Basso_Music Possession Shamanism

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Music, Possession and Shamanism Among Khond Tribes
Rebecca Basso
Version of record first published: 11 Dec 2006.

To cite this article: Rebecca Basso (2006): Music, Possession and Shamanism Among Khond Tribes, Culture and Religion: An
Interdisciplinary Journal, 7:2, 177-197
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14755610600975944

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND
SHAMANISM AMONG KHOND TRIBES

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Rebecca Basso

This paper studies the role and the meaning of music in spirit possession and
shamanism in two villages among the Khond, a group of tribes settled in the hinterland
of the Indian region of Orissa. I describe three types of possession: the voluntary and
powerful possession of shamans, the occasional possession of priests, and the
involuntary possession of patients. In each case we find the possessed person
experiences a different degree of agency based on their relationship to music. ‘Musical
language’ is an important highly codified precondition for possession among the Khond,
and is used distinctively in priest’s and shaman’s possession. Closely analysing the role of
musical performance in Khond and related cultures, I employ an interdisciplinary
methodology, moving from ethnomusicology and the history of religions, that
emphasises the embodied, geographically specific traditions, providing analysis of the
unique work accomplished by musical language in two villages.
KEYWORDS

Khond; possession; tribal music; shamanism; ethnomusicology

The present research into the relationship between music and possession
traditions was carried out in December 2004 in the villages of Palamkya (desia
Khond) and Deogada (kuttia Khond). These two villages are located in the Indian
region of Orissa and, more precisely, they belong to Phulbani district. The word
khond derives from the Telegu khonda, which means ‘hill’ or ‘small mountain’: the
name Khond indicates a population that inhabits hills or mountains (Nayak 2004,
159). This tribal group is divided into three main sections: Desia Khond that live in
plains and represent the most Hinduised section, and Dongria Khond and Kuttia
Khond who live in isolated areas and have maintained their traditional culture and
religion almost intact (Bhagirathi 1998, 435). The former group lives in contact
with Hindu villages; they do not speak their tribal language, but they use Oriya
commonly. The latter, instead, speak respectively Kuvi and Kui, their Dravidian
languages, which are oral and have no written form (Nayak 2004, 159).
This paper describes what I will call the ‘musical language’ of the Khond, a
language that is found across the three sections of Khond populations, but that is
also unique in its specific deities and instruments according to the local
communities. This language is highly codified, and is used distinctively in two
Culture and Religion, Vol. 7, No. 2, July 2006
ISSN 1475-5610 print/1475-5629 online/06/020177-197
q 2006 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14755610600975944

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of the three types of possession that occur in the Khond religious system:
shamanic possession, the extremely rare possession of priests, and possession
manifest as illness. Two of these registers are institutionalised, that of the shaman
(the kuttaka or kuttakaru, the male and female shaman) and that of the priest
( jani), and each of these religious authorities uses musical language to interact
with gods, spirits and the souls of dead people. The third register, possession
manifest as illness, is not induced with the language of music, but requires the
intercessions of a shaman and their musical language in order to resolve the
possessing spirit’s concerns. In each case we find the possessed person
experiences a different degree of agency based on their relationship to musical
language: shamans are experts and become the instrument through which the
gods, spirits and souls communicate to the Khond, while priests, possessing a
limited musical knowledge, are more like occasional receptacles. The person who
is possessed in the illness does not use musical language. The paper proceeds to
describe the roles and languages of shamans and priests, noting the instruments
that are part of their repertoire, and contrasts these clerical roles with that of the
spontaneous illness possession, allowing us to identify what is unique to Khond
possession traditions and their musical language. Although these three possessed
bodies have different values in a ritual perspective, they can all be considered
speaking voices that allow gods, spirits and ancestors to communicate to humans;
music, from the opposite perspective, is the only instrument through which
humans can speak to these entities.
By describing the role of music in khond religious systems, we better
understand the link between musical performance and human action in the
supernatural dimension: music, indeed, can be considered a sort of bridge that
makes the world of humans closer to extra-mundane reality. In a tribal perspective,
‘musical language’ is perceived as the ‘supernatural voice’ of priest and shaman,
because it has the power to transcend the human dimension and translate
between humans and the more powerful divinities, spirits and souls who
intervene in daily life. If we consider music in a western perspective, it appears as
an instrument of entertainment and delight: music is good when the audience
appreciate its sound, when it is pleasant to be heard and offers to people the
occasion to share a musical feeling. According to the Khond, music is good music
because, first of all, it is an instrument of contact with the supernatural world. It is
useful whenever its power to facilitate such contact is perceived as real. Hence, the
work of possession among the Khond is accomplished through musical language.

Environmental Context and Religious Institutions among the
Khond
The religious systems of the Khond are significantly related to the local
environs, as well to the unique and often locally made instruments of each
community. As people of the small mountains, the only economic resources of this
tribal group come from agriculture, and hunting and gathering in the forest

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM

(Jena et al. 2002, 75 –78; Sharma in Prasad 1998, 491). The subsistence of every
community strictly depends on the environment and, consequently, khond
religious systems are closely connected with nature.1 Gods and spirits seem to
be a personification of natural forces, because they have the power of affecting
the productivity of the soil, the frequency of the rain and also cause illnesses
(Patnaik and Das Patnaik 1982, 140–144; 1992, 198–212). Between humans and
supernatural beings there is a relation of mutual dependency: humans, through
blood sacrifice and offerings, feed Gods and they satisfy human hunger by giving
good harvest and health to all the village members. Sometimes this equilibrium
breaks and, for example, a Penu (God or Goddess in Kui and Kuvi language) is
unhappy with the sacrifice received. This may cause problems in the community,
such as drought, attacks of wild animals or a variety of diseases. In this case, it is
necessary for an appropriate sacrifice to be offered to repair the unbalance
created with the celestial world.
In every village there are only two people who take care of this equilibrium
with the supernatural dimension: the kuttaka or kuttakaru, the male and female
shaman, and the jani, who is an ordinary priest. The former have the power to
interact with the Upper and Lower worlds, speaking with Gods, spirits and the
souls of the dead (Hasnain 1988, 120; Padel 2000, 123). If the Gods, spirits or souls
are unhappy or dissatisfied, they are considered responsible for natural calamities,
illnesses and even death. The shaman is the only one, in his or her community,
who has the faculty to make up for a situation of unbalance with the supernatural
world, so she or he is also the only one who can take care of the health and
happiness of the village members. Priests take care of all seasonal rituals and
sacrifices, linked to the agricultural cycle and to the productivity of the soil
(Nayak 2004, 164). The male or female shaman and the priest both use music in
performing rituals, but they employ it in a different way and for different
purposes.2 In the description that follows we see that the kuttaka and kuttakaru,
the jani and the non-experts reside on a spectrum of agency with regard to their
facility with musical language.

