Indigenous Shamanism and Worldview: Reconsidering Khambu Mundhum beyond Classical Shamanism Paradigms
Ram Kumar Rai
Voice of History August 25, 2026 DOI: 10.3126/voh.v34i1.99308 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 3 |
| Population | Khambu knowledge holders in Khotang and Bhojpur, eastern Nepal |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key findings | Argues that Dowang is understood as a bearer of ancestral knowledge and Mundhum-based cultural continuity, not merely a trance practitioner or spirit medium, and proposes Local Indigenous Shamanism Theory (LIST) as an indigenous-centered framework. |
Abstract
Shamanism generally refers to indigenous ritual systems involving relationships between humans and spiritual or non-human realms, often associated with healing, spirit mediation, trance, and altered states of consciousness. In the Khambu worldview of eastern Nepal, Dowang refers to an indigenous ritual institution associated with ancestral calling, sacred knowledge, and the transmission of Mundhum, the orally transmitted cosmological and cultural knowledge system of the Khambu people. This study examines whether dominant theories of shamanism adequately explain the Khambu understanding of Dowang and Mundhum. Using a qualitative interpretive approach, the study combines a review of major shamanism theories with primary oral narratives obtained through semi-structured interviews with three Khambu knowledge holders in Khotang and Bhojpur. The findings indicate that Dowang is understood not simply as a trance practitioner or spirit medium but as a bearer of ancestral knowledge and Mundhum-based cultural continuity. The study therefore proposes Local Indigenous Shamanism Theory (LIST) as an indigenous-centered framework emphasizing ancestral ontology, dream epistemology, oral transmission, and relational cosmology. The study contributes to decolonial and indigenous scholarship by foregrounding Khambu categories of knowledge in theorizing shamanism.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 36 |
| Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... | 2019 | Ethnography with literature review | n = 227 |
| The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru | 2016 | Ethnography | |
| Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin | 1992 | Ethnographic review and analysis | |
| Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru | 2012 | Ethnography |