The Dances of Saint Antony

The region of Tirunelveli is scattered with numerous pēy kōvil (“evil spirit temples”), which are the seats of deities of ambivalent character: they protect the communities that erect them, but they also take possession of people who dare approach them. They provoke behaviors belonging to psychic disorders that can be treated in religious places with the aim to neutralize the bad effects of the supernatural attack. The catholic shrine of Puliyampatti, with its statue of saint Antony of Padua renowned for his exorcist powers, is such a religious place. The therapeutic system established at Puliyampatti is taken in charge by the relatives of patients, and is held in three different places that are reputed respectively, to calm the violence of supernatural attacks, to force the pēy (evil spirit) to reveal themselves and to beat the pēy until they accept to leave the patients. Mental illness is dreaded because of the stigmatization that affects the family and the patients, and before coming to Puliyampatti, the relatives have often experimented long and expensive treatments besides hospitals, doctors, sorcerers, magicians, astrologers, in the hope of curing the patients. For number of them, the religious therapy becomes the last attempt at healing, and thus, each day, they exert pressure and violence on the patients to force them to be possessed: by these means, they aim to prove that the troubles result from a supernatural attack and are not the symptoms of any mental illness.

Speakers

• Dr. Brigitte Sébastia, IFP (movie author)
• Christian Sébastia (movie director)

Organisers

Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605 001

Time

16h30

See also : Societies and Medicines in South Asia programme page.