three therapies of south india 75
allopathic hospitals. Several patients complained of adverse or painful eff ects
of ECT wherein electricity is passed through the body at a level high enough
to cause a seizure. Side eff ects of ECT range from short-term memory loss
to broken bones to death from cardiac arrest. No patients I spoke to reported
extreme physical injury, but some discontinued allopathic psychiatric therapy
because of the unpleasant eff ects of this treatment.
Dr. Krishna Iyer, an allopathic physician who lives near Chottanikkara and
has served on the temple board explained to me that he thinks the temple
is an eff ective place for healing because it engages all the senses: it features
a scenic setting, music, fragrances of fl owers and incense, and a special diet.
I would add that tactile senses are engaged by walking barefoot on sand and
stone—while shirtless if one is a male—and having sandalwood paste smeared
on one’s forehead while possessed devotees who dance about and roll on the
ground are kinesthetically engaged in the ritual healing process.
Th is sensual setting constitutes an important feature of therapy especially
for people with intractable problems that have recurred over several years.
Although such individuals may never obtain a complete cure, a complete eradi-
cation of their illness despite having sought treatment at mental hospitals and
other healing centers, they may experience some relief while engaging in heal-
ing practices in the aesthetically compelling environment of a religious set-
ting. Th is amounts to living in the process of therapy as a way of “resolving” a
mental problem. Indeed, what one sees in examining the details of the healing
practices at Chottanikkara is the sensory stimulation that is engaged. Patients
enter the temple at dawn, fl owers and water are sprinkled on them, they follow
an elephant around the temple, they appeal to Kali and dance about to drums
in the evening. And after all this, according to Rajan, the possessee feels very
tired but is soon reinvigorated with a sense of “freshness.” Although it is hard
to appreciate this experience without undergoing this process oneself, we can
gain some insight into the nature of this experience by considering how the
settings and practices at Chottanikara diff er from the relative sensorial sterility
of clinic and hospital settings.
Th ere are many other smaller, less well known temples where one can seek
relief from possession or psychopathology. Many in Kerala go to local neigh-
borhood temples to pray for relief from a variety of problems, such as a relative
who has cancer, a fi nancial crisis, infertility, exam pressure or mental distress.
At these temples, people do pujas for their problems ranging from a simple
and inexpensive fl ower off ering to the elaborate and often expensive ganapathy
homam, a ritual homage to the elephant-headed deity Ganesh, who is known
as “the remover of obstacles.” Although Chottanikkara is somewhat distinct
featuring a large, elaborated and widely reputed program for people who are