The Indigenous Art of Curing: Unfolding the Mayong Story

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Indigenous healing; Bez; Mantra; Mayong; Northeast India; Tibet; Southeast Asia

Abstract

The Assamese society, like many others, harbours a rich tradition of healing knowledge. This has commonly been done through chanting of certain magic words and the application of some herbs. ‘The land of Black Magic’— is a popular expression used for Assam, a state situated in the northeast direction of India which has a proximity to the Himalayan regions as well as Southeast Asia. Within Assam, Mayong, a neighbouring mystique village of Guwahati city embodies the very essence of the above expression. While the overt practices of black magic have discontinued over time, Mayong retains its position as a centre of traditional healing practices. Local practitioners are called Bez or the healer. People from far-flung areas flock to Mayong to get cured of various ailments. The Bez treats ailments by means of tantra and mantra. An attempt has been made here to get a picture how the local healing system is preserving the cultural heritage of Mayong. The traditional magic practices in the region running for hundreds of years are quite interesting as it often defies science. It is also to be noted that all along Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa, the early name of Assam had remained the centre of tantric practices. Mayong has two more kindred centres— one at the famous Kamakhya temple complex atop the Nilachal hill and the other at Navagraha temple atop the Chitrachal hill, both located within the present city of Guwahati, the socio-political and economic hub of the entire Northeastern region.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Rashmirekha Hazarika
AU  - Susmita Hazarika
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - The Indigenous Art of Curing: Unfolding the Mayong Story
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Systems and Social Management (ICSSSM-2 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 186
EP  - 199
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_13
ID  - Hazarika2025
ER  -