Three Types of Possession
Among the Khond we find male and female shamans, called, respectively,
kuttaka and kuttakaru or Peju and Pejuni.3 Their role and power is fundamental in
every khond community, because they are the only ones who have the faculty of
communicating, speaking and interacting with deities, spirits and souls of the
dead. In some villages the shaman is absent, and when someone needs the help of
this particular religious figure he/she is forced to look for a kuttaka or a kuttakaru
in another village.4 The main role of the kuttaka is to keep balanced the relation
between the earthly and the supernatural dimension: he or she acts as a mediator,
resolving the psychic problems that have negative consequences for human lives.
In some cases the equilibrium between the two dimensions breaks because of a
dissatisfied deity or ancestor,5 an evil spirit (Boal 1982, 174), sorcery and witchcraft

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(Patnaik 1992, 170–173) or because of tormented souls of the dead that are close
and dangerous for man (Padel 2000, 122). The direct consequences of this
unbalance could be illness or disease that afflicts one or more members of the
village. The shaman is the most powerful member of the community and can
repair this situation by interacting with supernatural beings. In order to balance
the relationship with the Upper or Lower worlds, they train themselves to facilitate
musical language, because through it they can control possession and
communicate with supernatural dimension.
Every kuttaka becomes a shaman after receiving the call of his tutelary spirit.
This initial period is characterised by involuntary and uncontrolled possession
(called ‘shamanic disease’ in the wider study of possession) because the shaman
does not possess the correct knowledge to master his altered state of
consciousness.6 After receiving a supernatural cycle of teachings from his tutelary
spirit, which also includes musical teachings, he will progressively acquire control
of possession and will ritually employ it to cure people. As we have previously said,
between the Khond and supernatural beings there is a mutual dependency,
because humans feed their Gods through blood sacrifices and they in turn ‘feed’
the community, thus assuring to all the village people good health, lack of
troubles and good harvest. If this cyclic relationship breaks, a gap is created
between the two dimensions that can only be reconciled through a ritual, in which
music and possession have a powerful role, and through the prescription of an
appropriate sacrifice. The rhythm and vocalisations of shaman’s musical language
are essential elements to fill this gap. Sindhe Mahji, the kuttaka of Deogada village,
told me that he had learned all these rhythms directly from his tutelary spirit, the
androgynous Komani-Tha¯kura¯nı¯, which had communicated with him during his
_
_
dreamlike experiences and ecstatic journeys in the supernatural world.7 Sindhe
Mahji told me that, first of all, he had learnt the specific mantra to call KomaniTha¯kura¯nı¯. In every ritual, in fact, he is initially possessed by his tutelary spirit who
_
_
helps him in the negotiation with the entities involved in the disease of the
patient.8
The shaman made another interesting observation about the power derived
from the relationship between every kuttaka and their respective tutelary spirit: in
case of serious illnesses, the shamans of more villages will perform the ritual
together. In this particular occasion, all the shamans sing their specific mantra to
fall in trance and, as it always happens, they are firstly possessed by their own
tutelary spirits. In this way, in fact, every kuttaka can bring into the therapeutic
ritual his or her own tutelary spirit and, consequently, the power to resolve the
disease increases, because more spirits have more possibilities to negotiate with
the entities involved in the illness. Speaking about his training to become a
shaman, Sindhe told me that Komani-Tha¯kura¯nı¯ had afterwards taught him the
_
_
specific mantra that have to be employed in rituals, according to the different kind
of illnesses or the entity involved in the spread of the diseases. Therefore, the vocal
performance of the shaman contains, at the same time, the correct knowledge of
rhythm and the action of words that, in a particular musical shape, have immense

