Sherpa

people of Nepal (Obadia, 2008). On the one hand, the Sherpa accepted the ideas of ecological

conservation, but on the other hand, economic shifts made it possible for them to prosper by

shifting from their previous focus on herding, agriculture, and trade to a focus on tourism,

serving as guides to a new influx of foreigners fascinated by the prospect of exploring the

Himalayas (Obadia, 2008). Although ecological conservation as an important concept was

accepted by the Sherpa, the social pressure to be good providers for their families by capitalizing

on the tourism industry conflicted with these new values. Failing to successfully reconcile these

conflicting values, the Sherpas, in their facilitation of tourism, opened the local environment up

to the inevitable detrimental impacts of such high tourism by Western visitors, including

pollution and deforestation (Obadia, 2008). Obadia posits that this occurred because while the

Sherpas attempted to incorporate ecological values, these were ultimately in conflict with their

traditional emphasis on framing the idea of “pollution” purely in terms of the self and social

relationships, in keeping with their traditional animistic views, instead of including the

environment itself (Obadia, 2008). Thus, we see that while there is potential in an animistic

worldview for shamanistic practitioners to benefit their community members, this power does

not necessarily extend to a positive impact on the environment in which those people live.
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Conclusion

As I have shown, shamanistic practitioners in Nepal such as jhãkris and bombos are

versatile, adept and valuable healers among communities like the Tamang and Sherpa, among

others. While the animistic and polytheistic beliefs of Nepalese laypeople may be viewed by

some Westerners as provincial and even superstitious, shamans themselves demonstrate a depth

of insight into human nature along physical, psychological and spiritual lines; indeed, they are

keenly aware of the pitfalls of superstition along with some of its potential benefits, and are able

to employ this knowledge in ways that are beneficial to community members and resemble the

roles in Western society of clergy members such as priests, rabbis and imams. However, the

methods employed by shamans go beyond the traditional roles attributed to these Western

intercessors by including medicinal knowledge, and their intricate ritual technology operates at

deep psychological levels with a potency and immediacy that is not typically seen in Western

religion.

However, we must be cautious in our assessment of these practitioners, as shamanistic

methods come with certain limitations and hitches just like spiritual intercessors of all kinds

worldwide. They are most effective within their unique social contexts. For example, while their

knowledge of plant medicine is vast and effective as a remedy, Uprety et al. note that this

knowledge derives its primary strength as a substitute for modern, allopathic medicine when

people are too poor to access it; in other words, for lack of access to Western medicine, plant

remedies are a reliable but sub-optimal alternative (2010). Next, in the case of ritual healings and

empowerments, these ceremonies work by essentially acknowledging the limiting factors in

belief, and indeed manipulating them, albeit in a helpful way; in other words, a shaman might be

quick to acknowledge that in a society with modern medicine, certain religious attitudes, and
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even psychotherapy, the specific practices employed in an indigenous culture would not be as

necessary or relevant to a Westernized community; after all, if shamans are truly the meta-

analyzing semantic impresarios they appear to be, they understand better than most of us how

important context is in all human endeavors toward healing. Nonetheless, many Nepalese

hospitals call in jhãkris to work their cures when modern medicine fails (Müller-Ebeling et al.,

2002). Lastly, as economic development takes hold in Nepal, traditional beliefs and mores

become ecological vulnerabilities as local people attempt to reconcile folk beliefs with the

economic potentials of foreign tourism. Clearly, a number of caveats must be kept in mind when

addressing the role of shamans in modern Nepalese communities; nonetheless, within those

communities as they currently exist, shamans continue to play a vital and important role in

support of Nepalese people.

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