ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the implications of the caste and gender differential. It argues that possession provides clear evidence that a strong bias exists against women in the religious sphere, in all castes, including the Pallar caste. The Brahminical image of Siva-as-Half-Woman implicitly underlies the possession discourses of Aruloor’s upwardly mobile castes. All important benign possession, especially institutionalized possession, is experienced solely by men, even when the deity concerned is female. The chapter argues that through the symbolic appropriation of “femaleness,” women are marginalized in religious discourse in all castes because men are allowed to be both female and male. The religious conception of gender explains the paradox of Tamil possession. The chapter discusses sudden, spontaneous possession by an evil spirit. The most significant aspect of sami adradu —god-dancing —or institutionalized possession is the striking fact that there is a close correspondence between economic wealth and divine possession.