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM

power to transcend the human dimension and reach the Upper or Lower world.
When the kuttaka sings, while she is possessed by a deity, an ancestor or a spirit,
she speaks with these entities through a powerful musical language.
The vocal repertoire of the shaman, united with the instrumental music, is a
powerful diagnostic bridge between worlds. The vocal performance of the kuttaka
is usually based on the sound produced by a winnowing fan. The winnowing fan is
also used by the shamans of other tribes of central and northern India.9 The
different rhythms of this instrument are learnt by the shaman directly from his
tutelary spirit during the period of apprenticeship.10 It is properly an agricultural
instrument, made of wood or vegetal fibres. It has a hollow shape and in everyday
life is used to separate impurities from cereals. It is significant to ask why the
shaman uses the winnowing fan as a musical instrument, even though the shaman
has at his/her disposal several stringed, percussive and wind instruments. The
answer, in our opinion, is very simple: he/she uses it because it is a double
instrument, both musical and agricultural, which, according to the myth, has been
given to humans by deities (Elwin 1954, 612). It is consequently considered a very
powerful instrument, of divine origins, employed by all the people in everyday life
but also by the shaman, an extraordinary person, in order to repair the unbalance
with supernatural world. It is a sort of natural instrument with natural powers that
is played as it is used in working occasions. The kuttaka or the kuttakaru puts a
small handful of rice inside the winnowing fan and then they move it rhythmically,
producing initially a monotonous rustle that then turns into rhythm and a more
violent and syncopate sound. After this variation in rhythm and the progressive
increase of sound, the shaman reaches an altered state of consciousness.11
In addition to the developing rhythm and the alterations of sound, the
shaman also sings. The singing, considered from a physical perspective, is also an
important element that directly induces the state of trance experimented by
kuttaka and kuttakaru. The vocal repertoire of the shaman is characterised by a
specific feature: hyperventilation (Lewis nd, 4). This way of singing through deep
and frequent breaths produces physiological and psychological effects
contributing to an altered state of consciousness.12 The immediate consequences
of this kind of breaths is a diminution in the blood stream of carbon dioxide, which
may cause alterations of perception, over-excitability of cerebral and muscular
tissues, intense excitement and disturbance of memory (Mastromattei 1988, 219–
220). The acoustic ‘overstimulation’ of the shamanic musical instrument and of
singing contribute to the trance experienced by the shaman, a feature common to
many shamanic traditions.13
Besides musical and vocal teachings, the shaman learns the use of medical
herbs from his/her tutelary spirit. It is important to remember that, in khond
medical tradition, these herbs are used to relieve the symptoms of illnesses, not to
cure them. The blood of the sacrificed animal, instead, represents the real
medicine, because, through the possessed body of the shaman, it is directly
requested by the entity involved in the disease.

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According to the Khond, the origins of these musical teachings are divine.
Therefore music can be considered a divine instrument in human hands, because
through it the shaman is able to speak with supernatural beings, asking them
what the causes of illnesses or diseases are. By employing the ‘musical language’
to discover the cause of the broken equilibrium and by asking the entity involved
what are her requests, the shaman can prescribe the correct remedy (which always
consists of blood sacrifices and offerings) to resolve the trouble of his patient. The
shaman’s music is powerful because it allows supernatural beings to descend on
earth and enter his/her body; without it, in fact, the ritual operator cannot call,
speak to or question the various entities involved in illnesses or diseases.
Therefore, music can be considered the sine qua non of khond shamanistic
practices, because it is, at the same time, the supernatural voice of the shaman and
the language through which supernatural beings, after possessing shaman’s body,
can communicate with humans.
The occasional possession of the ordinary priest marks a second type of
possession among the Khond. As a matter of fact, the ordinary priest uses music to
call the deity, not to speak with her; at the same time, the possessed body is not a
‘speaker’, but merely an occasional receptacle for a divine being. The priest’s
approach to music is different from that of shaman: sometimes the jani plays,
sometimes he does not play music, but in each case other musicians always
accompany him. This implies that his occasional possession is uncontrolled,
because he does not employ a specific music to be possessed; during the same
musical performance, in fact, he can suffer possession as well as he cannot suffer it.
The priest does not employ the same ‘musical language’ of the shaman, thus he is
not able to experience a voluntary possession and he always depends on the will
of deities. This religious figure is characterised by the lack of control over his
possession: when it occurs, the priest is not able to interact with the entity that has
entered his body. The possessed body of the jani has a different value from that of
shaman, because it represents a passive instrument for the Penu who directly
controls his body. For this reason the priest cannot interact or speak with the deity
who possesses him, and he simply offers an earthly abode to the Penu involved in
the ritual.
In these rare cases the jani represents, for his own community, the visible
form of the Penu involved in ritual; he is like an empty container filled with the
divine presence, which shows to the common people that a deity has come down
on earth to take the blood of sacrifice offered by the entire community. When a
Penu enters his body, he loses, in some way, his status of priest. In khond tribal
tradition, the jani is identified by the strict control of his own state of
consciousness, because he must be lucid in performing rituals and sacrifices; when
possession occurs, he finds himself in an uncommon state and, for this reason, he
could even be mocked by the village members. The religious function of the jani is
to keep the relationship balanced between man and supernatural beings, through
prayers, blood sacrifices and offerings; consequently, his musical knowledge is
limited to his religious role. This point might seem to contradict my earlier claim

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM

that only a shaman has the power to bring balance: it is important to keep in mind
that the jani and the kuttaka both take care of the equilibrium with the
supernatural world, but they do so with distinctly different agencies. The priest
acts to keep the normal relationship with the deities balanced. The shaman,
instead, acts when a situation of unbalance occurs and in this sense he/she is the
only one who can bring back the lost equilibrium. Moreover he/she has contact
not only with deities, but also with spirits and souls of dead people. A priest, in
fact, has not received the same musical and supernatural teachings as a shaman,
so he does not possess the correct knowledge to master trance and to use it to be
in touch with deities. Therefore, when he is possessed by the deity, he also loses
his control upon the course of the performed ritual, which implies that the priest,
in these extremely unusual occasions, does not carry out his main functions and
his possession is highly ambivalent from a ritual perspective.
If we consider possession as a supernatural instrument through which gods,
spirits and ancestors can communicate with the human dimension, we note that
there is a gap between the jani’s possession and his communication with the Penu.
This gap is created because of the jani’s involuntary possession, which does not
allow him to have control over the ritual—and this is in contrast to the
instrumental role of the shaman. The former, in fact, does not employ possession
to perform the ritual, but it simply occurs in a state of empathy with the sacred.
The latter, instead, only through a ritualised, controlled and voluntary possession
can perform a ritual and investigate the supernatural causes of the unbalance with
the Upper or Lower worlds. In conclusion, we maintain that the possessed body of
the priest represents more of an occasional symbol of the supernatural presence
than a powerful instrument through which the various Penu could express their
requests to the community.
According to the data we have collected, there is another important feature
of khond music worth mentioning. The jani of both villages have testified that they
used a fixed rhythm and a particular melody when referring to a specific deity.14
Consequently, it is clear that every Penu is called by means of a specific music,
which is the only human instrument that has the powerful faculty of transcending
the earthly dimension. During my discussion with the jani of both villages I asked
them whether it was possible to hear the ritual song played during the buffalo
sacrifice (Kedu Jatra or Meriah), but they both denied my request: if they had
played this religious music, the Earth Goddess, Dharani Penu, would have surely
been annoyed to be called without necessity.15 In this case the Goddess would
surely be angry with the entire community, causing bad harvest and illnesses to all
the village members. In our opinion, this is a very important point because it
demonstrates how codified is the relationship between music, man and gods: a
certain music and rhythm is a call for a specific deity that, on hearing this particular
performance, descends on the Earth. While I was talking with the jani of Palamkya
village, we were sitting in front of jhakri, the altar of Dharani Penu, near the
sacrificial pole. In every village the altars and the poles are the earthly occasional
abodes of the Earth Goddess and they are considered places of strict contact with

