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Front Cover
Back Cover
When the Devtas Speak: Kotkhai, Shamanism, and the Sacred World of the Shimla Hills
Author:
Malvika Chauhan
ISBN:
9789376540389
Binding:
Hardcover
Year:
2027
Size:
16 x 24 cm
FORTHCOMING
About the Book
In the villages of Kotkhai in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla Hills, the gods are not distant figures of worship. They are regarded as living presences who protect ancestral lands, guide everyday decisions, and intervene in matters of illness, conflict, and misfortune.In
When the Devtas Speak: Kotkhai, Shamanism, and the Sacred World of the Shimla Hills
, Malvika Chauhan explores the religious world of the local Devi-Devtas and the shamanic traditions through which communities maintain their relationship with the divine. Central to her account are the Gurs, ritual mediums believed to convey the voices of the deities, and the Mashanias, specialists consulted in matters concerning spirits and the souls of the deceased.Drawing on nearly thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork across four villages, Chauhan brings together firsthand observations, ritual practices, and personal narratives to examine how religious beliefs shape social relationships, communal identity, and everyday life. She also investigates the tensions within these traditions, particularly those involving caste, gender, ritual authority, and the economic demands of religious observance.Against a backdrop of growing prosperity, expanding education, and changing social aspirations, the book reveals how longstanding religious institutions continue to adapt without losing their significance. Combining ethnographic detail with sociological analysis,
When the Devtas Speak
offers an illuminating study of faith, authority, cultural continuity, and social change in the western Himalayas.
About the Author
Malvika Chauhan
Malvika Chauhan is a scholar and researcher in sociology whose work focuses on the cultural and religious traditions of the Western Himalaya. She completed her Ph.D. at Panjab University, Chandigarh, with a doctoral study titled
The Realm of Devatas: Sociological Study of Shamanistic Traditions in Kotkhai Tehsil (Shimla District)
. Her research examines shamanistic traditions, folklore, local belief systems, gender, and the social and cultural life of the Shimla Hills.
She is the author of
Women and Patriarchy as Reflected in Folklore of Shimla Hills
, the co-author of
The Guardian of the Hills: Devata Culture and Living Shamanism in the Western Himalaya (Shimla Hills)
, and has published seven research articles on subjects ranging from folk songs and patriarchal structures to local deity traditions and popular beliefs. Through her work, she seeks to document and interpret the indigenous traditions and cultural heritage of the Himalayan region, with particular attention to the relationship between belief, folklore, gender, and society.
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