lives and problems 125
attended and made comments. Rajan got to know most of the patient-devotees
who were staying at the lodge, and he helped arrange some of our interviews.
One of the fi rst things we learned about Lakshmi was that she had gone
pretty far in her studies. She completed her PDC which makes her eligible to
apply to a university, but she did not have a job and was not attending school,
a gap between educational achievement and employment that is encountered
by many women in Kerala (Forero-Peña 2004).
When we asked Lakshmi what problem she was seeking relief from in
coming to Chottanikkara temple, she explained:
I had illness all over my body. Even when I took medicine I did not get any bet-
ter. After that, we went to a bhajanamatham [a religious center] where one can
get Amma’s [Devi, the goddess] blessings [anugraham]. When we went to the
place where you receive the blessing, we came to know through Amma that this
illness keeps on coming because we have this dōsham [astrological sign/fault].
After that, we came here for bhajana [worship through singing]. Just one wor-
ship made it so that we didn’t need to go to a hospital.Biju: What type of illnesses did you have?Rajan: You spoke about many serious asvasthatakal [uneasinesses/discomforts]?Lakshmi: Yes, there was asvasthata, always a fever, chronic fever, headache all the
time. Pain all over the body.Here Lakshmi explains that her distress is expressed through the body.
Although I argue later that people in Kerala draw a clear distinction between
mind and body and conceive of certain behavioral problems as “mental ill-
nesses” (manasika rogam), many people at religious and psychiatric healing cen-
ters expressed emotional troubles somatically, through the body. Categorizing
or locating “distress” in the person is complex. It can originate in personal,
social, family or work problems and manifest as symptoms or suff ering that
is “mental,” “emotional,” “physical” or “spiritual”—or any or all of these at the
same time. Lakshmi’s explanation of the cause of her problem similarly defi es
easy classifi cation in this kind of analytic, medical, secular terminology. She
recalls that she learned from Amma that her illness is caused by a dōsham, a
bad sign, a sin or bad karma, with which she was born. Th is problem emerged
six years ago at which time Lakshmi saw an allopathic doctor. Regarding her
experience with allopathy, Lakshmi said, “I will get relief [āśvāsam], but when I
come home, it will start again.” Lakshmi also began visiting Chottanikkara six
years ago, and she describes her experience there with some enthusiasm: