162. performance
cordingly, as a reflection of the way things really are, she takes on both gentle
(saumya) forms such as Vaisno Deviand fierce (raudra) forms such as Kali. Creation
and destruction, life and death, are two sides of the same reality. The Goddess en-
compasses both. Furthermore, the Goddess is not just a transcendent ideal but also
an immanent presence in the lives of her devotees.
The Goddess is worshipped in various contexts and in various of her manifesta-
tions—at pilgrimage sites, in ritual performances, and at household shrines in
forms such as stone, flame, and icon. The most dramatic way in which devotees ex-
perience the Goddess, though, is through her possession of human—and usually fe-
male—vehicles. This type of possession is not regarded as an affliction but rather
as a sign of grace, as the Goddess’s chosen method of granting a sacred vision (dar-
fan) to her devotees. While the concern of this essay is specifically divine posses-
sion within the Goddess cult, it is worth pointing out that many other kinds of spirit
possession are prevalent in South Asia, such as unwanted possession by malevolent
or mischievous spirits, ghosts, or ancestors (bhut-pret). Susan Wadley, writing about
Uttar Pradesh, John Stanley, writing about Maharashtra, and Gananath Obeye-
sekere, writing about Sri Lanka, all refer to differences between afflicting or evil
spirits and invited or divine spirits.^3 Similarly, in northwest India possession by an
evil spirit must be exorcised by force or appeasement, but possession by a benevo-
lent deity such as Ferajvaliis usually encouraged and cultivated, even if not initially
sought. Possession by an evil spirit is seen as an affliction or punishment; possession
by the Goddess is seen as a gift, a sign of grace—a positive, albeit awesome and
often troublesome, appearance. But what exactly is possession? To describe this
cross-cultural phenomenon, the following definition provides a good starting place:
“any complete but temporary domination of a person’s body, and the blotting out
of that person’s consciousness, by a distinct alien power of known or unknown ori-
gin.”^4 Yet the word possession is inadequate except as a very rough gloss of what is
actually a complex set of related phenomena. In Hindi and Punjabi certain phrases
are used in the context of the Goddess cult to describe these phenomena, although
the terminology naturally varies throughout India.
Two of the most common expressions are “wind form” (pavan rup) and “play-
ing” (Hindi, khelna; Punjabi, khedna). When a woman is possessed, the Goddess is
said to take on a “wind form,” enter her, and “play” within her. Her hair, no matter
how tightly bound, is said to come undone and fly freely in response to the force of
the wind (pavan). The state of possession is characterized by glazed eyes, a change
in voice, and the whirling around of the head, with hair flying loose. Under normal