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the supernatural dimension. At the end of our discussion we went outside the
village boundary, and only in this place did the jani agree to play the music used
during the Meriah: here, in fact, Dharani Penu could not have heard the calling and
would not have been disappointed.
The priest played the four parts of Meriah song, on the changu (see Table 1),
and he told me how the ritual actions of a buffalo sacrifice were linked to the
musical performance. The first section is identified with the call of Dharani Penu; it
has a marked and articulated rhythm that continues, almost in the same way, until
the second part. The second section of Meriah song represents the prayer to the
Earth Goddess; it is characterised by a harder beat and it lasts until a rhythmic
variation intercedes, which marks the final part of this section. In the jani’s opinion
this variation in rhythm underlines the coming of Darani Penu on the earth: he told
me that in this moment he is sometimes possessed by the Earth Goddess. Even
Jayadeva, the priest of Deogada, has testified that in some occasions during the
rituals, when the different Penu come on the earthly dimension, they also come
inside his body. It is interesting to notice that the jani of Palamkya village has
made a connection between this moment and the rhythmic variation of his
musical performance, which is considered by many scholars to improve the
conditions for a trance.16 The third musical section corresponds to the central part
of the ritual, the killing of the buffalo, which is characterised by a more pressing
rhythm of the drum and by an increasing volume of the sound. From the end of
this part until the fourth and last section, the music progressively lessens and
becomes a dance, shared by all the village members. Therefore, as it is testified by
the jani, musical performance not only follows the different ritual actions strictly,
but also underlines the course of the entire sacrifice emotionally.
The priest of Palamkya told me about an interesting custom that exemplifies
the relation between music and tribal religion. When the dala are broken or no
longer usable, they are put inside the altar of the Earth Goddess: these drums are
believed to be her property and, in this way, they are given back to her. This
custom is significant because it underlines that Khonds believe that music is
naturally linked to their religious system: their musical instruments and the sound
they produce represent a tangible point of contact between human and
supernatural.
The third type of possession manifests as illness. In khond tradition, diseases,
although they are physical, are always linked to the possession of a deity, a spirit or
ancestor.17 Any illness, impacting females or males, is interpreted as a form of
possession. This kind of possession is absolutely involuntary and it does not
include a state of trance. This illness-possession could be caused by an
inappropriate ritual or sacrifice,18 by a lack in the worship of ancestors,19 by the
souls of people whose death is unknown20 or simply by the negative agency of a
spirit (Patnaik 1992, 173).21 This paper does not allow us to analyse these dynamics
thoroughly, but for our purpose it is important to notice that all the entities
responsible for diseases have something to communicate to humans. The
uncontrolled possession suffered by sick people has a different value from that

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of priest and that of shaman: these possessed bodies and, consequently, the
derived illnesses demonstrate the power of deities, spirits and ancestors. All these
entities affect human health by possessing people, and this illness-possession
represents the symbol of the existing unbalance between the human and the
supernatural world.
There is another interesting case in which possession is considered a sort of
illness: the strange phenomenon of Phaltabhago or Kradi Milva, the tiger-man.22
The Khonds, as many other Indian tribes, believe that the soul wonders during
sleep, and in this condition it becomes more exposed to the attacks of evil
spirits.23 Sindhe Mahji described a case in which a very powerful shaman, devoted
to sorcery or witchcraft, can send the spirit of the tiger to possess a human during
the time of deep sleep. The possessed person will dream that she is wandering in
the forest, unaware of what is happening: the spirit sent by the sorcerer or by the
witch has really induced her to possess the body of a tiger and has pushed her to
kill other human beings. If in this possession-dream the tiger is killed, the sleeper
will die, too; if it is wounded, when he wakes up, he will also find wounds upon his
own body. On the contrary, if somebody harms the body of the sleeping human,
the tiger will fall unconscious, because after losing the soul responsible for its
transformation, it will return in its normal condition.24 The phenomenon of Kradi
Milva is considered a very dangerous illness because the transformed tiger could
effectively attack the people of the village where the Phaltabhago is sleeping.
Moreover the victims killed in the forest by the tiger, whose death is unknown to
their relatives, remain in their afterlife as tormented souls. Such tormented souls
are close to humans and could possess a human body and cause an illness.
In the various cases of illness-possession, if we consider the relationship
between music and possession, we can better understand the value of the
possessed body of the patient. Music, indeed, is completely absent and the patient
is in toto a passive instrument for supernatural beings. The absence of musical
performance in the patient underlines that his possession is completely
involuntary and uncontrolled. Music is not involved in the illness-possession,
because the patient does not want to speak through the ‘musical language’ to the
entities of the Upper or Lower world. On the contrary, the supernatural beings
need to communicate their requests to humans; this necessity is expressed in the
possessed body of the patient, which is simply a passive instrument. In this
typology of possession, the loss of the ‘musical language’ implies that the patient’s
relationship with the entities involved in possession is not active. Thus the
absence of music entails the absence of direct communication with the
supernatural world: the entities responsible for the patient’s possession do not
speak through his mouth. Rather, through his possessed body they can indirectly
inform man of the broken equilibrium between human and supernatural
dimensions.
The possessed body of the patient is merely a sign of the created unbalance
with the Upper or Lower worlds, and the shaman is the only member of the
community who is able to understand the psychical problem that has produced

