Abstract
In recent years, Hunza has seen a surge of suicide cases among youth. This paper attempts to decipher the multiple layers of meanings entailed in suicide cases. The dominant perception among the natives is the attribution of influence to supernatural beings. This paper attempts to provide insights into the supernatural cosmology and its relationship to youth suicide among the Burushaski speakers of Hunza. Using qualitative research methodology, this paper describes the local perception of supernatural beings, and their classifications as well as the role of local shamans, known in Burushaski as bitan. In this scenario, suicide is not seen as a self-destruction, but is rather a punishment by the supernatural beings owing to the violation of the sacred supernatural social order imposed by the spirits connected to the supernatural world. For the natives, both the terrestrial and supernatural spheres share common habitats and mountain ecology; however, the latter is perceived to have more powers than the former. Therefore, breach of this order is highly discouraged and bears dire consequences. What appears as mere supernatural and human conflict actually carries deeper references to social and ecological disruptions.
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Notes
The inhabitants of Hunza and Nagar valleys, thought to be descendants of the Yeuchi, who conquered Bactria in around 120 BCE (Biddulph, 1971).
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Khan, S., Leghari, I.U. & Pasha, A.F. Youth Suicide, Supernatural Beings and the Shamanic Response in Hunza: Northern Pakistan. J Relig Health 62, 3760–3779 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01944-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01944-y