Mutual Acculturation of Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism in South Asia

Andrew Jones

History has shown time and time again that contact between two cultures can cause change in both. When this contact is prolonged, and mixed between multiple groups, it becomes hard to distinguish from which culture certain practices originated. The South Asian subcontinent is a prime example of this kind of mutual acculturation as it has been home to (and founding region of) many religions. Around 1500 BC the Vedic people controlled India and their beliefs were written in the Vedas which formed the basis for what Hinduism is today. Within this Vedic dominated region, Buddhism was born (Bose & Jalal, 1998), and scattered throughout were groups of indigenous people mostly believing in animism. This suggests a diverse spectrum of religions all inhabiting the sub-continent, and being influenced by each other, as far back as their very beginnings in the sub-continent (with exception to the indigenous, animistic cultures). There must be some distinctions made before continuing toward the goal of this paper. First of all, I have found nothing that speaks to any outside source of the animistic cultures of the subcontinent other than the wide spread theory that all animism stemmed from Siberia, hence my use of the term indigenous. It also seems to be in debate as to what the origin of the Vedic people was, though Bose and Jalal describe their religious structure as a sophisticated version of animism, (1998:16). This being the case it is possible that the indigenous cultures and Vedic peoples were all one in the same. Hawley (1991) discusses the fact that the word hinduism was not widely used until the 19th century and is derived from Vedic traditions. My interpretation of these things is that Hinduism and current day animistic beliefs in the area are likely derived from the same source. As such, there is already an inherent possibility of strong ties in both belief and practice. Buddhism also falls under this sphere as it was founded by a man who was raised in Vedic traditions. General consensus would be that these three religions

share very little beyond place of origin, however the examples presented below will show similarities in both ritualistic practice and in deity/spirit organization and structure, with the main differences occurring in the terms used to describe the practices and the means by which they reach the same end. There is also an issue with definitions. Shamanism is a highly disputed term that some people believe has been over-generalized, and used to convey a universal sense to religious practitioners that are too diverse to be lumped together (Emerson, 2003). However, the basic concept of shamans as stated by Emerson (2003:136) is;
essentially societys servants who communicate with the spirit world on behalf of individuals and their communities to heal, to propitiate or battle injurious spirits, to increase game and other resources, to find objects, or to ascertain future events.

This serves as a good definition for the purposes of this paper but we should add that they are also ritual leaders and often wise-men. Within their role as wise-men they tend to hold the myths, legends, kin tree information, and religious knowledge/history for their societies and hence are often teachers on top of their other functions. Christine Vanpool (2003) points out that traditionally priests have been viewed as fulltime practitioners associated with a corporate structure and shamans have been viewed as parttime practitioners. Similarly Emerson (2003) describes shamans as individual practitioner(s). Though these are controversial descriptions they serve well as a starting point of differentiating from Hindu priests and animistic shamans. With these descriptions we can place Buddhist monks on a central plane, bridging the divide between the two and overlapping into both since monks are associated with a corporate structure and serve full time on top of being widely accepted as scribes and holders of knowledge. Despite the differences in definitions it is important to point out that all three types of

these practitioners are life-long devotees to their respective religions. Their role as religious figure-heads rules their day-to-day lives and is the basis for what they do and how they act both in and out of sight of other people; even in the case of the shaman who if not currently committing a shamanic act could be called upon at any moment to do so. Pantheons Though they may have differed originally, the names of the gods have become the same or very similar in most groups in South Asia. The standard seems to have been set by the Hindu religion and then adopted by other religions, though the exact reverse could also be said. Bose and Jalal (1998) discuss the beginning of the Hindu pantheon starting from a section of the Vedic texts called the Upanishad which tells of a supreme creator called Brahma which later morphs into a triumvirate with Brahma as creator, Vishnu as preserver, and Shiva as destroyer. These being derived from Vedic traditions and the possibility that animistic cultures derived from the same origin leaves open the possibility that either could have derived from the other. The concept of a creator or supreme god seems to be prevalent with cultures throughout the sub-continent. The Upanishad originally held Brahma as being the supreme god but later he became part of a trifecta. That trifecta persists throughout animistic cultures though sometimes under different names. This has led to some gods having multiple names but still clearly depicted as being the same god. Shiva for instance is also known as iva, Mahguru, and Mahdev; Hindus worship him as the destroyer and is known in other cultures as many things including god of medicine, protector of humans, and master of yoga and tantra. He is also considered to be the first Jhkri (a type of shaman in Nepal)(Sidky, 2008). Diana Riboli (2000:134-135) states:

Shiva is certainly an ancient divinity who precedes the Hindu religion itself and has many characteristics that could fit a proto-shamanic figure and for this reason he is respected by all Jhkri in Nepal and known by the name Mahdev or great god.