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such illness. Through a ritualised and controlled possession, the kuttaka can
discover the supernatural cause of the disease: falling into voluntary trance and
helped by her tutelary spirit, she speaks to the dissatisfied entity involved. The
dialogue between the kuttaka and these entities is made through a ‘musical
language’; by employing music she asks to the deity, the spirit or the ancestor
what their requests are, and then these entities, through the possessed body of
the shaman, give their answers in a musical form. After these supernatural beings
have been satisfied, usually through offerings and blood sacrifice, they can leave
the body of the patient, causing no more pain.
The agency of the shaman is therefore quite unique. Sindhe Mahji told me
that when a Penu enters his body he is not able to recognise the faces of his
relatives or friends, but, at the same time, his soul comes out of his body, staying
nearby, so he can observe the ritual from an external point of view.25 This
represents the extent to which the shaman is performing the ritual and his
consciousness is always alert. The shaman reaches an altered state of
consciousness by playing music and singing on his own, and nobody helps him
in his musical performance (Rouget 1986, 174). At the same time, his trance is
completely voluntary and self-induced, because he is able to enter or come out
from this particular state whenever he wants to and he also has the control over
the entities that possess his own body.26 Therefore, there is a link between musical
performance and the state of trance experienced, because in the ritual the shaman
is the only one who plays music and sings and, consequently, he is the only one
that can induce or inhibit his own altered state of consciousness.
If, for example, we consider Tibetan oracles or Indian possession cults, we
notice that the relationship between the musical performance and the trance is
totally different (Stanley 1988, 41 –42). These religious figures do not play music
and always depend on someone else who sings or plays musical instruments for
them; consequently, their altered state of consciousness is involuntary and
induced by one or more people (Rouget 1986, 186, 189).27 Nevertheless, they
possess the capability to control their trance and, in this sense, it can be
considered involuntary: they experience possession whenever someone else plays
music and their possession ends when the deity involved leaves their body
spontaneously. They are passive instruments for the deities, and when possession
occurs they do not interact or speak with the entity that has entered their body:
they are a sort of earthly occasional form of the deity and their individuality is
obscured by the divine presence.
On the contrary, the trance of a shaman is qualitatively different, because,
instead of being suffered, it is entirely acted: the shaman, although he/she
represents for his/her own community a visible form of the goddess, also
maintains his/her identity as the specialist of supernatural affairs. In performing
rituals he/she has a direct control of his/her possession and interacts with deities,
spirits and ancestors through the same ‘musical language’ that he/she employs to
reach an altered state of consciousness.

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM

Musical teachings, indeed, represent an important and essential element of
the shaman’s supernatural cycle of training: the shaman acquires the various
rhythms and songs directly from his/her tutelary spirit and will employ them to
reach a state of trance and to speak with supernatural beings. According to Rouget,
in the various shamanic traditions, the musical and the ritual performance represent
for the shaman two aspects of the same activity (Rouget 1986, 174). This may
confirm my concept of ‘musical language’, because music, as every ritual action, is
codified and produces specific effects that are essential in the performed ritual.

Conclusions
If we consider possession in connection with musical performance, we can
draw some comparison between these two elements. The use of music is directly
proportional to the voluntariness of possession and, by analysing the three kinds
of possession among Khonds, we can find a confirmation.
In the first case, the involuntary possession of the patient is characterised by
the lack of musical performance, which means that he/she does not know the
‘musical language’ employed to speak with these entities. Consequently, his/her
possession is totally passive; it is materialised as an illness and his/her possessed
body represents merely a symbol of the existing unbalance between human and
supernatural dimension.
The occasional and unusual possession of jani, instead, is linked to a certain
knowledge of the power of music, because through it the priest can call and pray
to the deity. Even his possession is not voluntary at all, but it is linked to the ritual
performed and to religious music. The jani’s command of the ‘musical language’ is
not complete and it is different from the shaman’s musical knowledge, so, when
possession occurs, it can be considered a sort of empathy with the sacred: in this
particular and extremely rare condition, he is the corporal vehicle of the Penu
involved in ritual. Through priest’s possession only the deities can speak to
humans, because the jani has not received the same musical teachings as the
shaman and, consequently, he does not possess the correct knowledge to speak
with supernatural beings, nor can he control his own state of consciousness. The
priest does not decide to be possessed and when it happens he simply represents
a visible form of the deity. The possessed body of the priest is the symbol of the
divine presence during rituals, but it does not work as the possessed body of the
shaman because it is only a receptacle for deities and not an instrument to speak
with them.
On the contrary, the possession of the shaman is totally controlled and
voluntary, because his control upon the ‘musical language’ is complete: the
kuttaka, differently from the jani, does not use it only to call and pray to the deity,
but employs music to have a dialogue with gods, spirits and ancestors. This allows
him to work as an instrument between the human and the supernatural world. His
possessed body is useful and very important for all the village members, because it
can positively resolve a negative psychic situation of unbalance.

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By deconstructing the musical experience from the shaman’s point of view,
it is evident that music, more than a physical instrument to reach trance, is
considered an essential element through which the kuttaka can be possessed by
deities, spirits or ancestors. Shamanic music and possession are two essential
elements that allow the shaman to penetrate the supernatural dimension and,
at the same time, they are also instruments through which deities, spirits and
ancestors can communicate with the human world. Therefore, both music and
possession represent a point of contact between the spheres of the supernatural
and the human world, and they are mastered by the shaman, who acts as a link
between these two dimensions. Without music and, consequently, without
possession, the kuttaka or kuttakaru could not help the people of their own
communities because they would not possess the essential instruments to cure
illnesses, nor they could interact with deities, spirits and ancestors because,
without the ‘musical language’, they would not be able to speak to them.

