Medical Ethnology (Satis Shroff)

My Tryst With Spirits in the Himalayas (Satis Shroff)

It’s not easy to meet a shaman, unless you know someone who does. Drove in a taxi to Tibet Road, then to the Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Marg, and ended in Chaangaon, in the Gangtok suburb.

The bongthing I met had grown old and sick. He showed me his cardiac capsules and pills,
On the palm of his big hand. He was grateful that his daughter looked after him. He advised I should go to another, a bongthing in the neighbourhood. A Bhutia woman was selling sausages and sweets. The fat, brown sausages hung on strings from the ceiling.

A blind Nepali minstrel with a sarangi, was playing ‘Resam Piri-ri,’ a Nepali song you hear along the trekking-trails of Nepal.
Ah, it’s so good to hear Nepali being spoken, where ever you go in Sikkim. I asked myself whether I was in Nepal? Sikkim was once Nepali, now it belongs to West Bengal. The Bengalis speak of ‘Amar shonar Bongal, and in the same breath ‘Amar Konchonjonga!’ when they come to Darjeeling during the tourist season.

The Sikkimese Kanchanzonga is controlled from Delhi, and enjoys privileges that Darjeeling can only dream of. That was the price of democratization of the Kingdom of Sikkim which was formerly ruled by the Chogyal and his family. The Chogyal of Sikkim and his love and hope
Were deprived of their Chogyaldom by a fierce Indira Gandhi, who wanted no nonsense in the sensitive Himalayas.

Some Gorkhalis from Gorkhaland dream of being united with Sikkim, rather than Kolkotta.

Like the Mun and Bongthing, the Lepcha yukmuns (lamas) are facing extinction.

The religion of the Lepchas of Sikkim resembles the pre-Buddhist faith of Tibet called Bon-religion.
Tibetan Buddhism dates back to the 8th century.
The architect of tantric Buddhism Padmasambhava is known to have sojourned in Sikkim, on his way to Tibet.
The Red hat Buddhists fled to Sikkim, and speedily converted the Lepchas. Most Buddhist Lepchas today still practice animism.

The service of the muns are needed by the Lepchas: at birth, marriage and during death ceremonies.
The Lepcha language is called Rongring. A German named Mainwaring went Native, ived with the Lepchas and studied their language and came to the conclusion that Lepcha was the oldest extant language.

Belief and faith is perpetuated by a chain of rituals.

‘Religion is belief in spiritual being’ said Taylor back in 1871.
 

Mathew Arnold came up with: ‘Religion is morality touched with emotion.’
If religion is a superstructure it is man who doesn’t realize the complexities of the cosmos.
The Lepchas believe in a spiritual being, a religion which believes in the continuation of the soul, even after the death of the carcass called the body. You find the soul in trees, rocks, rivers, hills and animals.

Where there is good there is evil.
 

Evil spirits abound in rocks, lakes, mountains are constantly out to do mischief. You are obliged to pray to them for they hurt us,if we don’t. These malevolent spirits are called Moong. The Lepchas believe in one supreme God and other Gods and Goddesses.

Some spirits are good (sukyo rum) and bad (aami-moong). The evil spirit aami-moong gets ferocious when someone trespasses a garden or orchard. The evil spirit can paralyse someone.
 

My bongthing took his time for a séance. His pretty wife organized the ritual objects: a
 metal plate, red rice corns, and seasonal flowers. Then he began to pray and recite.
It was a long monologue, with all the Gods and Goddesses and Spirits, beckoning, greeting, pleading and cajoling them, to heal the patient.
The shaman’s monologue was carried out in a falsetto voice at high speed, interspersed with hyperventilation that involved one deep inspiration and three forced expirations at the end of each recitation:
I greet you the Gods of the Five Treasures of the Snow,
I greet Shiva and Parvati who live in the Snow.
I greet Hanuman and Ganesh.
I greet the Gods from the snow capped peaks,
The spirits from the plunging waterfalls,
The spirits at the confluence of the Rangit and  Teesta rivers.
I beckon the Gods and Spirits of the Lachenpas,
God Kirateswary and the twelve Jyotilingas
And Sai Baba.
Throughout the ritual the rice corns were moved in small clusters, gathered and dropped gently over the effigy of the main God in question, which was symbolised by a metallic vase, filled with flowers.
The shaman touched the patient’s head with a crude broom made of leaves, to bless the head and shoulders of the patient. At the end of the séance the bongthing said:
‘There is nothing wrong with this patient. A naag is running after him, so I’ll have to do a puja. Thereafter, he’ll get a charm with a mantra, which he’ll have to carry around his neck for the rest of his life.
The patient thanked him profusely and the patient and his sisters left for Gangtok in their Bolero jeep.
 
