Ghosts: Life and Death in North India

by Ruth S. Freed &
Stanley A. Freed

Front Cover:

This is a nifty book about Ghosts. This “First Edition” Anthropological Papers of The American Museum of Natural History book was published in 1993. The soft cover book measures 6 7/8 inches by 10 inches and contains 396 pages. The cover shows minor signs of wear. The pages show no signs of rips. Exceptions noted, the overall condition of this book is good plus.


Title Page

Contents:

    Abstract
    Introduction
    Acknowledgements
  1. The Village Setting
  2. Basis for the Study of Ghost Beliefs
  3. Fieldwork, Techniques, and Problems
  4. Brief History of the Delhi Region
  5. Causes of Death
  6. Deaths of Females and the Favored Status of Males
  7. Health Culture
  8. Ideology: Sanatan Dharma, Arya Samaj, Eclecticism
  9. Ideological Interviews
  10. Fruit of Action, Fate, Discipline
  11. Ghosthood
  12. Merchant, Muslim, Priest
  13. Old Fever
  14. Death of Children
  15. Death of Adults
  16. The Headless Sweeper in a Line of Hereditary Exorcists
  17. Illusionist, a Self-Selected Exorcist
  18. The Health Network
  19. Three Wives and Four Husbands
  20. First and Second Wives
  21. Breakup of Old Brahman Lane
  22. Ghost Attacks and Possessions of Jats
  23. Hairless, Haunted, Immature
  24. Ghost Possessions in the Four Stages of the Life Cycle

    25. References
    Appendix I: Disease
    Appendix II: Sacred Hindu Texts
    Appendix III: Kinship Charts
    Appendix IV: Maps
    Appendix V: Calendric Events
    Appendix VI: The Health Opinion Survey (HOS)
    Appendix VII: Daily Temperatures, March-April 1979
    Tables
    Figures


Cremation of a Bairagi man, 1978. The pyre of dung cakes is ignited with burning straw. The crude ladder used as a bier to carry the corpse to the cremation ground is shown leaning against the pyre.


Ancestor shrine of the family of Merchant, Muslim, Priest, 1977. The shrine contains a stone Siva linga from Hardwar, a place of pilgrimage on the Ganges River.


Village well, 1958, where most suicides occurred. Water is drawn in buckets and poured into earthen or brass vessels that women carry home on their heads. Three basic styles of women’s clothing are shown: (1) sari with blouse, (2) a silawar suit of a long shirt and pajamalike pants, and (3) long shirt and skirt.

Excerpt – Back Cover:
The belief in ghosts is part of the pan-human belief in souls. In India, ghosts are the souls of people who die before their allotted time or from a dread disease, murder, or suicide, or who end their lives without experiencing such joys of adulthood as sexual pleasure and children, especially a son. In Hinduism, ghosts are integrated into a sophisticated system of moral casualty (dharma, karma, and rebirth), and an ancient sacred literature and mythology.

Individual Indians, both men and women, become susceptible to ghost possession in stressful circumstances. Brides, usually teenagers, are especially vulnerable as they try to cope with moving to a strange village, new relatives, required submissive behavior, sexual adjustment, and the worries of pregnancy and first childbirth…
End excerpt


Connected Charts for Merchant, Muslim, Priest – This genealogy covers seven generations and 140 individuals. It requires four charts to diagram this many people. The charts are numbered and titled as follows:

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