Abstract. The paper analyze the phenomenon of trance and its possible causes, such as spirit-possession, mediumship and an artistic ecstasies as sometimes correspondent, but yet different phenomena of psychology, religious rites and performing arts. Daivārādhane is in the center of the study: the worship and pleasing of the local deities (daivas, bhūtas, etc.), an ancient tradition and the religious institution of Tuḷunādu (South Karnataka and North Kerala), South India. Controlled trance is the important instrument in kōla ritual – a major form of the daivārādhane. It has a collective approach and deals simultaneously with personal, intimate and social issues of the participants. The ritual shows the considerable amount of historic continuity. Yet, been ancient and even archaic in some points, it is not conservative. Some parts of daivārādhane (the biographies of the deities, the process of deification, the costume and make-up) keep changing and updating, incorporating new elements. But the balance between chaos and order stays at the center of the whole institution. The author comes to the conclusion, that collective co-creation is a key-concept of daivārādhane. All elements of kōla are function as the vehicles for the core element — an expected, welcomed yet much controlled communication with the deities in their spiritual form, what is been called broadly in the literature “spirit-possession”, and what plays a crucial role in legitimization of the whole event. But the real possession, or obsession, although invoked, is limited by the ritual, and may not present; instead, the cause of the trance could be an artistic ecstasies or sometimes mediumship. The controlled trance, scenario of the kōla and the presence of the participants work as a protection against the sudden and violent “arrival” of the spiritual entities inside the conscience and bodies of the participants. Kōla apparently could be understood a tool for humans to come to the deities and spirits of different origin as near as possible, but it helps also to overcome the dangerous and unwelcomed dependence – an inevitable part of any obsession.
Keywords: trance, spirit-possession, mediumship, ecstasies, ritual, daivārādhane, Tuḷu, Tuḷunādu, India