* * *
MY TRYST WITH SHAMANISM II

A shaman incarnates spirits in a séance, whereby he controls the spirits, that he has acquired after initial spirit possession.
The fierce mask of the Newari Lakhe dancer drew crowds in the village I lived. The masked dancers of the Mahayana sect drew shivers and evoked fear in my childhood.
‘Hush! Don’t be scared. It is a celebration of victory over Demons,’ said my Mom.
She smeared me with soot from her karai (wok), to make me look ugly and protect me from evil spirits, since male children are targets of evil-eyes in the Himalayas.
Mantras also help.

The houses have red coloured corners to ward off evil, and prevent them from entering the house.

A half moon sign protects a house. My Mom always consulted a jotisi,an astrologer, before undertaking a pilgrimage, a marriage ceremony or building a house.
As a child I’d grown up with the shamans of the Himalayas: bijuwas, dhamis, jhakris, yebas and kusulays. The kusulay was strange to me because he was a man who wore a long white skirt, and a white cap, with rudraksha mala around his neck. He held a drum in the hand like the Hindu God Shiva of the Himalayas and he made his presence felt by playing with his drum.
 
‘Ah, the kusulay is there. We have to give him some rice,’ said my Mom and gave him a cup of rice. A kusulay is not allowed to speak and so you never hear a thank you from his lips. But it was a good feeling that he took care of the evil spirits that would haunt the house. He would frequent our home when we got sick.
 
Sometimes the traditional practioners of medicine would come during the day, other times at night to hold a séance. Or at midnight to protect the house.
I’d hear the shaman or the masaney, who was known to visit burial and burning sites, mumbling mantras and blowing the human femur-horn when he left. He’d turn up the next day to collect alms.
A shaman also functions as an oracle in Nepal.

My Mom, belongs to the Tamang of the Thing clan, and shamanism belongs to her legacy. Her grandfather was a shaman and we called him ‘Akhey’ which means grandpa in the Tamang language.
 Good and evil spirits, the Gods of the forests, brooks, animism and the worship of Prakriti: these were, and still are, the normal religions of the Himalayan people.
* * *

During the Islamic invasion of Northern India in the 15th century, even the Rajputs fled and sought refuge in Gorkha in the Himalayas, where they founded a kingdom that grew with each conquest.
The Muslim hordes converted the Indian Hindus at the point of the curved sword.
Either you embraced Islam or you died on the spot.
* * *
Then came the British Raj with its East India Company to the Indian subcontinent and made their way to the foothills of the Himalayas. They brought Christianity and zealous missionaries, with their aggressive conversions in their colonies.
A lot of British soldiers went native, took wives and concubines among Indians, and unfortunately left them and their children when they departed.

The people from Sikkim (Lepchas), Nepalis from Kalimpong and Darjeeling, were obliged to take up pray to Jesus of Nazareth, enticed with carrots like new housing projects, education for the children in villages like St. Mary’s near Kurseong and Kalimmpong. A new race of Anglo-Indian grew up: swarthy skinned with English names.
Were they Indians or Brits? Shunned by caste-Driven Hindus, ignored by the Brits, they had a tough time to exist in India.
* * *
Nepal under the Ranas and later Shahs, defended itself with the Mulki Ain (Civil Code) successfully against Christianisation.
But now Nepal’s a democracy and it’s no longer forbidden to change one’s religion.

* * *
Patient’s monologue:
 
Patient: ‘When I think of Antonovsky’s Salutogenese-Ansatz,
I see my cancer as an active, constant process,
In which my body battles with all-mighty microbes.
I comprehend the inner and outer processes,
I can manage my own somatic resources
As well as those from outside.
I know the rational meaning of what I do,
As well as what others do for my well-being.
A sense of coherence gives my life
Meaning and hope.
My subjective narration, personal words
Are the essence of my story.
Kollenbaum called it Interoception,
The perception of processes within one’s body.
A bidirectional communication ensues
Between the immune-competent cells
And my Central Nervous System.
 My nervous system gets exact information
Of the immune-response.
My immune system becomes a receptor sensorial organ.
It records my immune defence,
My subjective experiences and evocations
Are a great help towards my recovery.
I am the direct observer of developments in my body.
Subjective though it may seem.
I have learned to express my own feelings
And to live my own Ich (Id).
I’ve only found a way
To get along with my neuro-endocrinal tumor.
Every time I go to my oncologist,
He looks and measures it on his sonograph:
‘Alles wie gehabt. Mensch!’
Nothing has changed.
* * *

