Hindu Healing Practices For Childhood Illness: An Anthropological Inquiry

Abstract

This study explores Hindu healing practices for childhood illness in contemporary Indonesian communities, focusing on Bali, Lombok, and Tengger. Illness in children is not solely understood as a biological issue but is interpreted as a disruption of spiritual and cosmic balance. Using a participatory ethnographic approach, the research combines ritual observation, in-depth interviews, and visual documentation to capture the lived experiences of parents, healers, and children. Findings reveal that mantras and rituals function as channels of divine resonance, with healers—balian, temple priests, and birth shamans—acting as spiritual mediators rather than medical experts. Parents perceive healing not only as symptom relief but as the restoration of ancestral harmony and moral order. Despite strong spiritual beliefs, families often pragmatically combine traditional and biomedical treatments, forming hybrid health practices. The study shows that Hindu healing is a culturally meaningful and adaptive system, reflecting epistemological pluralism in health behavior. These findings contribute to medical anthropology by illustrating how ritual, spirituality, and emotion converge in healing processes. It advocates for culturally sensitive health policies that recognize traditional knowledge as a valid and dynamic component of public health. Healing is thus not just clinical recovery, but the spiritual restoration of meaning, identity, and community.