EXPLORING DANYALISTIC HEALING PRACTICES AMONG THE FEMALES OF HUNZA AND NAGAR VALLEY GILGIT BALTISTAN

Abstract

The conception of danyalism is an old concept in Gilgit Baltistan which has been in practice since centuries. This study aims at exploring danyalistic healing practices in Hunza and Nagar valley Gilgit Baltistan. It is believed that the danyals have connection with the spiritual world and have the power to heal the sick, communicate with spirits, and guide souls of the dead to the afterlife. They breathe in the smoke of burning juniper branches, dance to an extraordinary music, enter into delightful trances then quench their thirst from by drinking blood from a freshly severed goat’s head and interconnect with other world to find answer to the problems of the people who come to seek out for their help. The data was collected, through well structured closed ended questionnaires and pre-tested Questionnaires were used for the female respondents who believe in danyalism and for case study the researcher used interview guide. The data was collected from the female believers in danyalism and interviews were taken from the Danyals. To evaluate the effectiveness of the danyalistic healing practices the researcher used mix method for the research, the researcher surveyed 100 female respondents for quantitative data from Hunza and Nagar in equal number. The researcher used structured closed ended questionnaire for collecting data and analyzed the data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). For qualitative data the researcher interviewed 4 danyals from Hunza and Nagar and used interview guide for collecting data. The findings in the research revealed that female respondents had a stern believe in danyalistic healing practices but were rarely involved in danyalistic treatments. It is now seen as a taboo in these regions but there are some of the people who still go to danyal to get spiritual and physical treatment rather than a specialized doctor. Most of them go to danyal in secrecy because going to a danyal for any treatment is seen as a social taboo.