The inner monologue with my tumor
Begins anew:
‘I have you residing within me,
In my mysenterium.
I’ve seen you in the MRT,
From different angles and sections:
Transverse, horizontal, longitudinal.’
I ask myself: where do you come from?
What did I do wrong?
How did I encourage you to grown within me?
The monologue is not always rational,
But emotional.
What does this alien growth
That took all these past years mean?
My illness wants to talk with me.
It was a signal for me to step back.
Also professionally.
Career isn’t everything, eh?
* * *
I have to find my own way,
To have confidence  in my own inner Ich (Id).
I have my own latent inner resources,
I have to mobilize these resources,
By recognizing, feeling and taking the right path.
Whether the tumor builds its own line of supply,
With new capillaries to get food and oxygen,
To grown or remain dormant,
I must not waver,
For I’ve made a decision.
Avoiding sweets not to spoil my tumor,
Avoiding many killer food
Stuffed with stabilisators and rows of ‘E’ chemicals.
Wholesome organic food is the answer.
‘Death and Dying’ has been one of the themes
In my lectures at the Academy.
When you have cancer you have no guarantee.
I have moments when I write a poem,
Paint a picture or sing a German song.
These moments give me a new value of life.
When a tumor has been operated,
Where’s the guarantee it hasn’t spread cells elsewhere?
Another post-operative chemotherapy?
Are the metastases eliminated from the cells walls?
If only the cancer cells couldn’t contact the endothel cells..’   
* * *
The Shaman’s Prayer during the ritual:
 ‘I have crossed the Tista and the Rangit,
From Melli to Namchi and Rongphu,
From Singtam to the cloister of Mumtek,
From Gangtok across the Roro river,
To Mangan across the Tista to Lachen,
Sinioltchun to the Himalayas,
To the Gods of Tibet,
As well as the Kanchenzonga,
Our Goddess who protects us and helps us
Attain peace and wealth.’
For the Lepchas the first man and woman
Were created in the lap of the Kanchenzonga,
The peak which grows golden
With the first rays of Surya,
Is the treasure trove of gold.
The peak that remains in the cold, grey shadow,
Is the treasure chamber of silver,
An in the other mountains are kept,
The precious stones, corn and holy scriptures.

The five peaks of the Kanchenzonga
Are crowned by an animal,
The highest peak by a tiger,
Others by a lion, an elephant, a horse,
And the Godbird Garuda.
Kanchenzonga is holy to us all:
Nepalis, Bhotias and Lepchas.
The scarlet Goddess who rides
On a white snow lion.
The Singalila and Chola chains create
A massive amphitheatre,
Whose southern side embraces the plains.
A Shangri-la lied between Nepal and Bhutan.
Acorss the passes of Nathu-la, Telep-la Donkia-la and Kongra-la,
Came traders, pilgrims, adventurers, Invaders,
From Bhot (Tibet), Nepal and British India.
New ideas, thoughts and worldly views
Came to Sikkim and began to flourish.                            

The Shaman recites further in his falsetto voice:
 ‘I have journeyed to divine and reveal hidden lands,
To recover lost shadow souls,
Hunting for spirits gone astray,
From Heaven into the Land of Yama.
I have crossed so many rivers and mountains,
Holy caves, mighty monasteries, sacred shrines.
I have called upon Shiva of the Himalayas,
Padmasambhava our Guru Rimpoche,
Preayed to him with:
Om ah hung, Vajra Guru Peme Siddhey hung.
I have recited the Om Vajra sattva hung
For the purification of negative deeds and observations.
I have recited the negative emotions
That might be embedded within us.
Attachment, hatred, jealousy, envy, ignorance
That have prevented us from seeing Nature and reality.
I have sung the praises of the 21 Taras,
Especially the White and Green Taras.
O Tara, you are swift in your activity,
Help this patient to recover from his illness,
To generate an altruistic mind and compassion.
I pray to the Fire God Agri, the Wind Gods
Under Indra’s protection,
The rakshasas, churails and other evil spirits.
Ye Gods of Heaven, Earth and Below,
All Gods who have snatched the soul and life
Of this person.
Whether you are in a cave in the Himalayas,
In an island or where rivers meet,
Whether you’re travelling or swimming,
Whether some spirit has enticed you,
Or a naag (serpent) has followed you,
I bid thee come back.
I bid you to draw this motionless body
Out of its spiritlessness,
I invoke a sense of presence and attention.’

