Editing Spirit possession (section)

===India===
{{anchor|Ayurveda}}

====Ayurveda====
''Bhūtavidyā'', the exorcism of possessing spirits, is traditionally one of the [[Ayurveda#Eight components|eight limbs of Ayurveda]].

{{anchor|Rajasthan}}

====Rajasthan====
The concept of spirit possession exists in the culture of modern [[Rajasthan]]. Some of the spirits allegedly possessing Rajasthanis are seen as good and beneficial, while others are seen as malevolent. The good spirits are said to include murdered royalty, the underworld god [[Bhaironji]], and [[Muslim]] saints and fakirs. Bad spirits are believed to include perpetual debtors who die in debt, stillborn infants, deceased widows, and foreign tourists. The supposedly possessed individual is referred to as a ''ghorala'', or "mount". Possession, even if by a benign spirit, is regarded as undesirable, as it is seen to entail loss of self-control, and violent emotional outbursts.{{sfnp|Snodgrass|2002|pp=32–64}}

{{anchor|Tamik Nadu}}

====Tamil Nadu====
{{see also|Buta Kola}}
[[Tamil people|Tamil]] women in India are said to experience possession by ''peye'' spirits. According to tradition, these spirits overwhelmingly possess new brides, are usually identified as the ghosts of young men who died while romantically or sexually frustrated, and are ritually    exorcised. 
{{sfnp|Nabokov|1997|pp=297–316}}

{{anchor|Sri Lanka}}

====Sri Lanka====
The [[Coast Veddas]], a social group within the minority group of [[Sri Lankan Tamil people]] in [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka]], enter trances during religious festivals in which they are regarded as being possessed by a spirit. Although they speak a dialect of [[Sri Lankan Tamil dialect|Tamil]], during trances they will sometimes use a mixed language that contains words from the [[Vedda language]].{{sfnp|Dart|1990|p=83}}