Illness, Inauspiciousness and Modes of Healing in Rajasthan

Abstract

Ethnographic material on local conceptions and treatment of certain kinds of illness in rural Rajasthan provides insights into the nature and pragmatic meaning of concepts of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness in everyday contexts. By analysing the internal logic of rituals directed at treating the sick, I elucidate the dual meaning of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness as conditions with predictive value that refer both to potentiality and to outcome. States of purity can, in turn, influence the resolution of potentialities in a positive (auspicious) or negative (inauspicious) direction. Analysis of folk healing rituals and of the relations between patients and healers further demonstrates an analogy with the priest-patron relationship and religious gifting, revealing a continuity in underlying cultural assumptions from orthodox religious ritual through folk healing practices to everyday social actions. The paper thereby contributes to the continuing discussion about the relations between different `levels' or `traditions' in Hindu society and culture and serves to demonstrate that medical anthropology can contribute to broader issues of anthropological interest beyond the domains of health and illness.