Dialogues with gods

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“Dialogues with Gods. Possession in Middle Indian Rituals” contains a range of articles – all of them with a sound ethnographic grounding – that explore and analyse various forms of communication with the divine. All authors conducted extensive field research in different parts of Middle India, particularly in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, that is in a region where dialogues with gods, but also spirits or ancestors are frequently encountered, even though they occur in different contexts and at different times in the annual cycle. Many case studies presented in the volume relate to Adivasi communities (indigenous people or “Scheduled Tribes” as administrative category) with a rich tradition of possession and trance rituals, but are in no way limited to them alone.