* * * *

Epilogue:
The patient heard the beat of the metal thali reaching a crescendo, opened his eyes and perceived who stood around him after a long time. His sisters, his dear mother, the servant girl, and the shaman’s children with their curious, smiling eyes.
The patient woke up from space and timeless stupor, as in the initiation rites, in which a man experiences the other reality, to give the body a chance to heal itself.
A transcending healing experience, in which the patient projects his self-healing ability
to the therapist, before he returns to heal himself.
The shaman’s monologue with the spirits help the patient to heal himself.
* * *

 The anger that you have cancer in you subsides. You accept the malady, no matter what the cause may be. Mobilize your resources, reorganize your life and make personal changes. You begin to live your life anew. The life energy returns. Your very relationship with others has changed. You’ve become thoughtful in what your say. Enjoy the day with your near and dear ones. A spiritual belief pervades all, connects with God or the Godly Principle.
Using prayers, mantras, meditation and trance, you enrich your life, with dreams, visualizations, spontaneous trances, daydreams and good experiences. You take the time and space needed to bring change within your life.


I focus on my memories, pictures and imagination, for I have found the microcosmos within me. My ability to describe my symptoms means a greater suggestibility as a self-healer, whether a physician or traditional practitioner. Belief is a small pill, call it a placebo, if you may, which can help me. Hypnotic suggestions can help another, to stimulate a spontaneous remission within the body.
 I know that belief, faith and hope are integral parts of the placebo effect, can reduce angst. I know on my own that meditation, biofeedback and visualization can help to control my feelings, my emotions. Faith and belief in the Gods and Goddesses or spirituality can cure me.

* * *

 Traditional & School Medicine in Nepal (Satis Shroff, Freiburg) 


In the 80,000 hamlets of Nepal, there are over 400,000 shamans and traditional healers, who have to some extent acquired the basics of modern medical treatment through the Health Ministry.

The old tradition of the dhami-jhakri in which the fate of a person can be influenced by appeasing the spirits is still intact in Nepal. A séance provides the ill person a communication possibility depending the nature of the illness. For the spirits (Geister), be they rough or fine in their manifestations, belong to the everyday lives of the tradition-conscious Nepalese and many other ethnic-peoples in the northern and southern hemispheres of this globe.

Disease and conformity: The traditional healers of Nepal are not only versed in the nature of illnesses caused by spirits, demons, male and female witches, Gods and Goddesses, but also diseases which are in conformity with epidemiological studies and results. The usual diseases that are mentioned by traditional healers are: diarrhoea, coughs, pneumonia, heart-maladies, abdominal pain, pain in the joints and other less specific symptoms like: headaches, body pain, nausea etc. Other commonly mentioned diseases are: vomiting, worm-infections, pickles and boils, carbuncles, cases of goitre in the hills (think of the Himalaya salt ads in the west), different skin problems, tuberculosis, problems of the urinary tract and menstrual disorders and anomalies.

In the past the shamans were not allowed to get rich through healing, and the codex and ethics of the healers in the Himalayas were strict. Today, the Nepalese shaman blesses a life-saving electrolyte solution for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery. The shaman has become innovative in Nepal, and makes himself or herself socially useful by ritualising and selling anti-baby pills for a small financial commission. This way, he or she helps Family planning, which is supported by the government. The Nepalese government has raised the status of the shaman by bestowing an official title upon him: Practitioner of Traditional Medicine, with the condition that he or she take part in medical and hygiene courses. ‘Traditional’ sounds better than ‘complementary’ because shaman has a long tradition in Siberia, Nepal and others parts of the world.

Sociological view: The position of the shamans in the hamlets of Nepal is getting a certain amount of recognition and importance, because he or she gathers new experiences and acquires modern methods of healing, and in this way, the shaman uses a combination of traditional and modern medicine. From a sociological point of view, magico-religious healing plays a central and positive role. The magic and faith in the healing powers of the shaman helps to strengthen the group, tribe or caste by defining a common foe, and in identifying the evil, invisible spirit that has been causing illness. In this way, it is possible to control one’s own environment and the immediate neighbourhood and to influence it. Moreover, the healing ritual of the shaman late into the night helps to sublime difficult somatic Triebansprucheand to channel them in a socially acceptable and legal way, without being stigmatised in the society as being abnormal or an ill-person.

