three therapies of south india 85
including mental diffi culties can fi nd a certain kind of relief there having a
place to stay and eat while fi nding solace in prayer and singing sessions. My
assistant Kavitha and I interviewed a middle-aged man with psychological
and family problems who was staying at Divy Shanti having previously been
an inpatient in a mental hospital. He claimed to get some relief from his trou-
bles by staying at Divy Shanti. He was given work to do around the ashram
which seems to have helped his self-esteem, and perhaps more signifi cantly,
the ashram was a refuge from his abusive siblings.
Also while allopathy, ayurveda and religious therapies are the three most
popular treatments for mental suff ering, people pursue relief from mental
affl iction using a variety of other methods, some of which are ancillary or
“feeder therapies” for ayurveda, allopathy and religious healing. When assess-
ing potential affl ictions of psychopathology or possession, many in Kerala and
throughout India visit astrologers. Astrology is not necessarily a therapeutic
discipline, but it can help one discover the cause or the meaning of a prob-
lem and direct one to an appropriate form of therapy. For example, a person
may learn that her diffi culties are caused by being born under a bad sign or
dosha (an astrological condition that is distinct from the concept of dosa used
in ayurvedic physiology). After learning of the astrological explanation, an ill
person will usually seek relief at a hospital, temple or other setting, and astrol-
ogers often provide referrals to help the suff erer fi nd an appropriate form of
treatment. Th ey may suggest that their client visit the local allopathic clinic or
consult a mantravādan.
A mantravādan is a specialist who performs mantravādam, which is usually
translated as “sorcery” or “black magic.” If a person’s problems are believed to
be caused by someone having used sorcery against the affl icted person or their
family, a mantravādan’s assistance is usually sought to counteract the eff ects
of sorcery. In Malappuram district in northern Kerala where the Government
Ayurveda Mental Hospital is located, Muslim priests known as thangals perform
many of the roles that mantravādans perform in other areas. Also as mentioned
earlier in the discussion of ayurvedic therapy, a family of ayurvedic vaidyans in
Malappuram district supplements their medical treatment with mantravādam
to heal their clients. All these specialists worked to counteract or remove the
eff ects of sorcery. Just as Nabokov observed in her work with ritual healers in
Tamil Nadu where “the ‘sorcerer’ was always somebody else” (2000: 45), I was
not aware of anyone who claimed to or was alleged to send sorcery although it
was often clear whose jealousy might be the original cause of someone’s affl ic-
tion. Th e jealousy or resentment of a family often was supposed to have, at
least indirectly, instigated the problems of possession and related affl iction. Th e
mechanism by which this is happens was always unclear—perhaps it was just