ABSTRACT
The research discussed is the result of several years’ fieldwork among the Jalaris, a Telugu fishing caste people who live on India’s southeast coast. Its purpose was to examine Jalari “spirit possession” in the context of Jalari divinatory practices. Successful firewalkers transform themselves in one deeply meaning-laden ritual act in which fear and victory over fire become metaphors for fear and victory over the self and its shortcomings. Absent from the discussion on ritual healing and symbolic transformation, probably because it seems too “rational,” is the subject of inference and decisionmaking. The study of possession-mediumship as an inferential process helps people understand how possession-mediumship works. Jalari divination determines the causes of disruptions in physical health and occupational success, making no etiological distinction between the two. The ill or suffering person is thus always a moral hostage to someone else.