Further pantheon parallels are found amongst the Gond, a tribal group in in central India. The Gond worship Bagh deo, the tiger god, who is a savior and protector of men (Mehta, 1984). This draws a parallel again to Shiva who is, as stated before, a protector of man and is often depicted sitting on a tiger skin. The Gond also worship a cobra god which again relates to Shiva who is often depicted with cobras. Aside from these metaphoric connections we also find direct lingual connections as Mehta (1984:321-322) states that The spirit god Lingo emerged together with the worship of the great god Shembu, the Telugu word for Shiva. He also states that phallic worship emerged later, associated with the worship of Shiva as Mahadeo. The Gond and Jhkri connections to Shiva seem to suggest a pre-hindu origin of Shiva. Other gods within the Gond and Hindu pantheons, however, are suggested by Mehta (1984) to more likely originate within Hinduism rather than from animistic cultures. Gods such as Ganesh and Hanuman are recognized by the Gond but the indifference showed to idols of these gods coupled with their worship of the mother goddess, from which the other two come, suggests an acceptance of influence from later Hinduism (Mehta, 1984) There are also several instances of hero-gods in both Hinduism and animistic cultures. These gods began as men and accomplished great deeds which allowed them to become gods (Sidky, 2008; Mehta, 1984; Peters, 1981). This is similar to the concepts of the Buddhas enlightenment and achievement of Nirvana through meditation. This, along with general

concepts of reincarnation suggest a sub-continent wide belief in mans ability to attain a higher position within their divine and spiritual cosmology.

Spirits and Spirit Possession. Aside from gods there exists a large retinue of other spirits and entities within the belief systems of South Asia. Holmberg (1989:83) discusses a group of people in Nepal called the Tamang whose religion could be described as a Hindu-buddhist-shamanic hybrid. The Tamangs syncretic nature has allowed them to develop a multi-faceted cosmology that includes powerful Buddhas, divinities, spirits, and harmful agents. This stems from a fear of angering a spirit or deity by not acknowledging them, so they have incorporated many entities from cultures around them into their cosmology. Amongst this lineup of spiritual beings are what Holmberg (1989:93) calls harmful or harming agents. These agents are responsible for illness, disease, and other misfortune and exist amongst most groups in South Asia. Throughout time cultures have assigned the task of getting rid of these entities to religious leaders such as priests or shamans. These people, in particularly shamans, conduct rituals similar to a Christian exorcism in order to dispose of these entities, or to take back something stolen by them. In Nepal, for instance, evil spirits sometimes steal a persons soul, which results in illness. A Jhkri (shaman) then enters the spirit world through an altered state of consciousness (ASC) to track down and retrieve it (Sidkey, 2008; Hitchcock and Jones, 1976). There are many other forms of possession as well. Some are short lived and others are permanent or semi-permanent. Karin Kapadia (1995) discusses her experiences within Hindu

societies of deities possessing people in order to reward them for their devotion. This occurs sometimes of the deities own volition and sometimes through ritual meant to invoke such possession. However, the rituals sometimes attract bad spirits who also temporarily possess people. Both of these possessions are indicated by spasms and seizures the differentiating factor being that deities, when asked, will identify themselves, whereas evil spirits will not. In both instances the possession is either ended by the spirit/deities choice or ashes are cast at the possessed person. Kapadia is clear that the ashes scare away the evil spirits but she is unclear as to why they are used to end deity possession. Similar to the Hindu priest initiating possession, shamans are also capable of initiating possession by deities and spirits. Sidky (2008) discusses this amongst the jhkri and says that the possession is indicated by trembling and says that in some cases this process is quite dramatic, with the jhkri bouncing several inches off the floor,(Sidky, 2008:29). In this instance, however, the jhkri is in full control, whereas the other example given suggests that the possessor is in control. Possession also occurs in Buddhism. An example of this is the Tibetan Buddhist lamas of Nepal. According to Barbara Aziz (1984), some lamas reach a level of enlightenment that allows them to choose how they are reincarnated. Sometime before they die they may make vague indications as to who they will come back as. This also sometimes occurs after death by the lama relaying the information via a dream to a family member or friend. The new incarnation of the lama could be someone already alive, in which case the soul of the lama possesses the body. This possession will usually last the persons entire life but does not negate the persons own consciousness and personality but instead is one with the spirit.

