KĀLISĪ AS A FOLK RELIGIOUS MEDIUM: A PSYCHO-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF SPIRIT POSSESSION IN ODISHA

Abstract

Kālisī folk belief in Odisha is a special psycho-historical ideology primarily ingrained in the Shakta cultural and the religious lifestyle of the state. The Kalisik phenomenon is based on the cult of great goddesses, such as Kali and Durga, and the spiritual possession, the trance, and mystic-like behavior that is interpreted as the divine revelation. According to the narratives linked with the worship in well-known Shakta Peethas and village shrines, people generally belonging to underprivileged groups are suspected of being possessed by the goddess, as they convey divine warnings, messages and blessings through being mediums. The Kālisīs resort to hysterical rituals, which involve mad dancing, fasting, and symbolic behavior using sacred items. The music containing rhythms, sacred singing, and tantric rites frequently provoke the beginning of their possession states. Kalisī traditions have historically been attributed to the Vamaachara (left-hand Tantric school) tradition and related to Yogin of worship that came to be embodied by sixty-four divine forms that have their origins in eight major goddesses. The Kalisis have achieved a central role in supporting and propagating Shakta faithful, particularly in tribal and rural population groups. The difference in the Kalisi practices is also found within the Odisha and these practices have evolved in to different types which include the Patau Kālisī (associated with difficult devotional practices), the Adivasii Kālisī (as practiced by tribal villages), the General Kālisī (used by the village women) and the Baradi Kālisī related with prophecies and rituals). The Kālisī tradition, by combining the dramatic rites with the divine agency, stands out as a good example of the overlap of spirituality, psychology and historical continuity.