NOTES
1. Padel makes some interesting observations about khond religious system: ‘they
[Khond] are not vegetarian, and do not have the same ideals of purity that mark
cast society. Their gods are not vegetarian either [ . . . ] and blood sacrifice plays an
important part in their religion. [ . . . ] All their deities are closely connected with
nature, identified with features of the local environment or natural forces,
including diseases’ (Padel 2000, 17– 18).
2. This theme is thoroughly analysed in Basso (2006, forthcoming).
3. Kuttaka and kuttakaru are the terms for the male and female shaman in Kui
dialect; peju and pejuni have the same meaning but in Kuvi dialect.
4. In the village of Palamkya there was no shaman, and the jani told me that when it
is necessary he always calls for the kuttaka or kuttakaru of the nearby village.
5. Both, when dissatisfied, provide themselves with the blood that they need,
causing men’s illnesses; therefore they ‘feed’ on human blood until their hunger is
be completely satisfied by an appropriate sacrifice. Sindhe Mahji, the kuttaka of
Deogada, speaking about illnesses told me: ‘initially I call the deity and when she
enters my body I ask her what she needs. Then I sacrifice a pig, a goat, a cock or a
fish, I sacrifice what she asks . . . the blood of the sacrificed animal is used to satisfy
the deity as a substitute for the patient.’
6. The ‘shamanic disease’ initially experienced by the shaman (male and female) is a
common feature of each different shamanic tradition; it can be considered an
equivalent to the rite of initiation: only after this particular period, in fact, by
positively resolving her disease, can she become a shaman and cure the diseases
of other people. To find references see Mircea (1999, 46– 47, 50), Gibson (1997,
46), Mastromattei (1988, 137) and Waida (1983, 227).
7. It is interesting to notice that the tutelary spirit of Sindhe possesses a two-fold
aspect, because he is at the same time Komani, the benevolent God of the forest,

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8.

9.

10.

11.
12.

13.

14.
15.

who has taught him how to use medical herbs, and Tha¯kura¯nı¯, the terrifying
_
_
Goddess of small-pox and epidemics, who, paradoxically, has taught him how to
cure a patient.
Basilov (1999, 34) states that this particular category of helping spirits is a feature
that distinguishes a shaman as a religious specialist. Even in Hindu tradition there
are mediums that heal through the possession of a tutelary deity and maybe even
these possession cults could be of tribal origins (Carrin 1999, 90 –113).
To find reference about the use of winnowing fan among the shamans of central
and northern India, see Basso (nd) , Beggiora (2003, 97– 98), Filippi (1999, 79) and
Eliade (1999, 451).
Eliade (1999, 122) noted that the tutelary spirits give to the shaman musical
trainings, especially vocal teachings, which the shaman employs during the
various rituals.
See Filippi (1999, 79); for more information about the relation between music and
trance, see the Appendix.
The psycho-physiological effects derived from the shaman’s way of singing are
widely discussed in Basso (nd). This is a feature that is present even in possession
cults of Maharas´tra: the anga¯t a¯lelı¯ (god-possessed) before they fall in trance
sometimes employ a forced breath (Stanley 1988, 42).
See Lewis (nd, 4); for tuvinian shamanic music, see Kyrgyz (nd); for nepalese
shamanic music, see Giannattasio (1998, 198); and for saora shamanic music, see
Beggiora (2003, 97– 99).
The same connection between a determined rhythm and the call of a specific
deity is documented also among Dongria Khonds (see Jena et al. 2002, 112).
The Kedu or Meriah is considered by Khonds the most important and powerful
sacrifice performed within the space of a year. It is realised to appease the Earth
Goddess with the purpose of improving the harvests and assuring the fertility of
the soil. It is also performed to resolve cases of serious illness, of epidemics or
when there are serious situations of unbalance with the supernatural dimension.
For references, see Jena et al. (2002, 192), Patnaik (1992), Patnaik and Das Patnaik
(1982, 164 – 171) and Nayak (2004, 164).
Meriah was the name for khond human sacrifice, which had been abolished by the
English during the colonial period, through the foundation of the Meriah Agency:
it was a vehicle of strong oppression of tribal culture. Their struggle against the
‘savage and blaspheme’ shamanism of Khond was only an expedient to obtain
the political and military control over their territory. The Hindu¯ ra¯ja¯, through the
patronage of Meriah, justified the complex system of alliances with the tribes.
By abolishing human sacrifice, the English destroyed the alliance that had kept
Khond politically linked to the Hindu¯ chiefs. In this way the role of the ra¯ja¯s who
had supported the Agency lost credibility to the eyes of tribal people, and the
English Government succeeded in destroying this alliance and obtained the
control of their territory. For references, see Beggiora (2004, 215, 242) and Padel
(2000, 126 – 132). The term Kedu refers to the buffalo sacrifice, the modern
substitute of human sacrifice, which is also called Meriah: although the victim of

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16.
17.

18.

19.

20.

21.
22.

23.

24.
25.
26.

27.
28.

