Volume 30, Number 2 · February 17, 1983
Exorcist and Analyst
By Rosemary Dinnage
Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and Its Healing Traditions
by Sudhir Kakar
Knopf, 306 pp., $15.00
'Both of us were silent for a while as we sat there companionably, contemplating the limits of our respective healing traditions.' They are both Indians: Baba, a Muslim pir (wise man), in a dusty room by the mosque piled with phials and mortars; Dr. Kakar, a psychoanalyst trained in the United States, Europe, and India. Baba has been consulted by an unhappy husband whose sexually unsatisfied wife is being unfaithful, and though he has given the couple a talisman, some holy water, and a lecture on clean living, neither doctor is very hopeful about the outcome.
Review, 2796 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |