Shamanism in Bangladesh
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-fifty4-008
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-50B4-008
- Author or attribution
- Anwarul Karim
- Record type
- Article
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 1988
- Source / repository
- Asian Ethnology
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- 50 Full-Text Sources — Batch 4, November 2026; Scholarship and historical studies
Description and curator notes
Karim describes religious healing specialists in three villages of Kushtia, Bangladesh, drawing on his observations and interviews. Particularly valuable for this library is the sustained account of Fulkumari, a female healer who described Kali as the source of her vocation. The article documents her temple setting, invocations of Raksha Kali, contacts with Hindu and Muslim practitioners, and interactions with patients. It thereby preserves a regional account of female religious authority and everyday Kali devotion beyond the better-known metropolitan temples. The surrounding discussion places this case among Bengali healing classifications, spirit beliefs and social relationships. This is historical ethnographic testimony, with terminology and assumptions characteristic of its 1980 s scholarly context. Descriptions of possession, supernatural agency and cures must be attributed to participants or to Karim’s interpretation; they are not clinical evidence that the practices cure illness. The full article is supplied, rather than extracting the Fulkumari section as a separate record.
Curator source KALI-50B4-008. Scholarship and historical studies. Research supplement dated 5 November 2026.
Except where specific checks are described below, source access, completeness and scholarly or devotional assessments are supplied by the curator document, not a new independent verification by this library. Comparative goddess identities, healing claims and devotional interpretations are attributed, not established universal or clinical facts. Full source content is linked, not reproduced.
08. Shamanism in Bangladesh
Author/editor: Anwarul Karim | 1988
Type / language: Scholarly ethnographic journal article | English
Karim describes religious healing specialists in three villages of Kushtia, Bangladesh, drawing on his observations and interviews. Particularly valuable for this library is the sustained account of Fulkumari, a female healer who described Kali as the source of her vocation. The article documents her temple setting, invocations of Raksha Kali, contacts with Hindu and Muslim practitioners, and interactions with patients. It thereby preserves a regional account of female religious authority and everyday Kali devotion beyond the better-known metropolitan temples. The surrounding discussion places this case among Bengali healing classifications, spirit beliefs and social relationships. This is historical ethnographic testimony, with terminology and assumptions characteristic of its 1980 s scholarly context. Descriptions of possession, supernatural agency and cures must be attributed to participants or to Karim’s interpretation; they are not clinical evidence that the practices cure illness. The full article is supplied, rather than extracting the Fulkumari section as a separate record.
Read the complete source: Open full-text document
https://asianethnology.scholasticahq.com/article/148669-shamanism-in-bangladesh.pdf
Access check: Complete free PDF directly downloaded from the official publication host without payment or login on 2026-11-05.
Source links:
https://asianethnology.scholasticahq.com/article/148669-shamanism-in-bangladesh.pdf
Source access
Read or locate the original source at Asian Ethnology
Rights and reading conditions
Curator-reported free reading is not a blanket republication licence. Follow each source's copyright and reuse conditions; third-party images may have different rights from the article text. No full texts or scans are reproduced here. Complete free PDF directly downloaded from the official publication host without payment or login on 2026-11-05.
Citation
Anwarul Karim. Shamanism in Bangladesh. Asian Ethnology. 1988. https://asianethnology.scholasticahq.com/article/148669-shamanism-in-bangladesh.pdf
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.