sacrifice has changed, the meaning and the performance of this ritual has
remained almost intact.
See Rouget (1986, 116), Emsheimer (1988, 146) and Giannattasio (1988, 202 –203).
Referring to Atharvaveda, even in Indian ancient medical tradition illness, or rather
fever, was associated with the possession due to demons or evil spirits (Zysk 1983,
617 – 621).
The jani of Palamkya and the jani and kuttaka of Deogada have personally
testified that omissions in rituals can be the cause of wrath or displeasure of a
Penu, which materialised itself in illnesses or diseases for the entire community.
If ancestors do not receive their appropriate sacrifices and worship rites, they will
effectively cause illnesses to the members of their own family. See Boal (1982,
163 – 165), Patnaik (1992) and Patnaik and Das Patnaik (1982, 177).
If the death of someone is unknown to his/her family this will be surely a
dangerous situation for his relatives, because, by receiving no funeral blessing,
the recently dead ancestor cannot reach the realm of dead and, in his/her painful
state, he/she can afflict his own family with illness until the death rite is observed
(Boal 1982, 164). Even among saora tribes, people are afraid of this particular kind
of death because it is considered very dangerous for health (Beggiora 2003, 47).
The kuttaka of Deogada told me that this kind of illness can sometimes be
prevented: while the shaman is dreaming, these tormented souls can
communicate directly with him, give information about their death and tell
him the place where their corpses can be found.
The same dynamic of illness is documented also among other Indian tribal groups
such as the Apatanis (Jones 1967– 1968, 339) and the Saoras (Beggiora 2003, 70).
‘Palta’, derives from the oriya verb ‘palatiba’ that means transform; ‘bagho’,
instead, means tiger: the Paltabagho, therefore, is a transformed tiger—this
phenomenon is called Kradi Milva in Kui and Kai Krani in Kuvi, but the term
Paltabhago is of frequent use.
For Khond references, see Patnaik (1992, 173) and Jena et al. (2002, 264); for
references about this belief among Apatanis, see Jones (1967 –1968, 339); and
among Saoras, see Beggiora (2003, 58).
To find references abut the relationship between the possessed tiger and the
Phaltabhago, see Brighenti (nd) and Jena et al. (2002, 265).
The same condition of the shaman’s soul during the trance is documented also
among Dongria Khonds (see Jena et al. 2002, 185).
For references about the voluntariness of trance, see Rouget (1986, 39), Eliade
(1999, 24) and Riboli (2000, 61). For references about the shaman’s control over
the entities involved in possession, see Basilov (1994, 34).
Only one case is documented in which a Tibetan oracle fell in trance while playing
music on his own, but this is a rare exception (Rouget 1986, 190).
The Pavitoso and Achumawi shamans, for example, fall into the state of trance by
using only voice (Eliade 1999, 328 – 331), the same happens for Selk’nam shamans
(Rouget 1986, 178); even the Eskimo shamans sometimes employ exclusively their
vocal repertoire to reach an altered state of consciousness (Rouget 1986, 176).

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM
29. Eliade (1999, 192), Mastromattei (1995, 17) and Villa (1998, 114). For references
about the interaction between the sound of drum and human body, see Neher
(1961, 449 – 451; 1962, 151 – 160).
30. Among saora tribes, shamans and shamanins play also a terracotta jug filled
with palm wine (Beggiora 2003, 98 –101); in Ceylon island, a shell is employed
(Eliade 1999, 203); and among Buryat shamans, even the use of jew’s harp is
diffused (Rouget 1986, 176).

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PADEL, F.

Rebecca Basso (author to whom correspondence should be addressed), Via
Ferrara 10, 30010 Camponogara (VE), Italy. E-mail: [email protected]

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APPENDIX: MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE KHOND
All the khond tribal instruments, according to their employment, can be
divided into two main groups, which we have called religious instruments and
not-religious instruments. In the not-religious group there are all the instruments
used during feasts, like weddings, and during the meetings of the community.
Music, in this context, has both a didactic and cultural purpose, because it has
been and it is still a vehicle of tribal knowledge. Playing instruments and singing
represents a common artistic experience shared by all village members. In this
way, they can also keep alive their own tradition, their own myths and their own
historical memory, through lyrics and music that have been handed down from
generation to generation (Hasnain 1988, 172– 173). In the group of religious
instruments, instead, there are all the musical instruments played during religious
celebrations, rituals and festivals. All of them can be used also during feasts, but,
on the contrary, the former group of instruments cannot be used during religious
performances. In our opinion, this is very important because it underlines that all
musical instruments used during feast are considered without power in the
performance of rituals. Religious instruments, instead, can be used as common
musical instruments: a religious instrument is such because it produces specific
rhythms and sounds that have peculiar consequences in the supernatural world. If
these features of performance are not respected, the sound loses its function and
it is no more considered as a link between man and supernatural beings, because
it spreads only in a physical dimension and does not reach the ears of gods, spirits
and ancestors.
All these musical instruments are made by Khonds, but their metallic parts
are handmade by blacksmiths and purchased outside the village. The musical
instruments of Palamkya village used during seasonal celebrations are dala,
changu, mahuri, tindi and tude; instead lasharka, deka, sarngi and khanjar are
played only during feasts and they will never be used during rituals. The musical
instruments of Deogada village are more rudimentary than those of Palamkya,
maybe because this site is more isolated, difficult to reach and about 60 kilometres
from the nearest Hindu¯ village. During religious celebrations mada dola, pinding,
sango, janghi, bansi and koma are used; on the contrary, gaani and gaani pakanga
are played only during feasts and they have no role in a ritual perspective. If we
examine the religious instruments of both villages, we can notice that there are
some links between them.
Except for bansi, the bamboo flute of Deogada village, the other
instruments of Palamkya and Deogada played during rituals have a similar
morphology. Moreover, it is very interesting to notice that the description of bansi,
dala, pinding, mada dola, changu, sango and bansi, according to Elwin (1954, 625),
is also present in their mythological tradition.
All around the world there are documented cases in which the shaman has
fallen into trance not when playing a musical instrument, but merely singing;
therefore we can suppose that instrumental music is usually employed as a

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TABLE 1
Musical instruments documented
Musical instruments of Palamkya
village (Desia Khond)

Musical instruments of Deogada
village (Kuttia Khond)

DALA—It is a very big drum, about
40 cm wide, but it can be made in
different sizes. The sound chest is circular
and is made of iron, while the membrane
that covers it is made of goat skin.
This percussive instrument is played with
two small curved sticks. The dala is a religious
instrument, which Khond believe to be a
property of the Earth Goddess.

MADA DOLA—It is a big wooden
drum and its membrane is made of
cow skin. Even this instrument is
‘worn’ by the drummer with the help
of a belt. It is usually beaten with sticks
made of braided cow skin, but in
Deogada village the musician played
it with a wooden stick and a small
broom, made of grass. It is a religious
instrument, which is completely made
by Khonds.