Possession is not limited to humans. Spirits can also possess items which provide the spirit with the means to pass on. Among the Jirel of Nepal, shamans are responsible for guiding the souls of the dead to the spirit world. To do this they lead a procession of family and friends of the deceased as well as lms who make noise with conch shells and drums. This procession leads the spirit to a burial ground where eventually a small stone house called a chorten is constructed to house the spirit (Sidky, 2008). If a person commits suicide or dies an unnatural death the soul of the person will haunt the living and a Jhkri is called so that the soul can be ritually bound and eradicated and their ties with human society permanently severed, (Sidky, 2008:118). There is a very similar ritual amongst Hindu populations. When a person dies his soul must be housed immediately so that it does not cause harm or haunt its family. Parry(1980:91) describes it thus:
At death the soul becomes a disembodied ghost or pret, a marginal state dangerous both to itself and to the survivors. The purpose of the rituals of the first ten days is to reconstruct a body for this ethereal spirit. On the twelfth day after death a rite is performed which enables the deceased to rejoin his ancestors and to become an ancestor (or pitr) himself.

He continues later to say that people who die unnatural or untimely deaths, or if the burial rites are not properly conducted, become ghosts who haunt their surviving relatives and are constant menaces to them. These ghosts are laid to rest by the ojha (a spirit medium, generally of low caste), and the Temple Priest of the sacred tank of Pisach Mochan (Parry 1980:92). Altered States of Conciousness

The possession events described above could be considered altered states of consciousness (ASC) which refers to perceptible changes in the awareness of self and the world, (Sidky, 2008:90). Jhkris and other shamans use ASC to communicate with the spirit world. As stated above, this sometimes takes form in the possession of the shaman but it can also take form in the shamans perception of leaving the real world and travelling to the spirit world. In many cases around the world, shamans reach ASC through the use of hallucinogenic drugs (ethnogens), though according to Sidky (2008) this is not the case for shamans in Nepal. Instead they use only dance and music to achieve an altered state. Larry Peters (1981) describes his own experience with musically induced ASC amongst bombos, another type of shaman in Nepal. He describes his body shaking involuntarily and then being separated from his body and flying over fields to a green brick structure. This type of experience seems to be common but the image itself is not the point. The point is to travel to the spirit world to confer with deities and spirits to gain knowledge and to cure illnesses (Witzel, 2011). Hindu-Buddhist yoga practices act in a similar way with the influence and stimulation of the tantric practice leading to the development of chakra use. Peters (1981:92) describes the attainment of the 7th chakra being the realization of enlightenment, and likens this to the shamans out of body experience. David Holmberg (2006) discusses the Tamang people who, having adopted both Buddhist and animistic beliefs, have created three distinct religious practitioners in order to avoid discrepancies between their Buddhist and shamanic rituals. These practitioners show three phases of the coexistence of Buddhism and shamanism. The first phase and closest to other Buddhists are the lamas who derive their knowledge from text. The ability to read the text is

taught to them but not the ability to understand it. To understand it they must recite it many times and by doing so release the power of the words to gain understanding of them. The second phase consists of the lambos who have no texts but must memorize rituals and recitations. They are set aside from the lamas so that there is someone to conduct exorcisms and sacrifices that would taint the lambos. The final stage consists of the bombos who are the shamans. The bombos are diviners and finders of what is lost. They do this through contact with, and entering into, the spirit world. Holmberg further says that Bombos and women have a special relation to these spirits, and it is through association with these spirits that bombos regain sight of the invisible worlds of divinities and evils closed off to other humans (Holmberg, 2006:90) This suggests a usage of ASC and association with possession. It is interesting to note that Kapadia (1995) also states that women in Hindu society are associated with a greater connection to the spiritual world, and much more likely to be possessed. She also discusses the paradox of men temporarily taking on female personas in order to more easily be possessed. Bose and Jalal (1998:15) state that Vedic society tended to glorify womanhood in theory but cast women into an inferior role in social practice, generally excluding them from the public domain. Given these concepts it seems that these cultures sustained from somewhere a concept of women having greater spiritual connections. This is perhaps another indication of a mutual origin of vedic and animistic cultures. However, the argument can also be made that the connection is between Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which derived from vedic traditions, and shows the connection with the Tamangs Buddhist side and not a connection with their animism side.

