soothsayers, they fall into trancelike states and act as spokesmen of the gods. As spiritual sentries they ward off evil spirits and irate ancestors through either greater strength or trickery. They also officiate during funerals, dispense amulets and propound myths. Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal have been greatly influenced by such shamanistic traditions.
In his book Jhañkris: The Faith Healers of Nepal Adrian Storrs writes, “They are magico-religious specialists, part herbalists, part priests. Their technique is spiritual rather than biological. Their business is to determine the nature of the spirit, and then either to placate it or drive it from the ill person’s body.” Storrs adds, “Jhañkris can recognize and know how to treat many disorders, the most common being those of the respiratory and alimentary systems, as well as such ailments or illnesses as boils, fevers, allergies, typhoid, jaundice, urinary infections and malnutrition. Most jhañkris will prescribe medicinal herbs, of which they possess considerable knowledge.”
In an article entitled ‘The medium of the message: Shamanism as localised practice in the Nepal Himalayas’, Damian Walter differentiates between what he calls the lineage mediums (kul-dhami) and the shamans (jhankri or dhami). He notes that the possession of the male kul-dhamis by the lineage deities is almost instantaneous while similar possession of spirits into dhami-jhankris is a “more elaborate affair” involving much drumming and the gradual entering of spirits into their bodies. Walter goes on to describe a typical dhami-jhankrii through the paraphernalia of his trade: a drum (dhyangro), bells worn around the waist, long necklaces (mala) of rudracche and ritho seeds worn around the neck and