Note 93 — Chapter III · DISEASE DEITIES.

In some places, diseases of long standing due to spirit possession are cured by employing a bhuvā, (exorcist), who, accompanied by others of his order, goes to the patient’s house, makes a bamboo bier, waves an utār round the patient’s head, and lays himself on the bier with the utār by his side. The bier is carried to the burning ground by four persons to the accompaniment of the beatings of drums, followed by the exorcists, who throw bāklāns (round flat cakes of juvāri flour) into the air as the procession moves on. When the party reach the burning ground, the bier is put down, and the bhuvā, shaking violently, offers the utār to a spirit of the place. He then prostrates himself four times with his face turned towards the four directions and drives a nail into the ground at each turn. Next, the bhuvā lets loose a goat or a ram, to which the vir in the body of the patient is supposed to be transferred. It is said that the performance of this rite relieves the patient’s mind of anxiety regarding the cause of his disease, and he thereafter shows signs of improvement.93