Hey everyone, I'm from Nepal, and I grew up around Hindu and Gurung cultural traditions. There's something I've personally witnessed and heard about from my family that genuinely confuses me, and I'd like to understand it from a scientific perspective.
In Hindu culture, when someone suddenly starts shaking, shouting, behaving unusually, or speaking in an unfamiliar language during a religious ritual, people often say that "Mata chadh gaya hain" or "Devi aayi hain".
When I was in seventh grade, I attended a traditional Gurung funeral ritual called 'Arghum' for my great-grandmother. During the ritual, one of the lamas suddenly started shaking and murmuring in what sounded like an unfamiliar language. People interpreted it as a deity entering his body.
I was on my period at the time, and my mother had warned me not to go near the ritual because of it. When the lama began behaving this way, people started asking who was menstruating and implying that someone had caused it. My mother took me away, and my father scolded me. A few minutes later, the lama returned to his normal state.
Something similar reportedly happened to my mama (mother's brother), who is a very devoted Hanuman follower. When a menstruating girl approached him, he suddenly began behaving as though a deity had entered his body. He even grabbed the girl by the neck while shouting at her to stay away. His family eventually managed to get him to let go, and he returned to normal after a few minutes.
My mother has also told me that she witnessed similar incidents involving my grandfather multiple times. I've seen people at temples behave similarly, too. They suddenly start shaking, shouting, moving unusually, speaking in unfamiliar-sounding speech, and sometimes becoming unconscious before returning to normal.
The part I find most confusing is the language, my mama doesn't know Sanskrit, as far as I know, and yet the sounds he produces are interpreted as Sanskrit or another language during these episodes. How can someone produce speech that sounds like a language they have never learned?
I understand that seizures, dissociation, and trance states can explain some unusual behaviours. However, I find it difficult to understand why similar things happen repeatedly in religious settings and why people seem to recover after a short time. I'm not saying everyone must have a neurological disorder, but I also don't want to jump straight to a supernatural explanation.
