182 chapter
A Pleasant Process as Resolution and
Enhanced States of “Health”Th e signifi cance of the pleasantness of the treatment process extends beyond
the issue of the relative pleasantness or abrasiveness of undergoing treatment.
Some patients remained in a pleasant, aesthetically-engaging healing process
as a “solution” to an intractable problem while others recalled their process of
healing with enthusiasm and described a movement to a state that was more
auspicious, somehow more enhanced or more vibrant than the state of health
that existed before their illness.
How does one continue with a mental affl iction if one has been pur-
suing treatment for this problem for years, going in and out of allopathic
and ayurvedic psychiatric hospitals, having tried homeopathic medicine,
mantravādam (magic), and other measures? At what point does constant
“treatment” become a burden? Some mentally affl icted people my research
assistants and I spoke to had been living at a temple, mosque or church for
years, having previously tried more medically-oriented treatments for several
years. Th ese individuals had reached a point where engaging in a pleasant
process, living in the pleasant, aesthetically- and spiritually-engaging envir-
onment of a temple, mosque or church, itself became a way of managing their
problems.
Sasi is a Hindu man in his late twenties who is possessed and has been
living at Beemapalli mosque with his mother for years after spending a good
portion of his life trying other treatments. Sasi has exhibited a variety of
problematic behaviors related to his possession by several spirits including
attacking family members, running away from home, and refusing to speak
for days at a time. Eight and a half years before our interview, when his prob-
lems started, Sasi’s family went to see a mantravādan, a specialist in magic,
to counter sorcery which Sasi’s mother said was likely the cause of his affl ic-
tion. Sasi then spent a year in inpatient and outpatient treatment at a private
allopathic psychiatric hospital and two years in a state allopathic psychiatric
hospital. For the last fi ve years, he has been at Beemapalli mosque, and his
mother says that it is only at Beemapalli that there is “change” in his illness.
During a follow-up interview seven months after our original interview, Sasi
and his mother were still at Beemapalli and Sasi’s mother told us that Sasi’s
condition has been “up and down.” She said she believes one gets relief by
going through ups and downs, and affi rmed that she and her son “have com-
plete faith in Beemapalli.”
Kavitha and I spoke with Mustapha, a Muslim fi sherman in his mid-forties,
and his younger brother who was staying with him while he sought relief for