Ritual Practices It is inherent in Buddhist practice to follow the eight-fold path and to achieve enlightenment so that you can remove yourself from suffering which, they feel, is an unavoidable aspect of the human condition. This enlightenment comes not from elaborate ritual but from constant meditation and recitation of paritta (Blackburn, 1999). This is seemingly directly opposed to shamanic practice which is, by all accounts, very ritualized. Sidky (2008) discusses the theatrics of shamans in Nepal and states that the recitation of mantras put have a psychological effect that directs the persons psyche toward fixing its problems. The same could be said for the Buddhist recitations. They both utilize rhythm and verbal cues to direct the mind toward the desired goal. In the case of Buddhists the goal is to be enlightened and to gain an understanding of an otherwise unknowable doctrine. In the case of shamans the goal is either to reach an ASC, which could be argued is the same goal for Buddhists who suddenly develop thoughts that they did not have until effects of rhythmic chanting took hold, or to heal another person or themselves. In either case the ideology behind the theory could be applied. The question becomes whether or not they themselves are aware of a psychological aspect to their rituals. It would seem that anyone practicing Buddhism would definitely understand the purpose behind the constant chanting and recitation. Even if it was not readily apparent at the beginning it would eventually become so. The shamans on the other hand could simply be going on tradition having no other reason than belief for what they say. Though ritual connections between Buddhism and shamanism may be weak ones, stronger correlations can be found between Hinduism and shamanism. One of the largest

correlations has already been discussed in both cultures treatment of the dead. Another correlation can be found in their idol worship and in food offerings. Idol worship is largely based on the notion that deities and spirits can manifest in inanimate objects, and in the practical sense of simply needing a place to focus devotions toward deities. In the case of Hinduism, idol worship is very evident in the many examples of large elaborate statues. As for shamanism it can be seen in their small clay figurines carved and used in rituals to give spirits a place to come to so that they can be communicated with (Mehta, 1984; Peters, 1981) In both Hindu and shaman burial practices there is an offering of food to appease the spirits (Sidky, 2008; Parry, 1980). This seems to be a prevalent concept all around the world. People constantly bury their dead with valuables or personal items in the hopes that they provide some comfort or aid in the afterlife. Conclusions It is clear that there are definite parallels between the cultures in South Asia, but the origins and the purpose behind those parallels is unclear. In some cases the parallels are created by groups such as the Tamang who through necessity of their previous beliefs had to incorporate the concepts of new spirits or deities out of fear of angering them if they happened to be real. In cases such as those, we can see strong connections such as the use of terms such as lama to describe spiritual leaders. Through these connections we can also see strong deity correlations such as Shiva appearing in several religions under different names but with a similar persona. Though the development of these cultures has resulted in similar beliefs and practices, I in no way want to imply that their practitioners are the same. They have clear differences in what

they believe and how they go about achieving ends. However, their goals often correlate and aspects of their belief patterns suggest a mutual origin. It is well known that Buddhism was founded in a Vedic society and that Hinduism derives its beliefs and ritual patters from Vedic traditions. What is unclear is the association with animistic culture in the sub-continent. Despite the parallels, there is no clear evidence to the origin of animistic cultures. There have been suppositions that all animistic cultures derived from Siberia, though a direct line cannot be traced back from all animistic cultures. Another option as suggested at the beginning of this paper is that the pre-Vedic tradtions of the subcontinent persisted and grew creating the Vedic culture. As that culture grew another subsect grew in other directions. These two animistic cultures grew into two distinct cultures Hinduism and animism, with Buddhism splitting off on its own. Other religions such as Jainism and Sikhism also grew from these. As time went on, groups such as the Tamang managed to reunite the cultures and complete a full circle. So perhaps the closest link to the original culture of the sub-continent is closer to the Tamang than it is to any of the others.

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