“A World Where Many Worlds Fit”: Understanding Cosmopolitics through Narratives of Possessions and Spirit Invocation among Lhopos (Bhutia) in Sikkim

Authors

Kikee Doma Bhutia, University of Tartu

Abstract

The article explores belief narratives and religious traditions in Sikkim, where supernatural beings and the villagers interact and compete for power. Relationships with the other world are managed by ritual specialists (pawos and nejums), who engage with deities and spirits through invocations and participate in the cosmic struggle in their pursuit of overcoming illnesses and misfortune and of establishing their authority in the community. The social world appears as part and parcel of the cosmic realm as a power-charged terrain.

Recommended Citation

Bhutia, Kikee Doma (2021) "“A World Where Many Worlds Fit”: Understanding Cosmopolitics through Narratives of Possessions and Spirit Invocation among Lhopos (Bhutia) in Sikkim," Narrative Culture: Vol. 8: Iss. 2, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/narrative/vol8/iss2/6