CHANGU—It is a wooden circular thin drum,
it is bigger than the dala and it has one
membrane. On top there is a short skin belt:
the drummer puts it around his shoulders
and beats the drum while standing up.
The changu is played with two different sticks,
one thin and long, the other thick and short.
This is a religious instrument that is played by
the priest during the buffalo sacrifice.

PINDING—It is a small percussive
instrument, with a cow skin membrane
and an iron sound chest whose shape is
a little sharp. On the left and right sides
it has two rings in which a belt can be
fixed. The pinding is a religious
instrument, which is made by Khonds,
but also by Hindu¯ blacksmiths.

MAHURI—It is a hybrid between a flute and
a small trumpet, it has a mouthpiece, some
holes on the top, the shape of a trumpet,
but it is played by the musician as a simple
flute. The mahuri is completely made outside
the village by Hindu¯ people but it is a religious
instrument employed during the various
agricultural celebrations.

SANGO—It is an instrument similar
to the changu of Desia Khond, and
its membrane is made out of goat skin.
Even the sango is played with two
different sticks, one thin and long, the
other thick and short. Even this religious
instrument, as the desia changu, is totally
made by Khonds and it is played during
the buffalo sacrifice.

TINDI—It is a metallic bell that has a circular
handle on top; it might be of different sizes.
Even if the tindi is made outside the village,
it is a religious instrument that is always
played by selected village members.

JANGHI—It is two metallic cymbals
linked with a small rope; they produce
a very singular sound, full of harmonics.
The janghi are produced by Hindu¯
craftsman but they are used as a religious
instrument and are played during the
agricultural rituals.

TUDE—It is a rudimentary and simple horn.
This musical instrument is made out of a
buffalo horn and is very heavy, for this reason
it is played by using a belt fixed on it. The tude is
a religious instrument completely made by Khond
and selected tribal people play it during the buffalo
sacrifice and the celebrations for Loha Penu.*

BANSI—It is a small bamboo flute.
The bansi is a religious instrument
entirely made by tribal people and it is
often played by the priest.

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REBECCA BASSO

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TABLE 1 (continued)
Musical instruments of Palamkya
village (Desia Khond)

Musical instruments of Deogada
village (Kuttia Khond)

SARNGI—It has a bamboo neck,
one metallic string and a coconut
sound chest over which a lizard
skin is laid. The similarity with
the Indian sa¯rangı¯ is evident not
only for the morphology, but also
for its name. The sarngi is a not-religious
instrument, which is completely made
outside the village.

KOMA—It is a horn similar to the tude
of Desia, it is also made out of a buffalo
horn. The koma is a religious instrument
played during the various rituals of the
year.

DEKA—It is a stringed instrument,
composed of a bamboo neck
linked with two pumpkins, which
works as sound chests. In the centre
there are the keys made of monkey
bones. The deka is played during feasts,
and not for possession rituals.

GAANI PAKANGA—The musician plays
this simple instrument while she or he is
sitting. It is made of two flattened and
smoothed wooden sticks of different size.
The longer one is about one metre; one
of its sides is put on the ground and the
other upon the shoulder of the musician.
The shorter stick is used to beat the
former. This instrument is employed
in marriage feasts and women are
allowed to play this instrument.

LASHARKA—It is a not-religious
instrument; seems a cymbal, and
it is composed of a big metallic ring
in which small iron rings are fixed.
Its handle is made of wood.

GAANI—It is a jew’s harp. It is a thin
wooden layer of a long rectangular
shape, inside which another smaller
rectangle is cut on three sides. In this
central part it is fixed a thin rope: the
musician plays this jew’s harp by pulling
the small rope rhythmically and using
his mouth as a sound chest. The gaani
is a not-religious instrument, which
is completely made by Khonds, and it is
usually played during marriage
ceremonies.

KHANJAR—It is a small, circular
thin drum with metallic bells.
The khanjar is a not-religious musical instrument.
*

Loha Penu is the God of War or, more literally, the God of Iron: in the place of the village
consecrated to him is buried a weapon or a piece of iron.

support for the vocal performance.28 In every ritual, indeed, the latter is always
present, while the former can be totally absent.
Many scholars insists on the importance of the shamanic drum29 as the most
powerful instrument to induce trance, but, in our opinion, it is important to keep
in mind that in many shamanic traditions the shamans employ different musical
instruments to reach an altered state of consciousness.30 Therefore, there are

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MUSIC, POSSESSION AND SHAMANISM

other elements responsible for the shaman’s trance, which are present even when
the shaman uses the drum in performing rituals. According to Rouget the
increasing of sound, the constant acceleration of rhythm or the alternation of
acceleration and slowing down of musical time can be considered the main cause
of the shaman’s trance (Rouget 1986, 178). Many scholars insist on the fact that the
altered state of consciousness of the shaman is a consequence of his particular
way of singing and playing music. The hammering and monotonous sound of the
shamanic music is believed to produce physiological changes upon the body of
the shaman-musician (Filippi 1999, 74). All around the world, the various shamans
use both inner and external music, which are represented, respectively, by the
voice and by their instrumental performance.
If we consider the physical quality of the sound, we can also understand the
role of music in relation to the shaman’s state of trance. A sound, first of all, is a
vibration that spreads through the air and transmits its motion to the objects it
contacts. The shaman is, at the same time, the source of sound and the contacted
object, and no one, except him, could better perceive the vibrations of his music.
Human cerebral waves have the capability of entering the same wavelength as the
acoustic oscillations started by a particular kind of music, and this may produce
some psycho-physiological consequences such as, for example, a different
sensorial perception or the characteristic tremblings, which are distinctive features
of trance (Mattia 2002, 7 –8). In these occasions the nervous system stimulates
controlled reactions that can act as psychoactive substances, modifying the
consciousness, the nervous impulses and the perception of the outside world of
the shaman (Lewis 1971, 3; Prince 1982).

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