“When I was nine, a spirit took me to the forest. Unbeknownst to my father and mother who search frantically everywhere and eventually lost all hope, I live in the forests with the spirit for 9 months. I must have survived on wild berries and roots. I have very little recollections of that time. I know it was the the spirit that gave me wisdom and the knowledge of casting spells. When I returned home, I started helping father in the fields. He was the only person to earn a living in the family, so I would go with him to the landlords fields to plough with him. As I grew older, father would be impressed by my words, the things that I would tell him. It all came from the knowledge I had acquired from the spirit. It was my father who motivated me to work as a Dhami in the village. With father permission, I would go visit the sick and cure them with my spells and sacrifices. The villagers relied on me for advice and I became known in my district. Because I had a good success rate, my name spread to other villages and now I travel everywhere my service is needed. Recently, I cured a woman. The hospitals and the doctors had given up on her. But I am not sure if it was my spells that cured her. Maybe it was her faith.”(Bhakta Bahadur Tamang, Chatre Deurali 5, Dhadhing)

More Stories