Indigenous Shamanic Worldviews as Eco-cosmologies and Indigenous Knowledge Systems of Sustainability
Religion and Development March 13, 2024 DOI: 10.30965/27507955-20230025 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical and philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Shamanic practitioners and communities in rural Odisha, India |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Indigenous Sustainability Traditional knowledge Environmental ethics Ecology |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Argues that shamanic worldviews in Odisha, expressed through trance rituals such as those of nag bacca and alekh gurumai, transmit indigenous knowledge via songs, performances, and trance dances, with visions and dreams as central to shamanic epistemologies and ontologies. |
Abstract
Abstract This article discusses shamanic worldviews theoretically and empirically based on the author’s long-term comparative studies in rural regions of Odisha, India. It deals with local eco-cosmological worldviews expressed in trance traditions, interpreted by the author as expressions of contemporary shamanic worldviews and an indication of ways of transmission of indigenous knowledge. In this sense the comparative examples of shamanic traditions of nag bacca (snake children) and alekh gurumai (ritual specialists) in Odisha are examples of transformative healing through trance rituals based both on concepts of holy craziness and sacred play ( baaya/kheelo ) and on spirit possession rituals ( boil ), widely spread in cultures of orality. In shamanic worldviews, therianthropic transformations of animal human and ecological encounters are transmitted in a rich culture of orality expressed in songs, performances, and trance dances. In this indigenous knowledge transmission, visions and dreams are the most important expressions of shamanic imaginaries, realities, epistemologies, and ontologies, revealing imagined, dreamt, and lived experiences of local shamanic societies. In this way, the visual mental imagery experiences construe the inner and outer knowledge of shamanic life worlds and worldviews.