Tuesday December 17 2024, at 6 PM, at Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du président Wilson, 75016 PARIS.

From drum making to social construction: ritual object, mythologies and hierarchy among the Chepang of Nepal, Conference by Adrien Viel, anthropologist filmmaker.

Based on filmed and photographic observations, this intervention takes the making of the chepang drum as an anchor point. The central object of nocturnal healing ceremonies and seasonal festivities, this drum constitutes a magical artifact: it serves as much to repel demons as to reach the depths of the underground worlds, where the ancestors of the Chepang reside. Mainly used by shamans, it can, however, in certain regions, be handled by officiants linked to the house, without them claiming to be shamans.

By briefly retracing the history of this community formerly composed of hunter-gatherers, and by examining the transition from their hunting shamanism to a more sedentary and agrarian form, the analysis of the different stages of drum making – some of which bear witness to ‘remarkable ingenuity – will shed light on the mythologies associated with it. This approach will allow us to better understand how this ritual object contributes to structuring power relations, particularly between men and women. Indeed, while women can intervene in certain exorcism rituals, they remain largely excluded from the use of the drum and cannot lead ceremonies related to the house.

Through interviews conducted in the field, this intervention will endeavor to unravel a set of elements in order to understand how mythologies – and in particular the ritual union (biē N) between a young shaman and the spirits of the tree- drum – find resonance in the society of the living. Finally, we will present the point of view of a shamaness, an emerging Chepang figure, who acts as spokesperson for her community.