that deals with possession and exorcism and contains a typology of supernat-
ural beings, although the Kerala medical text the Tantrasa ̄rasam.grahaknows the
same typology (TSS 12. 9–11). The text has eighteen types (ISG 2. 42.1) of
powers who can possess, although the typology is different from that of the
northern text. I ̄s ́a ̄nas ́ivagurudeva does classify them broadly into those desiring
sexual pleasure (ratika ̄ma) and those wanting to kill (hantuka ̄ma). These beings
are everywhere, in rivers, gardens, mountains, lakes, empty places, cremation
grounds and in temples (ISG 2. 42. 3b–4). The text goes on the describe the kinds
of people these beings attack, usually people on the social margins or in vul-
nerable situations; for example, children, those alone in the night, those whose
wealth has been lost, those wishing to die, and those separated from their loved
ones. But especially vulnerable are women when naked, who have bathed after
menstruation, who are filled with passion, intoxicated, pregnant, or prostitutes
(ISG 2. 42. 5b–8). That is, possession happens to those who are or are poten-
tially outside of social control, as women’s sexuality was perceived to be by the
male oriented S ́aiva Brahmanism. Indeed, women’s sexuality was a threat to
brahmanical order because, according to the Pa ̄s ́upata Su ̄tra, it is beyond the
control of the scriptures (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄ 9, comm. p. 66). The I ̄ss ́a ̄nas ́ivagurudeva-paddhati
also makes clear that possession is caste-related. Thus there are demons who
specifically possess Brahmins (brahmara ̄ks.asa), warriors (ks.atriyagraha), and so
on (ISG 2. 42.26–9), and one of the symptoms of possession is somebody from
one caste taking on the roles or pretending to perform the duties of another.
There are specific cures or rituals to enact a cure, prescribed in the text. For
example, the exorcist should nail the tuft of the possessed person to a tree and
thebhu ̄tawill then go (ISG 2. 43. 3) or he should make an ersatz body of the pos-
sessor and pierce it with sharp sticks (ISG 2. 43. 11–12), and so on. All of these
rites involve the use of mantras, ritual diagrams, and offerings, such as the
substitute blood (raktatoya) so common in Kerala rites (ISG. 2. 43. 28–30). The
construction and use of mantras is a striking feature of this tradition and for
exorcising especially powerful beings, the text gives distorted or garbled mantras
(ISG 2. 43. 83). In dealing with local, possessing deities, the text also thereby
express the concerns of those in lower social strata. Not only do the texts
articulate the dominant ideology, they also express divergent voices which can
be heard in the places dealing with possession and which can be read in terms
of social protest (Lewis 1971).
The S ́aiva cults of possession and exorcism are an important aspect of the
tradition which show links between religion, healing and social comment. Pos-
session is linked to the diagnosis of disease and the prescription of mantras; the
mantrava ̄dain Kerala, for example, is related to the Ayurveda. Indeed, it is these
aspects of tradition which, while being local in origin, have traveled to other
areas. The S ́aiva exorcist deity Khad.gara ̄van.a, for example, in the text of the
Kuma ̄ra Tantra, while originating in the north, became popular in Tibet and
southeast Asia (Filliozat 1937). Where these topics are dealt with we move away
from the ordered world of temple and domestic ritual, into a world of the lower
levels of the supernatural order and so of lower levels of the social order. But
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