When you boil down the matter between traditional and modern medicine, belief is in the eye of the beholder. If modern medicine doesn’t help, complementary (traditional) therapy seems to do so, for instance in the case of people struggling with long-term pain. Whereas the physician is concerned with infections caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses, Nepal’s Dhamis, Bijuwas, Bong-things and shamans are concerned with spirits, demons, Gods and Goddesses and other invisible powers between Swarga (Heaven) and Prithvi (Earth). The people in Nepal still have faith in the practitioners of traditional medicine, despite the danger of being stigmatised as being superstitious, anachronistic and backward. The government has found out that even though Health Post have been set up, the people living in the foothills of the Himalayas (Mittelgebirge) still prefer ritual therapies from their shamans. The medically-trained traditional healers can reach millions of Nepalese through a well-developed strategy. Most of the Dhamis-Jhakris have shown that they are open to new skills in health, population and family-oriented basic knowledge. Moreover they were (and are) ready to give their acquired modern knowledge to their respective communities in their hamlets.

[clip_image002] Humane and empathetic: The traditional healer not only cures with modern pharmaceuticals, but he or she imparts a cultural note to the therapy by blessing the medicine in a ritual through the recitation of mantras or prayer, which is indeed soft and humane, and the patient becomes a part of the ceremony, and isn’t left alone like in a hospital. Traditional (complementary) medicine has come to stay. It was there all the time in different continents, and is an expression of care, humane-treatment, softness (Sanftemedizin), dignity, respect and empathy for the ill person. These are values that have dwindled in modern medicine’s pursuit for rationalism, validity and science. Every time a patient enters a physician’s clinic, he or she feels uneasy that the clock is ticking away to his or her disadvantage. Time is money. More patients means more money for the physician and the health insurance company. That leaves little time and hope for the hapless, impatient patient.

The Illness Journey: Among the Tamangs, Magars, Rais, Limbus, Gurungs and other Nepalese living in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal, and surrounding states like Sikkim, Bhutan and Darjeeling, the patient is not left alone to suffer from his illness. The village shaman (jhakri, bijuwa, dhami, bon-thing) is beckoned for treatment through a séance and the villager society supports him or her by their valuable presence and gives the ill person a we-are-with-you feeling. You-are-not-alone is the on-going message which gets across and is important in healing prychic and other disorders.

It must, of course, be taken into consideration that there are differences in people’s beliefs regarding health and illness-coping strategies, which do differ between ethnicities and individuals and have direct effect on other issues such as: the amount of support, educational-level, information required. Social support in the form of fellow villagers. Relatives, nucleus family should be appreciated and embraced for a holistic healing. Such support can help people to regain some control over their lives at difficult and stressful times.

The value of hope: The value of hope, which is an important resource in different cultures and among traditional healers, is lost in modern medicine. What was Florence Nightingale doing with her candle-light in the bedsides and stretchers of her wounded soldiers in the Crimean War? Was she giving them antibiotics, anti-viral drugs? No, she was giving these forlorn souls a precious medicine named hope. But is traditional medicine entirely based on hope? Certainly not. Traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, and the Indian subcontinent’s Ayurvedic medicine, Unani medicine deploy among others pharmaceuticals botanical, zoological and mineral extracts to cure the illnesses of millions of people since time immemorial. So does modern medicine, which enjoys perfect packaging and marketing and ads through the media. It’s the catchy, convincing-sounding ad that makes people rush to the apothecary to buy the pharmaceutical product that they’ve seen in TV or have heard about from their relatives and friends, as is mostly the case in the layman’s aetiology.

Modern medicine is a science because its experiments can be reproduced, it is systematic and can adjust itself in combating new bacteria, viruses and other disease causing microbes. But traditional or complementary medicine is also learning new methods of treatment and hospital hygiene.

Alone in 1980 Dr. Badri Raj Pandey et al trained more than 1000 traditional healers (Dhamis-Jhakris) in Nepal under the Family Planning and Maternal Child Health Project (MCHP). Since there are more traditional healers than physicians and paramedical personnel, the traditional healers are an important resource for the family planning and health organisations in Nepal. This study has revealed that the traditional healers play an important role. They have a functional network and they aren’t s so expensive as medical doctors. The traditional healers are always ready to visit their patients, even though it means walking through the better part of the day to treat the patients. Physicians are reluctant to walk four to six hours to their impoverished patients, and they’d rather be paid in currency notes rather than with eggs, vegetables, or a little red rooster.

