Defying Disease, Deifying Disease
Vaccination, Immunity, and Ritual among Devotees of Goddess Śītalā
In: Asian MedicineSearch for other papers by Deepsikha Dasgupta in
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Abstract
With the advent of biomedicine in India, vaccination has been studied in tandem with the colonial commitment to exercise control over imperial subjects. The history of smallpox vaccination in India is entangled with the Goddess Śītalā – “controller” of epidemics. Despite the eradication of the epidemic, faith in the goddess reigns among her devotees. This ethnographic study suggests that Śītalā devotees are informed by a plurality of understandings of body, disease, and prophylaxis in the Covidian age; I argue that Śītalā practices and the irreducible faith in the goddess aid in sustaining trust in biomedical interventions like vaccines among her devotees. Based on fieldwork conducted in West Bengal, I further argue that Śītalā’s place as a “lesser” or “lower-caste” deity worshipped mostly by marginalized sections of society makes their active demand for vaccination an act of assertion.
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Defying Disease, Deifying Disease
Vaccination, Immunity, and Ritual among Devotees of Goddess Śītalā
In: Asian MedicineSearch for other papers by Deepsikha Dasgupta in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
With the advent of biomedicine in India, vaccination has been studied in tandem with the colonial commitment to exercise control over imperial subjects. The history of smallpox vaccination in India is entangled with the Goddess Śītalā – “controller” of epidemics. Despite the eradication of the epidemic, faith in the goddess reigns among her devotees. This ethnographic study suggests that Śītalā devotees are informed by a plurality of understandings of body, disease, and prophylaxis in the Covidian age; I argue that Śītalā practices and the irreducible faith in the goddess aid in sustaining trust in biomedical interventions like vaccines among her devotees. Based on fieldwork conducted in West Bengal, I further argue that Śītalā’s place as a “lesser” or “lower-caste” deity worshipped mostly by marginalized sections of society makes their active demand for vaccination an act of assertion.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 173 | 173 | 25 |
| Full Text Views | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 4 | 4 | 1 |