cooling mudpacks: the aesthetic quality of therapy 185
experience that he decided to live at the temple and work at the temple lodge.
His description of his possession-healing experience was spirited, nostalgic,
and recounted with a you-have-to-try-it-for-yourself tone. Rajan’s depiction
of the daily routine of affl icted devotees provides a sense of the color, var-
iety, and opportunities for sensory engagement as well as his own enthusiasm
toward devotional healing practices at Chottanikkara (although his excited
description in Malayalam, laced with English terms and Sanskritic Hindu
religious terminology, does not translate smoothly):
Th e “fi rst” bhajan [devotional singing] starts at 3:30 am. Th en the “temple” will be
open at 4. Th en there are the remaining demi-gods: Ayappan, Sivan, Murugan,
Ganapathy, Sarppan. It will open “completely”, then we will walk around the
temple. Th en there are pūjas [worships/off erings/encounters] and consecrations.
Th ere will be dhāra [a sprinkling of water ritual] at the Siva shrine. Th en almost
at the same time, it will start. We will start shaking like this [the possessing spirit
will become active]. It will start at fi ve o’clock in the morning. Th en at eight we
have ghee. After that, we will have fruit or something. We are not allowed to eat
any food prepared outside. Naivēdyam [an off ering of food to the deities before
being eaten by worshippers] will be done at noon. Th at food will be the meal
we eat in the afternoon. Have you seen kuruti [a worship invoking the goddess
Kali]? You will see kuruti pūja tonight.Th e devotional routine for those suff ering affl iction thus engages the sense—
aural, kinaesthetic and gustatory in this case. Th ey start the day with singing
followed by pre-dawn rituals at the temple and sharing of food with the deities.
At the end of the excerpt, Rajan is excited that my assistant Biju and I should
see what is essentially part of the healing process, the kuruti ceremony. After
mentioning kuruti, Rajan’s description moves to the beginning of the next day:
Th en we are ready to go again at 4 am. We will bathe again, become “fresh” and
will go to the temple. After bathing, we will walk around the temple. Th ere are
four pūjas. At 6 o’clock is dīparādhana [waving lamps in front of an idol], śīvēli
is at 7 o’clock. At 8:30 at night, kuruti begins again. It will be over at 9:30. Th us
“full time” we are in this temple or under its “treatment.” We will not know any-
thing about what is going on outside. “Full concentration, full prayer.” We will
be “fully” praying. [.. .] we chant the Saraswatham [for the goddess Saraswati]
and Garudarudam [for Vishnu] mantras and the Garuda panchakāra [a hymn].
We enter while chanting these mantras. Th ese mantras have a good relationship
with nature. Th ey will make us “pure automatically.”In addition to the enthusiasm, even bravado, in this narrative, we are given
a further sense of the aesthetic environment at Chottanikkara temple. Th e