Narratives of Transcendental Decision-Making: Seeking Health and Healing at Sufi Shrines in Gujarat

Abstract

This paper is concerned with knowledge practices of healing madness at shrines of Sufi saints in Gujarat originating in Africa and Central Asia. The ritual healing provided by these saints of extra-regional extraction is embedded in cultural constructions of sacred shrines depicted as ritual law courts. The healing proceeds to a transcendental decision-making in which the saint is associated to a sovereign authority taking a “decision” or faizla. Such practices of healing and care, it is suggested, constitute a “knowledge network” distributed over several ritual sites referencing maritime and land-based histories. Transcendental decision-making emerges as an important resource for people facing individual and collective adversities. It gives sense to abnormal experiences, emotions and declining social and symbolic capital in a society increasingly dominated by market concerns.