Shaman as Resource & Ally: School medicine has to win the traditional healer as a resource and ally, and not as concurrence, for the common aim of traditional and modern medicine is to free the individual from his or her illness, and provide an efficient and honest cure. The wellness and recuperation of the patient should be the common goal and not rivalry. This target was fixed by the Nepalese government and the shamans are now treated with respect, asked for assistance and requested to take part in therapy-workshops and medical training projects. Such workshops were held in: Kanchanpur, Chandani municipality, Mahendranagar, Syangja and Ilam in the past. It was explained that the project as such didn’t have any intention to influence the healing methods or beliefs of the tribal shamans. The participating shamans learned how to motivate the people of their respective communities, family-planning and other health-promoting measures.

Causality and logic: The shaman can differentiate the principle of causality and logical thinking and communication. The shaman manifests religion and the art of healing as a coexistence form, and is open for new healing methods if it helps the patient. Likewise, there is a trend on the part of physicians and psychotherapists to take on the shaman’s healing methods. And to this end, there are universities that are training therapists through the use of modern and traditional medicine by inviting and bringing together traditional healers and modern therapists, medical and nursing students and physicians.

Intercultural Therapist: Education as Intercultural therapist for 1269 Euro: Two German two universities in Heidelberg and Munich have established themselves in the service of traditional and modern medicine by offering workshops and seminars by bringing practitioners of Traditional and Modern Medicine together. It is a marriage between the two systems of medicine.

An advanced international, intercultural and interdisplinary education as a therapist in Medican Anthropology is being made possible from 12th till 19thOctober 2007 by the Institute of Ethnomedizin and it costs 1269 euros. You can join the program at any stage. It is a global path for health and healing and is organised by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. The program makes it possible for western therapists to take part in a lively dialogue with authentic indigenous healers, shamans, and teachers from all over the world.

For those interested in ritual healing methods in the world a seminar was organized by the Südasien Institute, Heidelberg, Dept. of Ethnology from 12.-16.March 2007. The program was available under: www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/abt/ETHNO/forschung/springschool.htm.

How does ritual healing work and what can we learn from it? Can and should ritual healing be publicly integrated in the Heath Services? These were the themes of the one-week seminar which showed the detailed and extensive field research among the ritual healers in Tibet, India, Indonesia, Kenia and Latin America.


Nepalese Shamans: Another program organized this time by the Institute for Ethnology has a number of well-known Nepalese shamans like Maile Ngema Lama 50, was beckoned by the ancestors of the shamans at the age of 8 and was initiated into the art of healing. She grew up in a Tamang hamlet which belonged to the Tibetan language group and began to practice shamanism at the age of 11. Today she's 50 years old and is well-known in Nepal for her healing profession.

Mohan Rai, director of Shaman Studies and Research Centre in Kathmandu, is a central personality of shaman culture in the Himalayas. He is 68, comes from the border area of Nepal-Bhutan and belongs to the Mongol folk of Rai and Kirati. His father was a famous Kirati Schaman. He speaks more than ten languages.

Parvati Rai, Nepal, a female Kirati Schaman and practices since 45 years. Parvati worships Nature, like all Kirat-folk. Among the Kirats the shaman plays a central role in the society from birth till death. Parvati Rai received her initiation when she was nine years old and became a shaman at the age of 16, lives in Kathmandu and works as a shaman for the Kirat Society and supports the Kirat Foundation through her work. She married at the age of 15 and has four kids.
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About the Author: Satis Shroff is a writer and poet based in Freiburg (poems, fiction, non-fiction) who also writes on ethno-medical, culture-ethnological themes. He writes regularly for The American Chronicle (www.Americanchronicle.com/authors/view/1207), and is a contributing writer on www.boloji.com, www.wordpress.com and also Blogspot.. He has studied Zoology and Botany in Nepal, Medicine and Social Science in Germany and Creative Writing in Freiburg and Manchester. He describes himself as a mediator between western and eastern cultures and sees his future as a writer and poet. Satis Shroff was awarded the German Academic Exchange Prize. He is a lecturer in Basle (Switzerland), Freiburg (Akad .f. med. Berufe, VHS-Freiburg).
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